Woodling: Jayhawks among picks of winners this week
It looks like Kansas University will be playing its last road football game this season in Boone Pickens Stadium.
Oklahoma State athletic director Harry Birdwell said he would recommend the naming to the school’s board of regents today. How can the regents say no? Pickens, an oil tycoon, has pledged more than $70 million to his alma mater.
Heck, for $70 million, a lot of schools would rename their entire school, not just the football stadium.
Still, the renaming of OSU’s stadium makes me wonder how long it will be before universities follow the lead of the pros and sell stadium naming rights.
In the Big 12 Conference, one stadium already bears a corporation name. Texas Tech recently retagged its Jones Stadium as Jones SBC Stadium after the telecommunications company ponied up for a refurbishing.
KU’s football facility has been known as Memorial Stadium ever since it was built after World War I. Or was it the Boer War?
Traditionalists may scoff at renaming the recently refurbished relic at the base of Campanile Hill in order to make money for the athletic department, but who ever thought 10 years ago that Allen Fieldhouse would be full of advertising signs?
Now let’s get down to business. I went 10-1 in last week’s Whack Woodling contest. Guess which game I missed? Yep, I picked the Jayhawks to knock off Northwestern.
Undaunted, I’m going with Kansas again this week, even though the Jayhawks are 111/2-point underdogs against UNLV. Don’t think it’ll happen? Then go online to kusports.com and try to whack me. It’s easy, and you might win a coveted “We Whacked Woodling” T-shirt.
Here are this week’s Big 12 picks:
Nebraska 29, Utah State 6 — Cornmen suffer slight letdown after satisfying squelching of Oklahoma State last week. Utags have cornfield defense, cornpone offense.
Iowa State 27, Ohio 0 — Cyclones weren’t all that whippy in 17-10 win over former KU assistant coach Mark Farley’s Division I-AA Northern Iowa squad Saturday, but bedraggled Bobcats won’t be sighted much in ISU end zone.
Colorado 46, UCLA 37 — CU quarterback Joel Klatt won’t throw for over 400 yards again this week. Or will he? First-year UCLA coach Karl Dorrell may need to bring barrage balloons to Boulder.
Missouri 33, Ball State 11 — Flood waters raced through Muncie, Ind., last week. Now Muncie and Ball State are bracing for Missouri and rampaging quarterback Brad Smith.
Texas Tech 28, New Mexico 13 — New Mexico has a female kicker, but Texas Tech has Wes Welker, wiggly kick returner deluxe. Tech blistered Lobos, 49-0, in Albuquerque last year, but it’ll be much closer this time.
Oklahoma State 44, Wyoming 4 — Cowboys, still smarting from loss to Nebraska, take it out on, uh, Cowboys, softening Wyoming up for next Saturday’s visit to Laramie by Kansas.
Kansas State 32, McNeese State 19 — McNeese State may be the best Div. I-AA team in the country, so this won’t be the cakewalk KSU fans have come to expect in September, particularly if Darren Sproles isn’t at full speed.
Alabama 20, Oklahoma 18 — Give Bob Stoops credit for standing in the path of bullets. Oklahoma didn’t have to agree to play at Alabama, but Stoops gave it the OK. Unfortunately, the loss will cost OU a chance at the national title.
Texas A&M 40, Utah 23 — Let’s see, Utah State is playing at Nebraska, and Utah is at Texas A&M. Why isn’t Brigham Young playing a Big 12 Conference team?
North Texas 29, Baylor 20 — You know you’re going bad when you’re a 151/2-point underdog against North Texas. But at least the Bears will beat the spread. That’s something.
Kansas 22, UNLV 20 — Jayhawks needed a raincheck Saturday against Northwestern. Will they play better on a dry field? They’ll have to because Rebels aren’t nickel slots.