I’m a huge Kansas Jayhawk basketball fan. I’ve never been much of a KU football fan because, frankly, they’ve been pretty terrible for a long time. In the past couple of years, Coach Mark Mangino has managed to win some pretty big rivalry games, but overall his team has underperformed, making it to only 2 bowl games (the Mazda Tangerine and Fort Worth bowls – yikes) since he took over in 2002.
KU has started the 2007 season 6-0 and is ranked #15 in both the Associated Press and Coaches polls. They are, however, ranked #13 in the BCS rankings which could mean big dollar signs for the school that has languished near the bottom of the Big 12 football rankings ever since it went from 8 to 12 teams.
This weekend, Kansas goes out to Colorado to attempt to break a streak of 5 straight losses in Boulder. The Buffaloes are a team that is the only blemish on an otherwise pretty good season for the Sooners. Colorado lost by 27 last week to Kansas State, who we all know got beat by KU two weeks ago at home.
It is looking up for the Jayhawks, but this game at Colorado is exactly the type of game that Mangino’s teams have lost in the past. I’m cautiously optimistic, but I imagine that it will take a game like this and then beating Missouri at Arrowhead Stadium on Thanksgiving weekend for most people to actually believe that KU Football is for real.
Your post is pretty much dead on. If they beat Colorado in Boulder this weekend, I’ll actually be impressed. The Jayhawks’ win in Manhattan wasn’t very dominant, but a win is a win. I don’t really see them beating Missouri for that last game of the season, and if they do, Bradford at OU will have a whole season of experience behind him at that point and OU should be firing on all cylinders. Going to A&M could also be a trap game. Who knows, Nebraska may even finally get their crap together in the next two weeks. If this season has taught us anything, it’s that any team can lose it at the drop of a hat.
For KU’s sake, I hope they get something done this season, because the road is going to be a lot tougher next year. @ South Florida, @ Oklahoma and Texas at home. Yikes!