The Jayhawk Nation is still a buzz, or better yet remains on a bender, as evidenced by the messageboard sage who scoff at the odds maker’s 34.5 line. Time to accept that arguably the best team in the land will not simply forgo their ticket to Pasadena to aid us in our quest for the Ft. Worth Bowl.
Anyway….more to come later this week as we send our love to the lone expert who picked the Jayhawks, not only to cover, but to pick up the sixth win in Austin. I’ll leave you with that teaser and move on to this week’s lineup:
Kansas (+34.5) at Texas
Texas Tech (-24) at Oklahoma St.
Rutgers (+21.5) at Louisville
LSU (-3) at Alabama
Georgia (-3) at Auburn
And on to this week’s picks:
Kansas vs. Texas –
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Kansas Jayhawks vs. Texas Longhorns |  |
While the sports editors in Austin and Lawrence have focused their coverage on the last year’s near miss, I’m going to dedicate this week’s KU coverage on media maturation. Just as I’ve kept you apprised of the gridiron evolution in Lawrence – the gradual ascent to the top of national defensive rushing stats, discovering a field general by week eight, dislodging the Big Red monkey/barnacle – the media continues to focus on the Jayhawk football shortcomings and/or has turned their attention to the start of the basketball season. And just when I want to paint the media with a broad, disparaging brush, one brave contributor steps forward and puts his newsroom reputation on the line. Who would display such hubris you ask? Insert one Clucko the Chicken. Yes….of the dozen collegefootballnews.com “experts”, Clucko stood up and picked the Jayhawks. Sure, you may cry a “birds of a feather” bias but there is a hard science behind his selection. In a secure collegefootballnews lab two plates of seed, one per team, are presented to Clucko. After deep thought and thorough consideration, Clucko opted for the Nick Reid, Charlton Keith, Charles Gordon lead Jayhawk defense. Rock Chalk Clucko….Rock Chalk.
OK…where close childhood friend, and former Texas Cowboy, Patrick Walker feels the Horns need to create two if not three turnovers to cover the 34.5….I think all you need is this year’s Heisman frontrunner. A score of 45 – 10 is not out of the question for this Texas team. But I am going to follow the sage advice of Clucko and take the Hawks to cover. First hand I expect to see this defense to keep Texas under 30, the KU offense scores twice (7 and 3), and either a special teams or defensive touchdown. The Hawks cover this weekend and Texas continues their march westward.
Other picks –
The Orange Cowboys are taken behind the woodshed. Tech covers
The Friday Night Lights shine in Louisville – BTW is should be consider sacrilegious for a BCS team to steal the spotlight from the highschool game – Louisville rolls at home but does not cover.
Bama is exposed and the BCS discussion is put to rest – unfortunately. LSU wins and covers.
Dogs roll and Auburn sets their sights on Tech in the Cotton Bowl.
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