September 25, 2009
I live in Columbia, so of course I hear all the time about how great Mizzou is, how great Blaine Gabbert is and why KU is not that good and how Mizzou will beat the Hawks in Arrowhead in November.
Now, I will say, Blaine Gabbert is a good quarterback, and in time, he could very well be one of the best quarterbacks in the nation and certainly the Big 12, and that's a big reason why Mizzou has moved to 3-0 and will likely improve to 4-0 tonight after beating Nevada. The kid has incredible size, 6-5, 240, and reminds me of Ben Roethlisberger when he was at Miami... I bring all this up, because this race that is shaping up in the Big 12 North is going to turn out to be every bit as exciting as the race in the Big 12 South or any division in college football in 2009.
Kansas, Mizzou and Nebraska are all good teams this year, and that bodes well for the conference, giving it much needed credibility considering it's been the red-headed stepchild since the Big 12's inception.
That's why the brouhaha from this week is unfortunate because 2009-2010 has all the makings to be a Big 12 Championship Year for KU, not just in basketball, but in football too. And it's because of playing an improved Nebraska, Mizzou, Texas, OU, Texas Tech, all very good teams, but all teams that KU can match up with. KU, provided they stay healthy, can win those games. I'm not impressed with Texas, OU plays in Lawrence, so does Nebraska, Texas Tech isn't as good as last season and as long as Mizzou has Gary Pinkel, I'll always like my chances with Mark Mangino out-coaching GP.
Maybe that's why the KU football players are so mad. Maybe they're upset because they know they've got a Big 12 Championship caliber team and nobody's giving them any love for that. Dare I say after watching Florida, who I'm not at all impressed with, that this KU team is the kind of group that could catch a hot streak and ride it to a BCS title game... why not? The way this college football season is shaping up, the National Title game will have teams with at least one loss, maybe two. KU can get through this season with two losses and a Big 12 Title.
A win tomorrow against Southern Miss, a good Southern Miss team, and suddenly their non-conference schedule doesn't look so bad - is Southern Miss any worse than Illinois? I don't think so - they're 4-0, they've got their swagger heading into conference play, maybe they'll get some love from Bill Self and the basketball players and KU, to me, as long as they stay healthy, can win 10 games and capture a Big 12 Championship. Crazy? Maybe. But so is the idea of football and basketball players fighting each other. If KU's athletic teams have proven anything under Lew Perkins, it's that anything can happen.
Rock Chalk.
And if you follow Missouri high school sports, check me out at www.coachesaid.com/mo .