Ho-hum Big 12 North ?

Just another ho-hum Saturday in the Big 12 North, right?

Every turn we take we get another slap back to the non-reality that the entire division is. Where do we turn for stability???? We turn to the Kansas State Wildcats, who week by week continue to change the perception from surprise team to solid team. At the very least solid enough to take advantage of supposedly more talented teams who the 'Cats hang around with and eventually, relentlessly, shove into submission.

Another chronological trip through the bizarre world of the North. The Sunflower Showdown's first half let older fans harken back to the bad old days of the Eighties. Turnovers, penalties, missed field goals, bad decisions, and more, on both sides of the ball. Todd Reesing continued the Big 12 final year curse along with at the very least Chase Daniel and Sam Bradford as he had had three first half turnovers. Thank you very much said the homestanding 'Cats, who cleaned up their act at halftime, ran the ball down the Jayhawks throats, and reduced the Kansas offense to ***** and dunks. Kansas tried to get back into the game in the fourth quarter down 10 by spending sixteen plays and sevem minutes to limp down the field to a field goal.

There may be wildly flawed teams in the division, but Kansas State is reducing their flaws week by week, and it's no longer some kind of a lucky, schedule driven fluke. Sure, they have some willing co-conspirators, but at 4-2 the 'Cats still have the inside track. This is much to the delight of their fans, even if they are among those who are surprised at the whole thing. As I walked off the field in Manhattan Saturday, three delighted K-State rooters, were screaming at each other "Do you believe this is happening?????". Yes, we do.

So the certainty of the day, of course, would play out now in Columbia, where the Tigers had the rarest of scheduling birds, the gimme home win, which would set up another Manhattan showdown............

OOOOOOPS!!!! Baylor 40 MU 32. A stunner even by North standards. The Bears had scored 34 points total in league play and bettered it at Faurot Field, and did it by  rollicking on offense and completely shutting down the Tigers in the second half. That after a first thirty minutes in which it looked like the record books would be only thing that would be of note in the second half.

     So now the Border War combatants are completely circling the drain. The Jayhawks "History Making" season is in shambles, and all the promise of the Tigers reloading, not rebuilding, after drilling Illinois, is in tatters. Each team now has doubts of actually becoming bowl eligible, and less than two years after being the top two teams in the country, are the bottom two teams in their own division.

     Of course at night a perfect Saturday for Kansas State would be capped with Oklahoma taking care of Nebraska and almost cementing the 'Cats standing in the North. But at Memorial Stadium, I mean Bakery, in Lincoln ("home of our World Famous turnovers") The Huskers, victimized two weeks ago in their stadium by eight giveaways, picked off five Landry Jones passes in riding their defense to a win that puts them at 3-2, and will have 'Cat fans holding their noses and rooting for the Jayhawks next week in Lawrence.

     Even Colorado kept breathing by beating favored A and M, although their schedule remaining is not sweet.

     But analyzing schedules and opponents and home and road and favorite and underdog seems a waste of time in our beloved crazy division. You just watch the games, and drop your jaw, and then count up who has the most wins ..... and right now....that's Kansas State.