Photo courtesy KUSports.com

You can bet this is going on the front page, welcome back RC - Owen

This is fairly long-winded and occasionally sidetracked, and largely ignores any actual analysis of matchups or anything else involving tonight's game. I didn't want to rehash the same sort of gameplay discussions having already taken place countless places across the internet. Plus, I don't have KenPom.com, so I'd end up just being frustrated writing it. I'm fairly out of practice in terms of sports writing, but in any case, hope you enjoy and rock chalk! -- rc

In 2009-10, the Kansas Jayhawks' were a fine-tuned machine calibrated to destroy the opposition. Offensive weapons existed everywhere one could turn, from the lightning quick first step of Sherron Collins to the burly post presence of Cole Aldrich and every spot in between. The Morris twins improved every time they stepped on the floor, extending range on their jumpshot and accumulating a laundry list of available post moves stemming from their time with the Professor of the Post, Danny Manning. Enigmatic freshman Xavier Henry was the sort of precocious talent that is almost too skilled, capable of nearly everything on the basketball floor, and program-lifers like Tyrel Reed and Brady Morningstar filled in the missing gaps, serving as the oil to maintain this mechanical death machine.

After racking up a multitude of impressive blowouts and earning the #1-overall seed in the NCAA Tournament they fell, dramatically and fantastically, to the Northern Iowa Panthers in the second round, a defeat encapsulated by the stunning pull-up three of Ali Farokhmanesh. I need not rehash that miserable game, but that final, damning possession can be awfully instructive when comparing that season to the one still being played. The Jayhawks were in fine defensive position, even provided a momentary opportunity at a pilfer, and generally walked the line well between aggressively going after a steal and ensuring no whistle, preparing to hunker down for the most important possession of the season. However, once Farkohmanesh broke into the open floor he spotted an opportunity and seized it. Statistically, it was not the correct play. It would have been safer to hold the ball, draining precious seconds off of the clock, as opposed to risking a miss, providing Kansas the ball down only a point with an enormous amount of time.

The correct play had been made by the defense, and yet a single unexpected deviation from the normal end-of-game happenings promptly disposed of the favorite. Had the game been played ten times, the Panthers likely win only once or twice. They were a good team, yes, consisting of a handful of professionals (namely Adam Koch) and a whole mess of cohesion and, perhaps most importantly, unified belief. But from a talent perspective, they were no match for Kansas. Yet, there they were, celebrating a moment that will not soon be forgotten in Northern Iowa lore, while the seemingly interminable death machine slowly realized its dissolution.

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While there are numerous big matchups in the season's opening month, particularly in the championship games of assorted preseason tournaments, the majority of the November college basketball slate is jam-packed with blowouts waiting to happen. Prior to the Jayhawks' trip to Las Vegas for a Thanksgiving weekend tournament, they don't face a team ranked higher than 168 in last year's final KenPom rankings. Even upon arriving in Vegas, their first game is against an Ohio University team that, while pulling off what I consider to be the upset of the tournament by demolishing Georgetown, ranked only 93rd coming out of the MAC.

Basically, these are tune-up games. Games to get Marcus and Markieff Morris back in the swing of things while slowly acclimating Jeff Withey and Josh Selby to the speed of college basketball, at least if Selby ever becomes eligible. Games to re-acclimate the Kansas fan base to actually winning sporting events. Games where the main point of contention is whether the home squad can hit triple digits and how many points the walk-ons manage to tack on at the end. Fun games for the whole family.

The fun starts a short 16 days away from today when Longwood takes a trip into the confines of Allen Field House. Let's take a look at these teams far closer than the eventual point spread. 

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I don't know what to say. Somehow most of us around here finagled enough hope to think we had a chance against a pretty solid Kansas State squad, even after we were absolutely destroyed in Waco. Well, the game against Kansas State went even worse than the Baylor game. It was 59-7 and it could have been worse. And worst of all, we were at home. It brought to mind terrible memories of Terry Allen and Kansas State storming the field at Memorial Stadium and Nebraska red covering 75% of the stadium to watch a 70-7 beatdown and a lot of things that made a lot of the fanbase, rightly or wrongly, give up on the football team a long time ago. 

We were supposed to be done with those days. Mark Mangino had turned the corner, and if we wouldn't make a run towards an Orange Bowl every season we'd at least show up at the Insight Bowl every season. We had permanently left the doldrums of major college football and entered into the muddled, crowded middle littered with the likes of Arizona State, Kentucky and Illinois. 

Think about it. Last year, we were ranked in the preseason. This year, we'll be lucky to win three games. Whether it's Turner Gill's fault or Mark Mangino's fault or Lew Perkin's fault or my fault (we've gone downhill ever since I slowed down blogging here at RCT..whoops) or whoever's fault, we've clearly fallen off the college football cliff. 

How far we fall will be determined the rest of the season. Go 2-10, and the Georgia Tech victory is treated as the total aberration that it is and the program, as a whole, basically starts over just like it's 2002. Win a couple of games the rest of the way out, and things could be worse. No matter what happens, Turner Gill has his work cut out. It's just a question of whether he can use a parachute to slow down the fall or we'll continue our descent into the nadir of college football. 

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Am I the only one that thinks this is weird? Playing a home game against Kansas State on Thursday night. And not even on ESPN, but on FSN. It just feels odd, like it shouldn't be Kansas State that gets slotted for the weekday night game. Alas, that's where we are right now, which at least guarantees our highlights will show up on Friday morning Sportscenter. Given the performance the last time this team stepped on the field, however, I'm not entirely convinced that's a good thing.

I still think we're an okay team. I still don't want to accept that we are really 48 points worse than Baylor. And I doubt we actually are. Hopefully, given the national stage and the rivalry and the primetime atmosphere and the bye week we'll be able to put forth a strong performance. The absolute last thing we need is a blowout at home against Kansas State on a Thursday night.

Now that I've stated the obvious, let's actually preview K-State. 

What's a "Road" Game?

We'll get to Bill Snyder in a second, but this first topic also reeks of the old cupcake scheduler. The Wildcats have only left the Little Apple once all season long, and that was just to take on Iowa State in the very neutral Arrowhead Stadium. This will be their 6th game of the season, but their first one on the road. They better get used to it as well, as including Thursday night's game 5 of their last 7 games are going to be road contests. To be fair, they have faced some decent competition, at least compared to your average Bill Snyder schedule. They beat a decent UCLA team the opening week, while UCF isn't terrible and Nebraska is obviously an excellent team. 

After the opening week's victory over the Bruins, however, they have not looked as good. They only managed to beat the Cyclones by 7, while Utah just put up half a million points on them in Ames. They had to score a touchdown with only 24 seconds left on the clock to sneak by the Golden Knights, while their performance against Nebraska last Thursday night left a lot lacking. They've had a better start to the season than us, but I'm still not sold on the Wildcats being an improved team over last season, regardless of their impressive 4-1 record.

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A typical result last Saturday, at long last. New Mexico State is a bad team and we treated them like one, winning comfortably while playing fairly well. It gave hope to the notion that this season might be somewhat predictable after all, although it still leaves this game in Waco as a question mark. Not to keep on repeating myself, but this could be the fork in the road for the entire season. Win a game in Waco, and there are enough other winnable games left on the schedule to maybe, just maybe sneak into a bowl. Lose on Saturday and it will be awfully tough, but a road win over the Bears keeps those hopes alive.

With that said, and this game's importance set, let's take a closer look at the Bears, considering we haven't played them since 2007. 

One Man Army

When Robert Griffin III first appeared on the scene, he was cast as Baylor's savior. They finished 4-8 his freshman season, but he played magnificently and they beat Texas A&M comfortably at home, giving hope for the future. Last season he started off with a win on the road against Wake Forest, but he then hurt his knee and was out for the season. That leaves this year as the chance for Griffin to explode, and he has. 971 yards passing, 4.4 yards a carry and 11 of the team's 12 offensive touchdowns in the Bears' first 4 games. He could be the most electrifying player in the Big 12, and he is the focal point and then some of the Baylor Bears' offensive attack.

It would be really simple to just say "stop him and we'll be sure to win!". However, you just don't stop players like Robert Griffin. I would imagine we will spy him a bunch and force him to use his arm to beat us, but he's plenty good enough to beat us with his arm if we don't play good on the backend. 

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Well at least last Friday night wasn't a total surprise like the first two weeks. It would have been nice to play better and show some serious hope for the season, but we simply looked marginal on the road against a decent team. There are teams in worse position, and one of them is coming to Lawrence this Saturday, but it would have been nice to at least keep it close for awhile and generate some hope in this team.

Even with the loss, a win on Saturday would at least give the Jayhawks a .500 record in non-conference play and keep them alive for bowl contention. It will be a reach, but assuming we can beat Colorado and Baylor, that leaves only 2 wins left to sneak into postseason play. Crazier things have happened and worse teams have made it. But first, we have to beat the Aggies of New Mexico State, so let's learn about the team from Las Cruces. 

Remember the Glory Days of October 10th

On the 10th of October 2009, there was hope in the world. Oil hadn't yet entered the gulf, Duke hadn't won another basketball championship and these football teams were actually good. New Mexico State sneaked out a win over fellow Aggies of Utah State while Kansas barely held on to beat Iowa State. This left the Aggies at 3-3 and the Jayhawks at 5-0, and allowed for some dreaming to occur on both teams.

Since that day the Aggies have lost 8 games in a row, finishing off last season on a 6-game losing streak and opening up the 2010 campaign with two defeats. Kansas, on the other hand, has lost 9 of their last 10 with their upset win over Georgia Tech the only victory between the two teams since the glorious days of October 10th. Put it together, and these two teams have combined to go 1-17 in their last 18 games. That has to be like a record or something.

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I obviously know nothing about college football or the Jayhawks or any of that. Before the North Dakota State game, I could not have been more confident in a win. And I felt secure in saying that, given our offseason had been marginally hopeful and the Bison were a 1-AA team, and a below average one at that. Of course, we all know how that ended up. Largely based on that entirely lackluster performance, I figured we didn't have much of a shot against the defending ACC champion Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, but again, we of course all know how that ended up. 

So, who are we? Are we the team that lost to the Bison or the team that took it to the Yellow Jackets and held on for the victory? 

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First off, before we delve into the Yellow Jackets, I just wanna say whoops. I mean, I was incredibly confident that no matter how we ended up looking on Saturday evening at Memorial Stadium we would come away with a victory of some sort. Maybe an ugly win, maybe a blowout win, but nevertheless a win was a certainty. Obviously not. I wasn't able to see any part of the game, but just the box score tells me enough to know that we are flat-out a bad football team right now. 

Our next opponent, the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, are not a bad football team by any stretch of the imagination. They run my favorite offense in football, they have talent everywhere, they won the ACC last season and, last but not least, they took care of their 1-AA opponent in the season opener (South Carolina State). When the game was scheduled, it was thought to be a tough test for a Kansas team losing their offensive core. Still, it was certainly thought to be winnable, particularly considering it was at home and Georgia Tech hadn't quite proven yet that the triple option could still work in major college football, considering it had been 20 years since a major conference team had employed the offense. A year later and the Yellow Jackets are coming off a BCS bowl bid, while Kansas is undergoing a complete transformation complete with a brand new coach. With all of that said, combined with the abysmal performance on Saturday by the Jayhawks, and Georgia Tech figures to be sizable favorites. 

The reasons why they're expected to come into Memorial and romp over our Jayhawks can be read after the break...

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The opening game of the 2010 football season is important for reasons having nothing to do with the North Dakota State Bison. It's an important game because it's the opening salvo of an entirely new era of Kansas Football, one headlined by new coach Turner Gill. Along with the change on the sidelines, there will be plenty of new faces on the playing field. Gone are Todd Reesing, Kerry Meier and Darrell Stuckey, leaving the reins to a host of unproven and underused players, many of which will enter into enhanced roles beginning Saturday against the Bison.

That's why the game on Saturday is important; it's a debut for a brand new Jayhawks football team. It has nothing to do with the opponent, except for the fact that they're expected to be an easy win. Still, why not be a little more educated about said easy win. Yeah? Yeah.

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While the Jayhawks tipped off against the Volunteers on Sunday, I began reading Bill Simmons' new book The Book of Basketball on an airplane flying to Chicago. The first chapter of the book is simply titled "The Secret", and goes into detail The Secret, told to Simmons by Isiah Thomas (at a topless pool in Las Vegas, no less). According to Isiah, and supported by Simmons throughout the rest of the chapter, "The Secret of basketball is that it's not about basketball". You can question the validity. It doesn't seem to make sense. But before you do, just take a quick look at Sunday's game. 

On one hand, you have the number one ranked team in the country. By most accounts, the best team in the country. Taking subjectivity out of the picture, you have a top five PG, a top five C and a top five freshman in the country. You have a host of other players who would start on most other teams playing supporting roles. 

On the other hand, you have six scholarship players. Six. You have the coach's son playing 10 minutes. You have the best player kicked off the team four days prior. 

On paper, what you have is a mismatch. However, basketball isn't played on paper. And The Secret says it's not even about basketball. With four of their best players gone, Tennessee had no one to turn to but the remaining players on the squad. They banded together, took on a disrespected attitude, and set out to make some noise. 

They didn't need Tyler Smith or Melvin Goins or Brian Williams or Cameron Tatum. They just needed themselves. In essence, they discovered The Secret. Despite losing talent, the Vols are a better team than they were just two weeks ago. They get it. It's not about basketball. It's why they outplayed and outscored the #1 team in the country Sunday afternoon.

The question remains, however, if Kansas will pick up The Secret. If not, we're destined to go home losers in March.

Player-by-player game reviews will be skipped for this game recap since I was not able to watch the game, being on an airplane and all.

So, I've basically been Mr. Absentee Blog Manager lately. That hopefully will change soon, starting with this monstrosity of a post, previewing everything and anything you need to know about the Big 12 Conference this basketball season. Conference play kicks off today with some really interesting contests, most notably a Big 12 North showdown of Kansas' two biggest rivals Kansas State and Missouri in Columbia, so now would be the time to unleash a conference preview, yes?

Yes. So, here we go. We'll get to Team Previews soon enough, but with tipoff in mere hours, let's just discuss general, Conference Storylines for now.

Is the Big 12 the Best Conference in All the Land?

This is a tough question to answer. Because, no matter how objective you try and get, there is going to be a large aspect of subjectivity to this. Do you base it off of NCAA Tournament-level teams? Or maybe National Title contenders, or top-level teams? Or, do you base it on top-to-bottom strength, where Nebraska making the NIT over Boston College might be the determining factor in which conference reigns supreme? 

Still, just about any way you slice it, I'd imagine it would come down to three conferences: Big 12, ACC, Big East. According to KenPom*, the ACC gets the nod as Best Conference, buoyed by KP's fascination with the Blue Devils and 9 teams in the Top 50. The Big East has the name, and the top-heavy powers at the top (Villanova, Syracuse, West Virginia, Georgetown, Connecticut) along with a plethora of mid-level teams in Pittsburgh, Louisville, Cincinnati and Marquette. However, the bottom portion of the conference is weakish, with Depaul and Rutgers posting upper 100's KP ratings. And then you have the Big 12 -- whose case is highlighted by two Top 3 teams. It doesn't have as strong of a Top 5 as the Big East, but it has the best Top 2 in all of the nation, by a decent margin. Missouri and Kansas State are both also Top 20 teams (Top 12 according to KP), and then there is a whole batch of mid-level teams. Just as big as the Big East's, with Texas A&M, Baylor, Texas Tech, Oklahoma State and Iowa State. Only Colorado has a triple-digit KP rating.

Like I said, it matters what you value. And really, all three conferences appear fairly even. I still kinda think its the Big 12, but I'm sure that has a lot to do with the fact that I'm sort of a Big 12 homer. So, make your own case for which conference is the best. 

*for those of you new to the site, let me just warn you now: I have a creepy obsession with KenPom. I take his numbers (and words, when he gets around to posting something either on his blog or over at Basketball Prospectus) as absolute Gospel. This can be dangerous, as they are frequently wrong. He isn't claiming to be perfect, after all, just giving you the odds of certain teams beating other teams. But more on this later. Just warning you that it will appear early and often here in this preview 

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The Background

Don't let the 6-3 record fool you.

Sure, it doesn't look like your typical record of a preseason Top 10 team, at least one that hasn't completely choked on its high ranking. But the three teams its fallen short against (Syracuse and Ohio State in New York, @ New Mexico) have a combined 2 losses. Both of those belong to the Buckeyes; one against the defending National Champions and the other sans Evan Turner, the best player in the entire Big 10/11. 

This is still the same Cal team it was expected to be entering the season, and they are playing like a Top 10 team. At least according to KenPom. They have played like the 10th best team in the country so far, according to good ol' KP, highlighted by their stellar, 4th rated offense. The defense is still formidable, too, posting a 38th ranking.

They are good. They have good players. They might be the Pac 10's best team, although that has as much to do with nearly all 10 schools having a simultaneous down year as it does with Cal actually being a dominant team. But they have the tools in place to be one. 

They have a coach, Mike Montgomery, who has led #1-ranked teams before. They have a point guard, Jerome Randle, who is among the best in the country. They have the offensive stalwart on the wing, with two first names no less, in Patrick Christopher. And perhaps most importantly of all, they have size, size and more size down low, headlined by one of the best rebounders in the country (seriously), Omondi Amoke (no, not Amobi Okoye). 

Preseason, this game kinda freaked me out. Especially considering it comes just three days prior to Christmas. But the past couple of weeks, I haven't really been that concerned. For whatever reason, I don't know. After taking just a look-see at their KP page, though, oh my word. I'm like freaked out now. Of course, even given their high standing in KP's eyes, the only numbers only give them an 18% shot at losing. But really, that's pretty sizable. 1/5 isn't that big of an upset.

Anyone else concerned yet?

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As fun as Friday night was, the season basically starts tonight. A challenging opponent, on national television, capping off 24 consecutive hours of college basketball. A rematch of one of the best games of the decade, albeit with two entirely different squads facing each other.

Here is your Open Game Thread for the "Real Season Opener". It should be a dandy, and considering the game's in Saint Louis, should draw plenty of comments and stuff. Hopefully.

Even I'll be here, at least by tipoff, once Xavier is done depositing Bowling Green and I'm back home after yelling my lungs out in the student section. So you should be here too, and we can all yell our lungs out through keyboards and computer screens and the English language. It'll be a grand ol' time. I promise.

But seriously. This is going to be exciting as hell. I can't wait to see all of the new players. I can't wait to see the Morris twins, who will probably get too good by January to still be my favorite players (yeah, I'm kind of sad like that...Thomas Robinson?). I'm giddy with excitement at finally being able to watch the Kansas Jayhawks play some basketball. Even though they've already played 3 games, I haven't watched them. So this is basically like Christmas morning for me.

OMG.

So, I basically lied. No other content came out over the weekend. My b. But I couldn't see the Hofstra game anyways, so any thoughts I had would have been limited to the box score. Fortunately, pending some ridiculous multiple-overtime Xavier game tonight, I should be able to watch the Kansas-Memphis clash tonight. Meaning I'll be itching to let the world hear my thoughts about the game. Which means I'll make time for a game recap. And that's a promise.

Opening Thoughts

You know, in name, this game seems like a gigantic deal. Kansas-Memphis. 2008 National Championship rematch. Two of the best teams from a season prior. But neither of these teams resemble the teams who showed up in San Antonio. Especially Memphis, considering they've lost their entire team, more-or-less, plus their coach since then.

So, while Kansas-Memphis sounds exciting and all, there's one team that, at least on paper, is definitely better. So yeah. This is a game that could trip us up, but it isn't likely. And don't even start talking about 2008. Besides Sherron Collins, no one else really remains that played. Cole and the Big Boy on Memphis, yeah, I guess, but come on.

However, if nothing else, I guarantee they show Mario's shot at least once or twice. And no matter the circumstance, it's always a glorious occasion to watch that. That'll probably be the highlight of the night.

The Background

The Memphis of your older brother who is like 3 years older is not the same anymore. All of those players your older brother grew up watching are gone, and so is the greased hair of the coach who recruited them all there. Now, they are still filled with talent, and their new coach is already shaping up to be reminiscent of his predecessor, but still. Not the same team that was the second-best team in all the land in 2008. Not one bit.

It remains to be seen what will happen with this Memphis Tigers team. Will they continue to be a National Title contender every year-or-two, being capable of beating anybody anywhere at anytime? Or will they sink down a level, to where they continue to dominate the crappy Conference-USA conference they're in, but not really scare the living daylights out of national powers. My money's on some mix of the two, because I like riding fences, but if I had to pick one, give me the second one. They'll still be capable of making intense runs in the NCAA Tournament, because Josh Pastner is going to make sure they always have talent, but I don't think they'll win make a Final Four any time soon. Which isn't a knock, when you think about it, really.

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I'm not sure yet if this means I'm full-fledged back or not. At some point, I'm going to post some form of season preview, and being that the season starts on Friday night, it should be soon. It won't be by tipoff, but it should come on pretty soon. College basketball is so effing exciting though, and I had to post something. And I miss writing these pieces, so I figured why not.

Those of you with us last year remember the drill. To all of the newcomers, it's pretty simple. I preview our upcoming opponent simply by looking at their KenPom page (you can find Hofstra's here). Now, since the season just started, I'll be using last year's numbers. As we move on, I'll do some mix of the two, until we get enough data for this season's numbers to be relevant. They are fun pieces, and usually end up being fairly accurate, which is a testament to just how much genius is inside Ken Pomeroy's brain. Too much, man. Too much. 

So, with that said, here commences the preview.

Opening Thoughts

So, here it begins. The Season of Expectations. This team is good. There's no denying that. This team is the best in the country. There's some denying that, but not enough to supplant the overwhelming national opinion that it is. This team is going to win the National Championship. Serious denial going on here, but still, we're the favorite. The favorite. If someone held a gun to your head, and told you to pick a team to win the NCAA title this year, with a correct pick saving your life and an incorrect one ending it, the majority of people would pick Kansas. That's some powerful stuff.

Hell, Kansas is good enough to incite some Undefeated talk. I've done it with my friends here at Xavier, mostly just to say it. But sometimes, when I really look closely at this team, I start to really believe. This team really could go undefeated. It has the talent. It has the depth. It has the coach. It's basically a mirror image of last year's North Carolina team. That was a team that was clearly #1, that was coming off of a disappointing loss the year before in the NCAA Tournament, and a team that received some serious Undefeated discussion. They didn't go Undefeated, but they did win it all.

I'll take that trade. So, yeah, this game basically means nothing. Obviously, a loss would send some fans off the ledge, and even a narrow win would change the nation's perspective. But in college basketball, as in every other sport, all that really matters is you win the National Championship. At least in terms of achieving Expectation or not. The fun comes from the ride, but the long-lasting feeling of success comes from actually succeeding more than anybody else.

This has gotten way too long. So now, we're just going to move on to Hofstra now. After the jump, of course.

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The classic Trap Game. Oklahoma is next week, and even though they have a losing record, they are still Oklahoma. And it's still going to be a huge game. So, no doubt, we're looking ahead at that.

Plus, Colorado isn't very good. They probably aren't as bad as they showed that one Friday night at the Glass Bowl, but even if they are better, they could still royally suck. They don't suck, and have enough talent/ability to score some points on us and maybe, just maybe, even pull off an upset.

The only thing in our favor, in a sense, was that we played absolutely dreadful last week. I mean, we played just as poorly on defense as we did last year against Texas Tech, it's just that Iowa State didn't have Harrell and Crabtree. And yet, they still put up 36 points, and would have likely won the game had Austen Arnaud not overthrown a wide open receiver in the endzone. That shit sucks, man. That's just really bad.

So, we need to play a lot better. Odds are we do. In any case, this is your Open Game Thread for the game. If need be, we'll put up a new one at halftime. It is away from the friendly confines of Memorial Stadium, so hopefully a bunch of people show up.

I should be here, pending extenuating circumstances. I'd imagine we'll have all of the regulars. Stupid FSOhio is being stupid and not showing the game here, so I'm resorted to the computer, yet again. But it should be okay.

We better win. I want to win so bad, and play Oklahoma in a big game next week. A 2-3 Boomer Sooner team still wears the Crimson and Cream and still has plenty of mystique. But if we are 5-1, it won't feel nearly the same. Just don't blow it. Please.

That was ugly. As Bill Simmons calls it, that was a Moral Defeat to be sure. Yikes.

That's all the commentary necessary for right now. Use this as your Open Game Thread for the rest of the day's action.

You know the drill. Kansas football. Open Game Thread. Let's put up some ridiculous number. I'll actually be here, yes, for most of the game. If not all of it. I will be resorted to the computer because no Versus, but whatever.

We should win. We will win. We will win big. I'm pumped.

Not to look ahead or anything, but yeah. I'm not worried at all.

This is almost like the Duke game. Basically. It's an early afternoon game, morning even in the central time zone. It's on Versus. It's against some awful BCS conference team. Let's just have the same result.

Oh, and let's hit 1,000 comments or something. That would be pretty sweet.

Instead of the usual hosts, Rock M Nation, hosting this week, they are passing it on to their opponents in Thursday night's rather large game. Yes. Nebraska blog Corn Nation is hosting all festivities this week, so make sure and pay 'em a visit. Right now.

1.  I'm sure everybody had preseason predictions for their team.  Now that we're a few games in, revise your predictions with your best and worst case scenarios (being reasonable on both sides), and then revising your prediction for the season result.

Trying not to get too technical with Best and Worst (14-0 or 4-8 respectively), I think the expectations basically remain the same. We were expected to go undefeated in the non-conference, with perhaps an almost-slip up somewhere in there. I'd say the Southern Miss game qualifies as an almost-slip up, and we are, in fact, 4-0.

So, in all reality, our Best Case is probably 11-1. That's quite optimistic, yes, but I'm drinking the Kool-Aid. Maybe it's being required to defend Kansas a kabillion times a day because you're surrounded by Big 10/11 ridiculousness and such, but I feel like this team is really good. I don't know. In any case, every game not being played in Austin we have a legitimate chance to win. That would get us into the Big 12 Championship Game, and probably a BCS game regardless of what happens there. I'll take it.

Our Worst Case would most likely be 6-6. We are going to beat Iowa State at home. But what if we play like absolute shit and drop one of the other two "gimmes", @ KSU and @ CU, and lose all of the other games. That isn't a scenario that is impossible by any means, and I just kind of half-freaked myself out typing the thing.

Sheesh.

2.  In 2010, the Big 12 will send it's 7th place team to play in a new bowl game to be played at Yankee Stadium, replacing the Independence Bowl in Shreveport.  What's your take on this move?  Is it a good move for players?  Is it a good move for the conference?  Is it a good move for fans?

I like it. Given the setting, it'll probably be hyped a bunch, which is sweet exposure for the conference. Plus, I think it would be really cool, as a fan, to go and watch your team play in Yankee frickin' Stadium. That would be fantastic. Another positive is the fact that we can never, ever go to Shreveport again -- I've never been, personally, but based on what I heard, that can't be a negative thing.

Another positive -- I'm sick of all of the bowls being in the South. I understand why, and everything, but I think it's cool that they are at least putting one bowl in the northern half of the United States.

For players, I don't see how it's a negative. You get to talk for the rest of your life about how you played a football game in Yankee Stadium. That's just freakin' fantastic.

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All Robert Griffin has is:

1. World-class hurdler speed
2. A rocket cannon for an arm
3. Prodigy-level football IQ (set the record for most pass attempts to start a career without an interception)
4. Prodigy-level non football IQ (4.0 student; father is on the Texas Supreme Court).

The only reason he isn’t a Super Duper Star is that he plays for Baylor.

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