Jayhawks Beware!

Kansas is a legitimate contender

College Football Preview: Week 12

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Top 25 Game Previews ----- THURSDAY ----- No. 2 Oregon at Arizona ----- FRIDAY ----- No. 16 Hawaii at Nevada ----- SATURDAY ----- No. 1 LSU at Mississippi Iowa State at No. 4 Kansas No. 5 West Virginia at No. 21 Cincinnati No. 6 Missouri at Kansas State No. 7 Ohio State at No. 23 Michigan No. 22 Kentucky at No. 8 Georgia Miami at No. 10 Virginia Tech No. 18 Boston College at No. 15 Clemson Idaho at No. 17 Boise State Vanderbilt at No. 19 Tennessee Northwestern at No. 20 Illinois No. 24 Wisconsin at Minnesota Syracuse at No. 25 Connecticut  Team Capsules  ---------- Air Force Akron Alabama Arizona Arizona St Arkansas Arkansas St Army Auburn BYU Ball St Baylor Boise St Boston College Bowling Green Buffalo California Central Mich Cincinnati Clemson Colorado Colorado St Connecticut Duke East Carolina Eastern Mich Florida Florida St Fresno St Georgia Georgia Tech Hawaii Houston Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Iowa St Kansas Kansas St Kent State Kentucky LSU La Tech Louisville Marshall Maryland Memphis Miami Fla Miami Ohio Michigan Michigan St Middle Tenn Minnesota Mississippi Mississippi St Missouri NC State Navy Nebraska Nevada New Mexico New Mexico St North Carolina North Texas Northern Ill Northwestern Notre Dame Ohio Ohio State Oklahoma Oklahoma St Oregon Oregon St Penn St Pittsburgh Purdue Rice Rutgers SMU San Diego St San Jose St South Carolina South Florida Southern Miss Stanford Syracuse TCU Temple Texas Texas A&M Texas Tech Toledo Troy St Tulane Tulsa UAB UCF UCLA UL-Lafayette UL-Monroe UNLV USC UTEP Utah Utah St Vanderbilt Virginia Virginia Tech Wake Forest Washington Washington St West Virginia Western Mich Wisconsin Wyoming ----------

Nov. 12, 2007

By Brian Jones

Special to CSTV.com

	BRIAN JONES Brian Jones is a football analyst for CSTV and CSTV.com. E-mail here!

        ---   Column Archive   --- 1/17: Good Call For Some 1/8: Prognosticating Failure 1/8: LSU's Defense The Real MVP 1/3: Oklahoma Flat Out Whipped 12/18: Postseason Pontification, Edition '08 12/5: Final Thoughts - I Think - On 2007 11/28: What A Hoot 11/20: Love And Hate 11/13: Jayhawks Are For Real 11/05: Heisman Hosses 10/29: Corn-shucked 10/15: Nation Who Loves To Hate 10/9: No Love In The Heartland 10/1: Lessons For Professors 9/24: Say What? 9/3: NCAA Alphabet Soup 9/1: Questions On Defense Bit Wolverines 7/24: SEC Breakdown 7/16: Pac-10 Breakdown 7/10: Big East Breakdown 7/03: ACC Breakdown 6/25: 'Big 11' Breakdown 6/19: Big 12 Breakdown 5/14: Who's That 4/30: BJ's All Hi-Def Defense 4/27: `Twas the Night Before The Draft 4/23: Picture Perfect 4/6: Coach Robinson, We'll Miss You 4/3: BJ's 32 3/19: The Deserving Hall of Famers 3/5: Dreaming of December Delirium 2/26: Spring Cleaning 2/19: Gay or Straight, It Shouldn't Matter 2/13: Steroids Were Once Part of The Game 2/7: A Walk Down Recruiting Memory Lane 2/5: Longing For The Day When Race Doesn't Matter 1/29: Old Ways Need to Change 1/22: Change For the Better 1/15: No Problem With Ginn, Peterson Going 12/18: Postseason Pontification 12/12: Season Superlatives 12/4: Handicapping the Heisman Race 11/27: Rutgers Better Lookout For Stewing WVU 11/20: Got To Like Booty And USC 11/13: It's All About The D For Michigan 11/6: Knights Will Be Hard-Pressed to Stop Cards 10/31: Win in Cards For Louisville

This rant is about the Kansas Jayhawks. I must admit, there was some compunction on my part when I decided to write this particular rant. Why you ask? Well, this last week I felt a bit jinxed. Yep, I felt like Brian Curtis feels all the time. In addition, the last time I defended a specific team in my rant, South Florida, let's just say I didn't receive any thank-you letters from the Tampa area. They were No. 2 at the time, and then proceeded to get walloped by Rutgers the week of my defense.

Last week, I revealed my "Heisman Hosses." Dennis Dixon was off; Colt Brennan held up his end of the bargain going 28 for 39, 396 yards, 2 TDs and a pick. My main man Darren "McFooten" McFadden netted 117, but nothing even remotely close to the immortal 321 he got a week earlier. And Michael Hart didn't play and Michigan lost. Hail to the victors my ass, my Heisman list just went to hell! 

Furthermore, about my game picks on the best college football show ever, Crystal Ball. Although I was above .500, my partners in crime, Trev Alberts and Greg Amsinger, went 5-0 and 4-1, respectively. That just sucks folks!

Do you Kansas folks understand now why there was a momentary hesitation on my part to defend your incredible season? Well, Jayhawks fans, the train has left the station and I must come to the defense of the Jayhawks football team. I would give head coach Mark Mangino a pat on the back, but let's be honest -that's a lot of back to pat and it could take a while.

This is a solid football team and they have proven that they are a legitimate and viable championship team. Of course, there are still significant tests down the road with Missouri and possibly Oklahoma in the Big 12 title game. This team is in the top 10 in the nation on offense and just outside the top ten on defense, sitting at No.  12. And they don't beat themselves, leading the country in turnover margin. They whipped up on Kansas State after the Wildcats went down to Austin and showed out. Many thought this past weekend's game versus Oklahoma State would be difficult. I have no idea why. The Cowboys' head coach may be a man, but their defense has none.

So, let's sit back, relax and recognize that this Kansas team is pretty freakin' good. Kansas fans, if you would, please read the small print accompanying this rant which indemnifies me if your season goes to hell!