Around the North: Week #9

How Do You Like Me Now?

The Kansas (8-0, 4-0) win over A&M drew the north into an 8-8 tie versus the south this year. The north boys did it the hard way as well taking two of three in southern territory (CU over Tech, NU lost at Texas). As for the Jayhawks, Lee Corso finally admitted that he'll never pick Kansas, so we'll always have a Saturday morning motivator for the players each week. Excellent. Forget about all of that though, it was another big win for the Jayhawk road warriors. KU controls it's destiny and homecoming versus the Huskers should be a lot of fun on Saturday. KU opened as a 14-point favorite. That's already risen to 17.

Okay, I thought we settled this last week. Does Missouri (7-1, 3-1) have a defense or not? In Columbia, the Clones outgained MU 389 to 366 in total yardage and picked up 25 first downs to the Tigers 23. A win's a win, but we may have to reconvene the jury regarding the MU defense (especially with the loss of Pig Brown -- tough way to end a career). Looking ahead, Mizzou will play at Boulder this week, so we can finally get a true KU/MU comparison (NU will serve that purpose as well). MU opened as 4.5-point favorites over Colorado.

Kansas State (5-3, 3-2) did what they had to do rolling it up against Baylor 51-13. The Cats are a solid squad and they need to collect wins fast to secure a bowl birth. They'll be playing for eligibility next week in Ames against what looks to be an improving ISU unit. It looks like the Big 12 will have nine eligible teams, so the Cat's will want to target eight or nine wins overall. As for longshot north title hopes, the match-up with Missouri in Manhattan in three weeks looms large. KSU opens as 13.5 point favorite against ISU.

Again, you lose to KU and every one wants to question how good you are. Colorado (5-4, 3-2) answered with an awesome road victory in Lubbock that is further evidence that there is no longer a gap between the North and South divisions. Keeping the Tech offense under control in Lubbock is impressive and should serve as a good warm-up for this week's home game with Mizzou. The Buffs can really shake up the college football world with an upset of the Tigers.

The Nebraska (4-5, 1-4) visit to Texas set forth three things to consider: 1) The power of Tom Osbourne is much greater than I can fathom. 2) Texas is truly mediocre? 3) Nebraska is going to fight to the death in Lawrence this Saturday.

Two weeks in a row Iowa State (1-7, 0-4) fights the good fight. It's starting to look like they got a good shot at picking up a conference win before closing out the 2007 season. The Clones are no longer a gimme on the schedule.

North Sagarin Rankings -- Rank/Schedule
Kansas -- 1/101
Missouri -- 14/66
Kansas St -- 15/24
Colorado -- 30/3
Nebraska -- 65/19
Iowa St -- 121/25

Full Rankings