Kansas quietly had a pretty successful follow-up to their 2007 Orange Bowl Season. They posted an 8-5 record, with all of their losses to bowl teams. Last year was a hard year to compete in the Big12, and grab any sort of attention from the media. Nevertheless, they beat rival Mizzou, and won their 2nd straight bowl game, a 42-21 beating of Minnesota in the Insight Bowl. Kansas is my favorite to win the North this year, which would be a new accomplishment with Mizzou winning it the past few years. That should be the ultimate goal for Kansas, and then they can worry about knocking off someone from the south. Kansas can be a real good team this year, and return to a New Year's Day Bowl.
OFFENSE:
Keep underestimating QB Todd Reesing, and he keeps proving you wrong. In the 2007 dream season, he threw for 3486 yards and a TD-INT ratio of 33-7. People said, yeah thats nice, but hes a flash in the pan, its Kansas, hes only 5'10", etc. So then, last year, he threw for 3888 yards, 32 TDs, and 13 INTs. He deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as Bradford and McCoy. The reasons he isnt are probably because 1) Kansas isnt as good as Oklahoma or Texas, 2) He isnt going to be in the NFL probably, while Bradford and McCoy are, or 3) The media is a bunch of assholes. If you think about it, you realize that Reesing being surrounded by the least amount of talent out of Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas should be the biggest case to help an argument for him. Plus, Kansas had trouble last year not because of Reesing or the offense, but rather the defense. Whatever, its not a big deal, but Reesing is good.
His favorite target is WR Dezmon Briscoe, who is probably the best WR in the Big12 now that Crabtree is gone. Last year Briscoe caught 92 balls for 1407 yards and 15 TDs. Wow. Hes only a junior this year, but probably will leave for the NFL after the season. Or maybe, Reesing's favorite WR is Kerry Meier. I mean, he did catch more passes than Briscoe. More than 92 you ask? Yup, Meier caught 97 balls for 1045 yards and 8 TDs. I dare you to find another WR combo in college football that each caught 90 passes. (Maclin and Coffman did it, but they played an extra game, and Coffman had 90 on the button). But anyway, that is very impressive. Even Jonathan Wilson is back, who caught 53 balls for 473 yards last year. It shouldnt come as a surprise at this point that Kansas finished 8th in the nation in passing offense last year. They averaged 33 pts/game.
The part that could use some work, if they decide to, is the run game. Jake Sharp was effective last year, rushing for 860 yards on only 186 carries, and 12 TDs. This is a team that could run the ball better if they wanted. They just choose to pass. Its hard to argue with the results that it has produced, but Reesing did throw 13 picks last year. Running it a little more wouldnt hurt. What will hurt is the new, inexperienced offensive line. They only return 2 starters, both are sophomores. They are then projecting a junior and 2 freshmen to fill in the rest of the offensive line. If thats true, they better figure out how to play and fast. Nothing will work, running or throwing, if the offensive line cant block.
DEFENSE:
In their losses last year, they scored 34, 31, 21, 35, and 7 points. So it wasn't the offense's fault. In those same games, they allowed: 37, 45, 63, 45, and 35 points. That is just bad. What good is it to average 33 pts/game if you average giving up 28/game? Their pass defense ranked 114th in the nation last year. Thats part because the Big12 was a pass happy league, and part because Kansas was pathetic against the pass last year. (The best pass defense by the numbers in the Big12 last year was Colorado. They finished 72nd in the nation, and most other teams in the Big12 finished in the 100s.) Its hard to believe that the secondary could perform so poorly with a player like S Darrell Stuckey. He is projected everywhere to be a first day NFL draft selection. The defense does return 8 starters, with 3/4 in the secondary, but is that necessarily a good thing?
Kansas can score enough to play with anyone. But again, what good is it if they allow 50+? I hate the Big12 so much because of this. Everyone seems to have this mentality: "well just outscore them". Well, yeah, I know thats the point of sports, to score more than the other team, but it turns into a game of Madden on Rookie between two drunk people at 3 AM. Will someone who plays defense please step up? Ill get into this more when its their turn, but e.g. Oklahoma had the 99th best pass defense, and the 58th best scoring defense. Yet they were in the title and everyone was kissing their ass and no one said, wait a minute they cant stop anyone. Then Florida put together a bunch of 7 minute drives and Oklahoma lost again.
Final Predictions:
9/5 Northern Colorado --- Win
9/12 @ UTEP --- Win
9/19 Duke --- Win
9/26 S. Mississippi --- Win
10/10 Iowa St. --- Win
10/17 @ Colorado --- Win
10/24 Oklahoma --- Loss
10/31 @ Texas Tech --- Win
11/7 @ Kansas State --- Win
11/14 Nebraska --- Win
11/21 @ Texas --- Loss
11/28 Mizzou (in K.C.) --- Win
First off, please notice how bad the non-conference schedule is. Ive been hearing good things about S. Mississippi this year, but still. Then, they should win their first two Big12 games. Nothing like a 6-0 start to build confidence. Obviously, the tough stretch then comes. Oklahoma will obviously be tough. Then @TT is a swing game, and @ Kansas St could be a trap game. Then, Nebraska should be the main threat to Kansas to win the Big12 North, and then they have to go to Texas and finish against Mizzou. So, after all that, it isnt the easiest schedule, but it is doable. They should be favored in 9/12 games (they may be underdogs @TT depending how the Red Raiders play this year).
10-2 (6-2)
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