College football fans rejoice, the season is upon us.
OK, so we still have to get through the sweltering days of summer before the teams even report for camp, but that can’t stop the diehards from daydreaming about the upcoming season.
There are four seasons to the college football year, and any true fan will understand that we are in the longest and most drawn-out portion of them all.
There’s the actual season, of course, where the teams suit up and play in the fall.
Then comes recruiting season, which, thanks to Web sites like Rivals.com and Scout.com, college football fans tend to know more about incoming recruits and their tendencies than the coaches recruiting them.
After that, there’s spring football, which is basically a month’s worth of practice that, for mainly monetary reasons, has been glorified past its true aesthetic worth to fans.
And then, there’s the summer. The summer is torture for college football fans because it is an abyss of news and information, and most of it is spent rehashing the old season, forecasting the new season and feuding with opposing schools’ fans.
To help bridge the gap between spring football and early August, the summer is filled with preseason college football magazines.
The predictions in preseason magazines typically aren’t worth the price of the paper their printed on, but when it’s all a fan has, it’s hard to walk past those supermarket aisles and bookstore shelves and not pick up those glossy-bound gems.
As it relates to the two area schools — Kansas State and KU — there are some trends developing with the periodical prognosticators.
Most think the Jayhawks are here to stay after their red-hot assent into the BCS last season, capped by Kansas’ Orange Bowl victory over Virginia Tech. Typically, the Jayhawks are ranked in the 11-15 range in the preseason top 25 polls.
As for Kansas State, not too much is expected of the Wildcats. After a miserable finish to the 2007 season and a JUCO-heavy recruiting class, none of the magazines out now (Athlons, Lindy’s and Phil Steele) have K-State finishing higher than fourth in the Big 12 North.
So in the spirit of preseason predictions, here are a few of mine concerning KU and K-State:
I don’t see the Jayhawks being as good as last year, but that’s not much of a concern for Jayhawks fans considering KU only lost once in the 2007 season.
Todd Reesing is a serviceable QB and incoming JUCO running back Jocques Crawford appears to be the real deal, but KU’s losses on defense have left some glaring holes.
KU won’t be as good as last year and will actually face a few teams that have a pulse this season, so the Jayhawks won’t win the Big 12 North — again. But, Kansas has enough to at least make things interesting.
Who knows, though? No one saw last year coming, either.
As for the Wildcats, the gloomy outlook most are projecting for K-State is warranted after last year’s late-season blowup, but things might not be as bad as they appear.
K-State has some capable playmakers (Josh Freeman, Ian Campbell, Josh Moore), but those playmakers have to produce even more this season, and they have to mesh well with the incoming junior college talent.
If that happens, K-State should find its way back into the bowl picture, which would be enough to keep Ron Prince’s backside away from the heat for one more season.
Overall, you shouldn’t need a preseason magazine to figure out that Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas Tech all will be loaded this year, and that’s bad news for KU, K-State, the rest of the Big 12 — and the country.
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Posted by eldiablo (anonymous) on June 5, 2008 at 10:33 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Must have been an even longer off-season for Kstate fans...
Posted by fabio (anonymous) on June 6, 2008 at 10:35 a.m. (Suggest removal)
So, is this guy trying to be funny or is he serious? Okay, on defense KU has 9 of 11 starters returning and will have one of the Top 5 defenses in the country this year. KU will have no problem filling in for the only two guys they lost. Mangino and his staff are the best in the country at developing young talent.
Serviceable QBs don't get serious Hiesman talk from the national media in November as sophomores. Todd Reesing did. When was the last time you heard Kirk Herbstriet saying that a sophomore QB from Kansas was in the top 3 or 4 of the Hiesman race? You hadnt ever, until Todd Reesing. Is 33 TDs to 7 INTs your definition of serviceable? Is the leader of the highest scoring BCS offense in the country, as a sophomore, your definition of serviceable?
You also said that this year, KU will have to play someone with a pulse. You must of missed KUs last 2 games of the season when they played back to back Top 5 schools, both on neutral fields.
So 2 things genius- One: Stop living in a fantasy world about KUs Hiesman candidate QB. Two: Get your facts straight about KUs defense and their schedule last year.
Posted by anotherbillionaire (anonymous) on June 6, 2008 at 11:52 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Todd Reesing?! A serious Heisman candidate?! You're kidding right?! That little shrimp will never sniff the Heisman trophy unless he gets in tight with Chase Daniel at Missouri. Daniel is 10 times the QB Reesing is. Reesing had a good year, but spare us all the Heisman talk. Reesing for Heisman! Hahahaha. That's a good one. Oh, and please don't try to bring up Doug Flutie. Todd Reesing is no Flutie, and never will be.
Also, fabio, excluding the Missouri game and the bowl game against Virginia Tech, ku played one team with a record better than 7-6, and that was Central Michigan, who was 8-6. Ku got off playing a bunch of pansies in the non-conf., then beat up on a weak Big 12 schedule before going 1-1 against teams with any real sign of life. Missouri will win the big 12 north this year, and ku will again go home without even winning the division, let alone the conference.
Todd Reesing a serious Heisman candidate...... you're killing me!!
Oh, and you're right, ku's probably better off without the pot-head Aqib Talib.
Go Tigers!
Posted by eldiablo (anonymous) on June 6, 2008 at 12:28 p.m. (Suggest removal)
If booger eating was an official stat, Chase Daniels would have won the Heisman.
Also, something tells me that anotherbillionaire is not a Mizzou fan. Probably a Kstate fan... :)
Posted by anotherbillionaire (anonymous) on June 6, 2008 at 12:42 p.m. (Suggest removal)
No K-State fan here. Just a Mizzou fan sick of the Hock fans touting their football team like they're the 1995 Nebraska Cornhuskers.
And be careful what you say about nose-pickers, lest it come back to haunt you...
http://sportsbybrooks.com/mark-mangino-p...
Posted by fabio (anonymous) on June 6, 2008 at 12:43 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Why would I bring up Doug Flutie? Did he win the Orange Bowl as an underclassmen on a team projected to go 6-6? Or lead the highest scoring BCS offense in the country. I don't know and don't care either, because this article has nothing to do with him.
Why would you exclude the Missouri and Virginia Tech games? If memory serves me correctly KU played both of them, so I'm not sure why you would exclude them.
You obviously don't have a clue when you say "weak Big 12 schedule". That is an oxy-moron. The Big 12 is easily the second best conference in the country, not far behind the SEC.
Really impressive tactic with the name calling. Calling Reesing a "little shrimp", and Talib a "pot-head" puts me at a loss for words. I wish I was as good at name calling as you.
If Talib qualifies as a pot head, than the same can be said for President Bill Clinton, the Governor of California, as well as myself.
I'm giving Micheal the facts and thats all you can counter with? I'm more interested in someone that is interested in engaging in a discussion about football, rather than name calling.
Posted by anotherbillionaire (anonymous) on June 6, 2008 at 1:07 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I didn't exclude the Missouri and Virginia Tech games. After pointing out that ku went the majority of the season playing mediocre to average football teams, I stated "...before going 1-1 against teams with any real sign of life." I was referencing Missouri and Virginia Tech there. Congrats on running up a sparkling record against average to weak competition before splitting the last two games against two very good teams.
And c'mon, the Big 12 is no where near the level of the SEC, and the Pac 10 is probably the second best conference.
Posted by fabio (anonymous) on June 6, 2008 at 1:23 p.m. (Suggest removal)
So, do you think going 1-1 against 2 teams ranked in the top 4 is impressive or unimpressive? Do you think going 11-0 against everyone else is impressive or unimpressive? Because thats pretty good in my book.
Also, the final polls last year had 4 Big 12 teams in the Top 10. How many did the Pac-10 have finish in the Top Ten? I know you probably watch a lot of ESPN and that they are big fans of the Pac-10, but I'm more interested in results on the football field. USC and Arizona State were co-champs of the Pac-10 last year. Arizona State was destroyed in their bowl game by a school from a superior conference, in Texas, that didnt even get to play for the Big 12 title. USC lost to Stanford before beating up on a Big Ten school in the Rose Bowl.
Regardless of what ESPN tells you the Pac-10 isnt even close to the same level of football that exists on the plains states.
Posted by anotherbillionaire (anonymous) on June 6, 2008 at 1:30 p.m. (Suggest removal)
For a little perspective, here's ku's 2007 opponents and their end of season records:
Central Michigan 8-6
SE Louisiana 3-8
Toledo 5-7
Florida International 1-11
K-State 5-7
Baylor 3-9
Colorado 6-7
Texas A&M 7-6
Nebraska 5-7
Oklahoma State 7-6
Iowa State 3-9
Missouri 12-2
Virginia Tech 11-3
So congrats to Mr. Reesing (is that proper enough for you?). He built up his gaudy numbers against middle of the road competition for all but two games, and yet, he didn't even get a vote in the Heisman balloting. The actual Heisman winner, Tim Tebow, played in the best conference in the land (SEC) and played against teams like Tennessee, Auburn, Kentucky, Georgia, South Carolina, Florida State and Michigan. And while his team's record was not as glamorous as Reesing's, people saw through the farce that ku created and realized his and ku's numbers were inflated because of weak to average competition. Chase Daniel, who did get a vote in the Heisman race (he finished fourth), even played Illinois, Ole Miss and Oklahoma (twice).
Posted by anotherbillionaire (anonymous) on June 6, 2008 at 1:37 p.m. (Suggest removal)
And how many of those top-10 teams in the Big 12 did ku actually play last year? One, and they lost to Missouri. Ku did not play Oklahoma and they did not play Texas. They didn't even play Texas Tech, which finished 23rd in the coaches poll. The only reason Virginia Tech was ranked as high as they were was because teams in front of them kept losing.
Posted by lycomu (anonymous) on June 6, 2008 at 2:03 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Q: What do you get when you cross a University of Missouri fan and a pig?
A: Nothing. There's some things that a pig will not do.
One day in an elementary school in Columbia, MO a teacher asks her class if the Missouri Tigers are their favorite football team. The whole class says yes, except for Little Jimmy.
The teacher asks, "What's your favorite football team Jimmy?"
Little Jimmy says, "The Kansas Jayhawks "
The teacher asks, "Well, why is that?"
Little Jimmy says, "Well, my dad is a Jayhawk fan, my mom is a Jayhawk fan, I guess that makes me a Jayhawk fan."
The teacher angered by his reply says, "If your dad was a moron and your mom was an idiot what would that make you?"
Little Jimmy says, "Well, I guess that would make me a Missouri fan."
Posted by anotherbillionaire (anonymous) on June 6, 2008 at 2:29 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Those insert-team-name-here jokes work for any team, so it's not like you're being clever. Nice try though.
Posted by lycomu (anonymous) on June 6, 2008 at 2:32 p.m. (Suggest removal)
That was my point exactly. Fans of every team will argue to the death that their team is superior. They will give you all sort of data to prove this. Lets just root for our team and hope for the best, ok?
Posted by anotherbillionaire (anonymous) on June 6, 2008 at 2:37 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Where's the fun in that?
Posted by lycomu (anonymous) on June 6, 2008 at 2:40 p.m. (Suggest removal)
The fun, from my perspective, is being a fan of the KU Jayhawks. Thats the National Champion Jayhawks But, I'm a basketball fan. I dont really care about college football.
Posted by anotherbillionaire (anonymous) on June 6, 2008 at 2:44 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Then why do you even bother posting here? Go start your own discussion topic somewhere else and talk all the basketball you want. Last I checked, Michael wrote an article about football season, and we were having a football discussion.
Posted by eldiablo (anonymous) on June 6, 2008 at 6:55 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I'm not buying the Mizzou fan claim.
And:
Picking your nose and eating your boogers are two different things.
Posted by jayhawker (anonymous) on June 8, 2008 at 12:23 a.m. (Suggest removal)
fabio: Obviously anotherbillionaire is unreasonable and has nothing constructive to submit to this forum other than to promote his team. Mizzou needs all the help that it can get, so we should not hold it against him. MU hasn't gotten over KU getting a BCS Bowl and it didn't. Clearly, the selection committee considered KU to be more worthy. Let's see how MU does against KU this year. Thanks, fabio, for the well reasoned comments. I agree with you that Big 12 Football is clearly the 2nd toughest conference, behind only the SEC.
Posted by anotherbillionaire (anonymous) on June 9, 2008 at 12:46 p.m. (Suggest removal)
How am I being unreasonable when I present facts to you about the weakness of the opposition ku faced last season and find it absurd that fabio thinks Todd Ressing is actually a Heisman candidate?
Oh, I get it. Because I don't agree with you, I must be unreasonable. Is that how it works in your world?
But I certainly am not the only one who believes ku getting into the BCS last year was a complete joke. Take a look at this ESPN article. Of particular interest is number 8 under the headline Just Plain Stupid...
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story...
My favorite line..."The Jayhawks only regular-season games against ranked opponents were Kansas State and ... Missouri ... and their best nonconference win came over doughty Toledo."
Mind you, K-State finished 5-7 last year.
So please, jayhawker, let's hear your otherworldly football knowledge. Instead of coming on here and telling me I am wrong, back it up with some facts.
Posted by anotherbillionaire (anonymous) on September 15, 2008 at 8:53 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Hey fabio, hey jayhawker, you two have been pretty quiet for a while now. Care to revisit our conversation from earlier this year after a few games have been played?
Seems to me your boy Reesing is to blame for ku's loss to South Florida with that interception he threw. Meanwhile, Chase Daniel is at the top of this guy's Heisman list, and oh yeah, the Tigers are ranked 5th...
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/wr...
After you read about Daniel, scroll all the way to the bottom. You won't find Reesing's name anywhere!
Go Tigers!
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