Kansas Jayhawks

Right now, Kansas is in the driver’s seat in the North with an undefeated record. This is a complete shock to me. I was not expecting the offense of Kansas to be this good. They passed the first real test of the season against Kansas State. Now they have to leave their home state for the first time this season and play at Colorado. Colorado is a team that has steadily improved each week. Even though they lost against the Wildcats, I thought the Buffaloes played well and were just a few mistakes away from really turning the heat on Kansas State. The Buffalo defense will be ready for the Jayhawks. If Kansas can make it out of Boulder with a win, they may be well on their way to being the North division winners. They may even be undefeated when they play the Tigers in the last game of the season (I think they’ll lose to the Tigers, though). I think Missouri will have at least one more conference loss by then, so Kansas should still finish ahead of Missouri no matter the outcome of that game. I believe the Red Raiders will beat the Tigers this weekend. If not the Red Raiders, the Tigers still have to travel to Colorado and Kansas State late in the season. The later in the season you have to play on the road, the harder it is to win. So what about the late season road games for Kansas? Kansas still has to play at A&M and at Oklahoma State. A loss to either team wouldn’t be a shock, but it all comes down to this weekend. The 2 games most important to Kansas this weekend (outside of their own game) is Texas A&M at Nebraska and Kansas State at Oklahoma State. If Texas A&M loses to Nebraska, the Aggies will be in a full tailspin for the rest of the season and won’t be mentally capable of beating a team like Kansas. It would help the Kansas cause if the Cornhuskers win, because otherwise, the Aggies will start playing with confidence. I don’t see Kansas beating the Aggies in College Station against an Aggie team that has something to believe in. Oklahoma State hosts Kansas State on Saturday. I think the Wildcats will slow down the Cowboy offense enough to squeeze out a victory. If Kansas State can beat the Cowboys, surely the Jayhawks can! What appeared to be a meat grinder schedule early in the year is shaping up to be filled with winnable games. The remaining home games for Kansas are against Nebraska, Iowa State, and the aforementioned Missouri Tigers. Kansas should beat Nebraska even if the Cornhuskers beat the Aggies this weekend. The Nebraska versus Texas A&M game is basically a game between 2 washed up coaches. Nebraska won’t gain much by beating the Aggies in terms of playing out the season well. Kansas also has to play Iowa State, but they are still a year or two away from even fielding a team. So, it all comes down to 4 games this weekend for a Jayhawk dream of a division title:
Kansas at Colorado
Kansas State at Oklahoma State
Texas A&M at Nebreaska
Texas Tech at Missouri
If any game should end in an outcome not in the Kansas’ favor, they may as well be doomed to 2nd place. In fact, go ahead and “chalk”up a 2nd place finish for Kansas in the North Division anyway. Knowing their history, they’ll fumble a game away to Iowa State or something.