KU Football Recycler: Battle for Kansas, Wild Bill Snyder and Much More

[DJ Goodwin]

The Battle For Kansas | Mark Mangino described it as one of the biggest sporting events in Kansas. I can't think of anything bigger. Don't talk to me about NASCAR. Anyway, it's a fantastic rivalry that KU currently leads 65-36-5. This year we get an interesting twist in that it is an elimination game. I can't remember the last time this game carried this much weight in the division or conference race. I can remember the teams battling late in the season and one or the other looking to stay in the north race. A little more common was one or both trying to find bowl eligibility. Both teams playing this late in the season for the opportunity to get a huge leg up in the north race takes this thing to a whole new level. KU brings more overall talent to the table, but comes in riding a three-game losing streak. KSU is riding the momentum of a "good loss" at Norman and appears to be in the proper frame of mind to take the Jayhawks out. Interesting though, if the KU offense could rediscover the basics of football, everything changes. I guess we should note that the last reported sighting of the true KU offense was in Boulder during the second half. A little North division competition may be just what the doctor ordered.

Buffs Lose Scott | Remember when Darrell Scott and Jocques Crawford came into the North during the same year as huge running back recruits. I guess that era is officially over.

Big 12 Bowl Line-up 2010 | The Big 12 announced it's future bowl agreement. I'd like to see some dates on these:

Tostitos Fiesta Bowl and/or BCS National Championship Game
AT&T Cotton (SEC)
Valero Alamo (Pac-10)
Insight (Big Ten)
Pacific Life Holiday (Pac-10)
Texas (Big Ten)
New York Yankees (Big East)
Dallas Football Classic/Eagle Bank (Big Ten/ACC)

Enemy Recon: KSU Press Conference (link):

Bill Snyder on facing KU head coach Mark Mangino ...
"The hardest part about it is the fact that he has a very fine football team. That's what makes it more complex than anything else.''

Snyder on Todd Reesing ...
"Todd is probably the most intelligent quarterback in the game today. He has a 4.0 GPA, he makes good decisions and he always seems to know where to go with the football. He stands in and finds the throwing lanes that they create for him. He has the ability get outside of the pocket and can run the ball pretty well. He is also a tough young guy. He throws the ball very well and he can put the ball just about wherever he wants. He has got some excellent receivers to throw to.

Snyder on Dezmon Briscoe and Kerry Meier ...
"They both have very good size. They have the ability to lay out for the ball; they can catch just about anything that is thrown their way. Kerry has as good of hands as you can find in college football. He has a knack to get himself into open spaces. It's hard to defend those guys. Their numbers that they are putting up this year are a testament to that."

Snyder onthe importance of winning against KU ...
"Well, I'm quite certain that the vast majority of our players would like to bring the Governor's Cup back to Manhattan. This game is very important to all of our team, especially our players from Kansas. I think that this is a very significant game for every one involved on both sides."

Keithen Valentine on playing Kansas ...
"Everybody talks about it at the beginning of the season, it is here now and everybody was looking forward to it on the schedule and everyone is getting pumped up for it."

DL Jeffrey Fitzgerald on the Kansas offense ...
"They are a very talented offensive team. They have a great quarterback, great skill position players and a pretty good offensive line."

DB Tysyn Hartman on K-State/Kansas rivalry ...
"I did not watch it real closely. Growing up K-State was known for football and KU was known for basketball but recently they have had a good run and we are looking to end that."

Undefeated Stays Intact | All seven teams survived the week. Alabama had a bye, but now it's time for the big one (see bold).

Florida (8-0) - Vanderbilt (2-7)
Texas (8-0) - UCF (5-3)
Alabama (8-0) - LSU (7-1)
Cincinnati (8-0) - UCONN (4-4)
Iowa (9-0) - Northwestern (5-4)
Boise St. (8-0) - @Louisiana Tech (3-5) (Fri)
TCU (8-0) - @San Diego State (4-4)

Non-Con Report | The Blue Devils may be KU's best win to date. Duke picked up a nice 28-17 win at Virginia and is now 5-3. They play football at North Carolina this weekend. UTEP lost to UAB 33-38 at home and now stand at 3-5. USM lost 43-50 at Houston and are now 5-4. Northern Colorado took a 21-17 home win over South Dakota to move to 3-6 on the year. It all adds up to a 16-18 record.

[DJ Goodwin]

Charles is right, Kevin ... this our final shot at Shreveport.

[Charles O'Brien]

The Texas Bowl has been around since 06. Right now the Big XII sends a team (if available) to play the Big East/CUSA/MWC. It is a lower end bowl.

The Dallas Bowl will have its first game next New Years Day in the Cotton Bowl...the powers that be decided that just because the Cotton Bowl was moving to the new Cowboys stadium didn't mean that the Cotton Bowl should be done housing bowl games.

The Yankees Bowl is another new bowl set to take place in the new Yankee stadium. Next year will be the inaugural game. It pits the Big XII 7th (8th if two teams are in the BCS) against the Big East 3/4.

The Independence Bowl ends its tie-in this year unless something changes quickly.

[Kevin Eaton]

Hate to say it but some of these bowls to never heard of. ie Texas bowl, Dallas bowl and yankees bowl. What happed to Independence bowl don't we have tie in to that. But I we don't beat the kittens we may not have to worry about bowling. Man Up guys Beat the Cats.

[Charles O'Brien]

I don't think Alabama will have as many problems with LSU as Iowa will have with Northwestern. Northwestern has 4 losses on the year and have been in every one of those games except Penn State...and they were close with them for a while. Iowa doesn't match up well with Northwestern in the same way that they didn't match up well with Indiana...which was about 2 scores closer than the final score.

I think it is interesting to note that the Holiday Bowl is taking such a drastic step back in prestige...I always kinda thought it was at the bottom end of the same level that the Cotton Bowl was on.