Rank the Big 12 North

[BMWJhawk]

After what we've seen from the first four weeks, rank the Big 12 North from top to bottom.  I'll get it started.

1. Mizzou - their defense is questionable, but their wins at Ole Miss and on a neutral field against Illinois are starting to look more impressive. 

2. Kansas - after adopting the Bill Snyder approach to OOC scheduling, it's hard to tell just how good ku really is at this point.  Still, the numbers speak for themselves, and ku has looked dominant against each team they've faced. 

3. K-State - the game at Auburn showed that K-State has some serious talent on the defensive side of the ball.  Jordy Nelson is a stud and has looked great in the first 3 games.  I still question how good K-State is up front, and whether or not they can establish the running game against good d-lines.

4. Nebraska - not impressed at all with Nebraska.  Their defense is beyond pathetic, and their offense has no identity.  Bill Callahan is easily one of the worst coaches in the Big 12, and won't be at Nebraska much longer if he keeps letting teams like Ball State come into Lincoln and put up over 600 yards.

5. Colorado - much better than I expected, but their depth and talent level is still a notch below what it needs to be in order to compete for the Big 12 North.  They've got the potential to pull off a couple upsets, though.

6. Iowa State - Amazing how they can beat a decent Iowa team, yet lose to Kent State, Northern Iowa, and Toledo.  Gene Chizik has a long year ahead of him.

[FBWillie]

still too early to tell. 


1-4 could be completely interchangeable.

[kougar24]

I still say we beat ku and lose @NU.

[catzacker]

1 - MU - enough offense to override their defense, have "important" North games at home or nuetral field.  

2a - ku - have to give them the benefit of the doubt, they've done what they've needed to do; we'll see.  Have an easy conference schedule.  

2b - NU - they are still a solid team, but have shown to have some defensive issues

2c - KSU - I have no idea what team shows up week to week; defense has at least stopped the run this year....so far.

3 - CU - defense is pretty good, offense isn't.

4 - ISU - no explanation needed.  


...all that said, after the first 2 weeks, things will probably shake out.  If any team goes 2-0, look out, if they go 1-1 they'll be in the mix, 0-2 and they are done.  

[steve dave]

I am actually OK with your rankings given what has happened to date.

[ksu_FAN]

1 - MU - enough offense to override their defense, have "important" North games at home or nuetral field.  

2a - ku - have to give them the benefit of the doubt, they've done what they've needed to do; we'll see.  Have an easy conference schedule.  

2b - NU - they are still a solid team, but have shown to have some defensive issues

2c - KSU - I have no idea what team shows up week to week; defense has at least stopped the run this year....so far.

3 - CU - defense is pretty good, offense isn't.

4 - ISU - no explanation needed.  


...all that said, after the first 2 weeks, things will probably shake out.  If any team goes 2-0, look out, if they go 1-1 they'll be in the mix, 0-2 and they are done.  

I agree with your rankings, but CU should be 5 and ISU 6.  

[sonofdaxjones]

ku-Heisman candidate at QB, outstanding O-Line, incredible receivers, tough as nails defense, certified geniuses on the coaching staff.  The 114th combined total defense rankings of ku's 3 D1 opponents simply has no standing.  JCCC-L is loaded for bear and headed for their first significant bowl game in nearly 40 years, and most certainly a date in the CCG.   ku fans should start ordering their non-refundable CCG tour packages today, and at least put down non-refundable deposits for Dallas and the Cotton Bowl at minimum, maybe even cover your bases with a non-refundable deposit in San Diego, I'd hold off until midseason on the BCS bowl location non-refundable deposits.

MU-Pretty decent offense as always.  Suspect defense and the always coaching, always adjusting Gary Pinkel on the sidelines.

NU-There offense looks like it can possibly move the ball on mediocre defenses and outside of ku who boasts an incredible defense, nobody else in the Big 12 North has anything but mediocre defenses.   The Corn have no prayer in Lawrence against the mighty Jayhawks, and likely can't outscore MU in Columbia.  

KSU-Really just too many questions.   The Big 12 did KSU no favors in sending them on the road to Texas right out of the gate, and then forcing them to deal with the 20,000 ku fans and the proverbial M1-A2 Abrams tank that will roll into KSU stadium on 10/6 known as ku football, with its genius coaches, Heisman QB and tough as nails defense.   KSU will be lucky to go 3-5 in Big 12 play, and might squeak into a Texas Bowl type game.

CU-They'll be a thorn in many teams side, and could easily trade places with KSU.  Heck they may even move up to 3rd spot, it's just too hard to tell with these guys.   No prayer though against ku, as ku will roll into Boulder undefeated and bringing along 27,000 happy bandwagon ku followers who will buy up thousands of seats from CU fans.

ISU-They'll have a tough time winning a game in conference play, but they'll be salty.  Look for them to make a run late in the game at ku, as ku will sit down the 1st thru 3rd teams at the half being up by 6 TD's and resting them for the big showdown in KC, where 75,000 ku fans will overrun Arrowhead Stadium.

[DNeg]

1. Nebraska
Although they struggled this last weekend, they are still the team to beat in the north.

2. Kansas State
Good D, Strugglin O, but, with Mizzou Struggling on Defense, and Kansas not having a good ruler to measure against, KSU is the only team besides Nebraska that has shown signs of being decent

3. Mizzou
No D, and struggling in the second half to shut anyone down, MU could end up winning out, or struggling to win 6 games

4. Kansas
Could very well end up pushing to the top of the big xii north this year, but until october 6th, who knows how good, or how bad this team is.

5. Colorado
Any team that sends the head coaches kid out for quarterback is going to catch some flack, but when the kid is struggling to complete passes and throw touchdowns, it may be a long year for coach Hawkins

6. Iowa State
With a win over Iowa, who knows what the cyclones can do, but, with a new coach, and no signs, other than a big upset against their in state rival, of improvement, it seems to be looking like a long year in Aimes.

[SuperSoulFighter]

At this point, ku has to be considered a very strong favorite to win the north.  Texas, OU, and probably Texas Tech would kill them.  If they can go 1-2 in their games against KSU, MU, and NU they have a very good chance to win the division.  2-1 in those games and they are almost a lock.

[Legore]

I'm not sold on any team in the North just yet.  Don't see any reason to put MU ahead of the others right now based on the way they've played so far.  I also think CU is going to challenge more then people give them credit for.  They beat Miami OH 42-0 this past week if they would have played ku's schedule they'd have 4 impressive blow out victories just like ku does.  Miami Ohio is better then anyone ku has played.  

[michigancat]

I'm not sold on any team in the North just yet.  Don't see any reason to put MU ahead of the others right now based on the way they've played so far.  I also think CU is going to challenge more then people give them credit for.  They beat Miami OH 42-0 this past week if they would have played ku's schedule they'd have 4 impressive blow out victories just like ku does.  Miami Ohio is better then anyone ku has played. 

QFT.  ISU sucks and 1-5 are interchangeable right now.

[ew2x4]

1 - MU - enough offense to override their defense, have "important" North games at home or nuetral field. 

2a - ku - have to give them the benefit of the doubt, they've done what they've needed to do; we'll see.  Have an easy conference schedule. 

2b - NU - they are still a solid team, but have shown to have some defensive issues

2c - KSU - I have no idea what team shows up week to week; defense has at least stopped the run this year....so far.

5 - CU - defense is pretty good, offense isn't.

6 - ISU - no explanation needed. 


...all that said, after the first 2 weeks, things will probably shake out.  If any team goes 2-0, look out, if they go 1-1 they'll be in the mix, 0-2 and they are done. 

QFT

[mjrod]

As of Right now, this is how I would rank the teams..

1.  Kansas - Haven't played a soul, but as we've seen in Snyder's era, doesn't matter.   Playing in a dominant fashion will help ku.

2.  Missouri - Defensively, not as good as ku.   Missouri will be heavily challenged in the Big 12.  Mizzou has the best offense


3-4 Tie:  Nebraska/KSU - You can take your pick, but I think NU has a slight edge because they didn't let Ball State beat them and we let Auburn beat us.  Nebraska certainly is not elite, but if NU's defense continues to play as poorly as they do, then NU will fail.

5. Colorado - Not sure yet.   They still have issues, but they don't care.   They only care about the conference, and seem to be ramping up.   This may change later on.

6. Iowa State - Not even an argument.

[turbowildcat]

K-state- They win it b/c they have the best defense, that offense is improving. Even at Auburn they moved the ball pretty well, they just have to figure out how to put the ball in the endzone. Specially against the poor defenses we will face this should be very probable. I am expecting the defense to play well for KSU to win North.

Missouri- A good offense but they still can't win on the road, and defense is the key to winning the North. Remember Pinkel is there head coach, it should be alot of ups and downs this year.

Kansas- Sill unproven team they have played no one and it has been at home. There past is horrible giving me the thought that this is the year or will we see a different team. Remember Reesing went 16-35 around 50%, and the team scored 43 points against Toledo, this means they are a big play team, which I feel will not work in the Big 12, but go 3-5 maybe 4-4.

Schedules
ku                       Ksu
@A&M    L                  @TU      L
@OSU    L                   @OSU   W
Baylor    W                   Baylor  W
@CU      L                   CU       W
ISU       W                   @ISu    W
MU       W                   MU       W
NU        W                   @NU    W
@KSU    L                   ku        W
 

Nebraska looks poor on defense something that won't be fixed soon, this is b/c of lack of coaching. They finish 4-4 in conference play.

Colorado- Are better than record shows win about 3-5
Missouri goes 3-5
ISU- 0-6
But funny thin north does really well against South. You watch it.

[Beer]

1) Mizzou - The Tigers have played actual teams from BCS conferences away from Columbia this year.  They have won those games.  Their offense is stout, but the D has issues.  There is no way to rank any other team in this slot at this point.  

2) KSU, ku, Nebraska -

- KSU - There are too many unknowns to have any seperation below Mizzou here at this point in the season.  KSU looked good in a loss on the road against what proved to be sub-par Auburn team.  What looked like a nice little moral victory turned out to be an even bigger missed opportunity that anyone thought with Auburn dropping a few games in the weeks that followed.  Still, it was a tough roadie to open up with regardless of the caliber of Auburn's team.  KSU has taken care of business against the rest of its foes.  Excecpt for some trouble with San Jose's kitchen sink offense, KSU has been downright dominant in the other 2 non-cons.  KSU does not have the benefit of playing another non-con game until the end of the season, but I still feel that they deserve to be in this slot.  

- ku - The Jayhawks have done exactly what you are supposed to do when you play horrid teams.  They have destroyed them.  However, the amount of snaps that the starters were getting in these games drastically skews the final statistics.  Mangino was running it up and not trying to hide it.  The number of passing touchdowns (13!!!) speaks volumes about what went down in these games.  Mangino was out for blood, and didn't care is it was the Sisters of the Blind that he was playing.  ku had superior athletes and was lobbing it up over the undermanned teams they faced.  Regardless, ku is undefeated.  It is only the laughable caliber of teams they have faced that keeps them out of the number 1 slot.  

- NU - The Huskers have not been pretty, but they have cruised to a 3-1 record.  Narrowly escaping at Wake Forest and then sneaking past Ball State at home, the Huskers have come very close to becoming the latest punchline to the joke that is the Big 12 North.  The fact remains, however, that they won those games.  Wake Forest is a solid program, and the Ball State QB might be the best college player I have seen play this season.  Their only loss is the USC who may end up being the eventual national champs.  It hasn't been pretty, and that's why being tied up in the number 2 slot is where the Huskers belong for now.  

5-6) CU, ISU -

Both of these teams are bad.  Bad, bad, bad.  I have no idea how ISU beat Iowa or how CU beat CSU.  It just goes to show you the power of home field advantage in a rivalry game.  ISU is a joke.  CU is a joke.  The only chance at a conference win either of these teams may get will be against each other.  

[Saulbadguy]

1 - Missouri
2-5 Toss up
6 - Iowa State

[KSUTOMMY]

1. MU/KSU
2. NU
3. ku
4. CU
5. ISU

I have to believe that our offense will get better... we have shown signs of scrappiness, and signs of "What the F*CK???" But I guess that is what this team is all about, and we are still pretty new to this coaching thing. All of our weaknesses taken into consideration, I have to think that we will be a good bet for the north. I refuse to think that ku has a better chance than NU as their non con is stinky. This saturday will say a lot.

[WildCatzPhreak]

1 - Missouri
2-5 Toss up
6 - Iowa State

Winner.

[NorthChamps07]

1. K-State
2-6. Irrelevant.

[KSUTOMMY]

1. K-State
2-6. Irrelevant.

NorthChamps07 = slight, ever-so-subtle, so/so biased POV

[michigancat]

He's a Husker sock.