Wild, Wild...North? Nebraska, Kansas State Control Their Own Destinies

Heading into the 2009 college football season, the majority of media outlets believed that the Big XII North Division would be won by either Kansas or Nebraska. 

Missouri still figured into the mix, but after losing 40 seniors in the previous two seasons, their roster was depleted.

Even Mizzou coach, Gary Pinkel, lamented the change in his team's dynamic after watching QB Chase Daniel graduate and WR Jeremy Maclin make an early declaration for the NFL draft.

Dan Hawkins, despite having compiled a paltry 13-24 record at the helm of Colorado, made the bold and inexplicable claim of "ten wins, no excuses" prior to the start of the Buffaloes' fourth campaign under his guidance. Understandably, few outside of the Centennial State took him seriously.

Iowa State, winless in 2008 conference play, gave little reason for anyone to believe that 2009 would be much different, even with new head coach, Paul Rhoads and Kansas State, after welcoming back former coach, Bill Snyder, was widely assumed to be rebuilding.

Therefore, the unenviable task of being the North Division standard bearer was expected to fall to the Jayhawks or the Cornhuskers. Unenviable because, in the last five Big XII Championships, the South has clobbered the North by the following scores: 62-21, 38-17, 21-7, 70-3 and 42-3.

Kansas and Nebraska were chosen for different reasons. The Kansas offense still had potent weapons in quarterback Todd Reesing and his receivers Dezmon Briscoe and Kerry Meier.

Nebraska's defense, anchored by Ndamukong Suh, was generally perceived as the best unit in the North Division, despite their inexperience at linebacker.

The questions for both teams lay on the opposite sides of the ball. Would the Kansas defense, injury-riddled from the year before, be able to withstand the high-powered offenses of the Big XII?

And would former JUCO transfer Zac Lee be able to replicate Joe Ganz’ production from a season ago and effectively lead the Big Red offense?

Eager fans throughout the Heartland wanted to know.

However, a funny thing has happened on the way to the Big XII North crown. 

Kansas, after starting 5-0 thanks to a less than rigorous non-conference schedule, has dropped four straight games, the latest to in-state rival, Kansas State.

Nebraska, after cruising through three Sun Belt opponents and pulling off a dramatic win in Missouri, has stumbled recently, their offense managing only four touchdowns in their last four games.

So for now, the story in the North has been Kansas State who, despite losing to Louisiana-Lafayette (a team that Nebraska beat 55-0) and suffering a 52-point defeat to Texas Tech, holds a half-game lead on the Huskers in the conference standings (4-2 versus 3-2).

So will the real Big XII North contender please stand up?

No?

OK, then, let’s start at the bottom of the pile and work our way up.

Kansas and Missouri are both 1-4 in the Big XII and one team is guaranteed to end the season with a losing conference record by virtue of the fact that they face one another in their regular season finale. 

Kansas is already out of the race and still has a date in Austin with the Longhorns. Ouch.

Missouri, meanwhile, is still trying to figure out what happened after hosting Baylor and letting them leave Columbia with a 40-32 win.

Perhaps even more troubling to the Tigers is the stark reality that the Bears’ freshman QB, Nick Florence, a player that was listed third on the Baylor depth chart when the season began, threw for over 400 yards and accounted for four total touchdowns on his way to Big XII offensive player of the week honors.

Colorado and Iowa State are in the middle of the pack with conference records of 2-3 and 2-4, respectively. Colorado’s season has taken a slight upturn, with wins against Kansas and Texas A&M, after being repeatedly embarrassed, most notably on a Thursday night in September when Toledo hung a half-a-hundred on their defense.

The Buffaloes have remaining road games against the Cowboys and Cyclones in addition to their annual rivalry match with the Huskers.

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