Jayhawks Are Fourth?
Checking with Blair Kerkhoff and his "Spring Fling" round up in the KC Star, he is enamored with both Missouri and Nebraska as north division title favorites -- a position which is by no means unique amongst sportswriters. It goes a little deeper though as I trolled through a recent Gridiron Board thread where most of the KU fans said we really didn't have a chance against Mizzou this year. Of course, a lot of that was bitterness over the move to Arrowhead and the impending catastrophic effects to the program which are now absolute fact on the world wide web.
In addition, the trend is to pick KU to finish behind the Wild Cats of Manhattan for a dazzling fourth place North Division finish. And yes, given the history of KU football, the skepticism is justified based on the exacting standards of the local sports journalists. Even if you could justify that KU could be better on paper in 2007 with a more experienced defense and set of quarterbacks, the find-a-way to lose events of the 2006 season would scare away even the most adventurous of sports experts. Plus you can throw in the loss of Jon Cornish and the interior O-line. So bottom line, I'm not blaming anyone for not jumping out on a limb for the Hawks; however, I would like to throw out some items to consider about what is the consensus "power trio" of the Big 12 North:
1) The Big Red Machine up north does appear to be gaining a little steam and a little swagger. And of course, QB Sam Keller is going to be an instant Heisman contender:
" .... Nebraska shouldn’t lose a beat with Sam Keller, a transfer from Arizona State with one year of eligibility."
--Blair Kerkoff
Still, I'd like a chance to evaluate his actual game performance, before we place these guys in the title game. I can think of a few QB transitions that have gone awry over the years.
2) The new Mizzou offense is clearly unstoppable behind Chase Daniel. Maybe, but a few powerhouses in last year's north division (NU, ISU) found ways to keep things in check at home against the Tigers. Plus, now that we've seen how it is supposed to operate and the league coaches have had an off season to study it, I suspect there will be a few rough outings in 2007. Of course, I'm very interested in how Bill Young will approach the black and gold "O" next season (by the way, his second team defense still struggled against the quick slant).
3) So that leaves us with the schizophrenic KSU program that appears to be primed to either finish in first or last. Perhaps third is a safe choice as the Cats like to balance things out -- road loss to Baylor, rip your heart out win over OSU or try a gigantic win over Texas, fall to in-state rival, then get humiliated in bowl game (insert at least we were in a bowl game comment here*). So you say they're destined for the middle and you give them the edge over the Hawks due to hosting the game in purple land. I suppose a lot has to do with the performance of Josh Freeman. See this thread for informative debate on that one.
Anyway, I guess I'm a little skeptical on the crew that we've gone 5-4 against over the past three seasons. I like the fact that we have two QBs with Big 12 game experience that certainly seem to be able to rise to the level of say a Jason Swanson. Couple that with the concept that Bill Young won't be plugging in eight new starters on defense and it's not that hard to envision a team that can defend it's home turf like the one from 2005. Now if we could just find our annual weak road game win we'd be set. Any ideas?
*Applies to 2006 only. 2005 bowl attendees need not apply.
DJ Goodwin