BCS rank 'the right number' / LJWorld.com

Archive for Tuesday, November 13, 2007

November 13, 2007

Defending his vote

Journal-World sports editor Tom Keegan has KU ranked fourth in his national football poll. Want to know why? Enlarge video

Talib named Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week

In last Saturday's sweep in Stillwater, Junior QB Aqib Talib recorded a career-high 9 tackles. Enlarge video

Reesing guides Hawks to victory

With the Jayhawks trailing in the second quarter, Todd Reesing's completion to Marcus Henry not only moved the chains but kept the momentum for the Jayhawks. Enlarge video

Don't get greedy.

So what if zero is still less than one? Who cares if a Duck is getting more respect than a majestic Jayhawk? Kansas University football fans Monday weren't complaining too loudly that the Jayhawks improved only to No. 3 in the Bowl Championship Series standings.

KU is the last BCS school that is undefeated. The No. 1 and No. 2 universities - the Louisiana State Tigers and the Oregon Ducks - both have one loss. Kansas is No. 4 in the major national polls of coaches and sports writers. Oklahoma - another one-loss team - is also ahead of KU in those polls.

"Kansans always do better as underdogs," said Paul Dietz, of Lawrence. "We don't want to jinx it."

Yeah. Anybody remember KU vs. Syracuse?

If the season were to end today, KU would be shut out of the national championship game, while two one-loss teams would be battling for the big trophy. But several KU fans said they were fine with that because, after all, the season doesn't end today.

"I think No. 3 is the right number to be at right now," said Todd York, of Lawrence. "I think it will all end up taking care of itself. I think we could still end the season as the obvious No. 1."

That was the sentiment of Michael Austin, who said he's fine with the amount of respect the Jayhawks are receiving. After all, Hawaii, a non-BCS school and the only other unbeaten in major college football, is No. 16 in the BCS standings.

One game at a time, the Lawrence man said.

Right. Iowa State is up next.

Not that game, Austin said.

"My only stance is that we definitely need to beat Missouri," he said of the game two weeks away that should decide the Big 12 North championship. "We have to beat Missouri because if we don't, they'll have the privilege of saying they beat us when we're the best we've been in 100 years. We can't let that happen."

Discussion

LJWorld.com doesn't necessarily condone the comments here, nor does it review every post.
Read our full policy. Also, read about banned accounts and harassing comments.

13 November 2007
at 6:02 a.m.

Suggest removal

Permalink

classclown (Anonymous) says…

Majestic Jayhawk? Majestic? Really?

You do realize that you're talking about a cartoon character don't you? Save the word 'majestic' for real animals.
13 November 2007
at 9 a.m.

Suggest removal

Permalink

big_blue (Anonymous) says…

“Yeah. Anybody remember KU vs. Syracuse?”

nice “reporting” chad.
13 November 2007
at 10:03 a.m.

Suggest removal

Permalink

claireredfield (Anonymous) says…

Important questions for you folks to consider (from the LA Times yesterday)

So is Kansas getting a free pass because it plays in a BCS conference?

Is it the same pass Kansas State got in 1998?

Does anyone believe that Kansas would be undefeated this season playing in the SEC or Pac-10?

Does anyone think Kansas would be undefeated now if it had to play Texas in Austin or Oklahoma in Norman?

Just so you know, the answers to the questions above are as follows: yes, yes, no, no.

And by the way, I'm not even from Kansas. I don't even like football - college or otherwise. I just happen to live in Lawrence right now, I've read the national (non-Lawrence) press, and I'm with the rest of the country in understanding that KUs “history making” record is simply due to a weak schedule. My ego isn't on the line. Yours is. It clouds your vision.

I hope you don't delete this post. Let's see how people try and refute the cold hard facts.
13 November 2007
at 10:14 a.m.

Suggest removal

Permalink

stuckinthemiddle (Anonymous) says…

claireredfield
Hmmm… no reason to think that your post would be deleted… but most of it should simply be ignored because it's pure conjecture about nonexistent hypothetical situations…

The best thing about all this is that the KU football team has a chance to prove you, the LA Times and all the other doubters wrong… And quite frankly, the only way you all could be proven right is if the Jayhawks lose to ISU this Saturday, or take a bad loss in a bowl game, other than the national championship…
13 November 2007
at 10:15 a.m.

Suggest removal

Permalink

b_asinbeer (Anonymous) says…

It's preposterous to compare the Big 12 to the Pac-10 or the SEC…Big 12 has 3 teams in the top 6. neither the Pac-10 nor the SEC can say the same.

Refute that cold hard fact.
13 November 2007
at 10:22 a.m.

Suggest removal

Permalink

stuckinthemiddle (Anonymous) says…

b_asinbeer
Excellent point…
Do you suppose clarieredfield's LA Times article mentioned that?
13 November 2007
at 10:56 a.m.

Suggest removal

Permalink

commonsense (Anonymous) says…

So far, I think KU fans have done OK, considering the fact that in the past, if we won a big game, we tore down the goal posts every chance we got. We should be happy to be number three, and I understand why most people across the country don't respect our team. We can't help the overall performance of the BigXII. There are 3 teams in the top 10, which is great, but the rest didn't fare so well this year, and that hurts KUs credibility. We won our non-conference, but seriously, they should be ripping us for that pathetic scheduling.

Central Michigan 6-4
SE Louisiana 2-8
Toledo 5-5
Florida International 0-9

Our non-conference foes are a whopping 13-26. A win % of .333

Here is our conference schedule, which people can't ridicule, because these games are set on a rotation and have to be played:

K-State 5-5
Baylor 3-8
Colorado 5-6
Texas A&M 6-5
Nebraska 5-6
Oklahoma St 5-5

Our conference foes recorded a less than spectacular 29-35 record. A win % of .453

Therefore, we have played 2 (TWO of TEN) teams this year with a winning record. The rest are .500 or well below. We didn't play Texas or OU, which is not our fault. So, one can clearly see how people don't respect our ranking. They may like our team, they may like what we have done this year, they may like the fact that KU came out of no where like so many other teams this year, but they do not have to respect our ranking. if we beat isu, and if we beat mizzou, then we have to prove ourselves against a giant like oklahoma. Beating a tough team like mizzou at arrowhead, could be difficult and a loss would hurt our BCS bid, even at 11-1 because they will look at the schedule. mangino (who I like and respect, but disagree with his scheduling tactics) will take a ton of criticism from that National Media, but it will be clear that KU had one of its finest seasons ever (Remember Bill Snyder, always a bridesmaid and the K-State nation was apathetically content). I hope we don't end up like them. I hope we strive for more. That being said, we should keep our mouths closed, remain humble, and await the outcome of each game. If we beat a 3-8 ISU team this weekend, we should still remain stoic, and watch what happens to the rest of the country. go hawks!

13 November 2007
at 11:32 a.m.

Suggest removal

Permalink

claireredfield (Anonymous) says…

“So, one can clearly see how people don't respect our ranking.”

Thank you for understanding.
13 November 2007
at 12:29 p.m.

Suggest removal

Permalink

vavs0929 (Anonymous) says…

Sorry.. but Ohio State had a relatively “weak” pre-conference schedule just like we did. It builds momentum at the beginning of a season and thats what it did for KU— yeah, at first I may have thought that our pre-conference games were scheduled to be easy wins, and they may have been, but KU won, they built the momentum for us to be more confident in our conference games and we are still undefeated.

Im happy that we are #3, cause like the article said “remember Syracuse” which I do…even though it was basketball, we were ranked too high and the basic concept transfers to football this year… so yeah.. go hawks.
13 November 2007
at 12:30 p.m.

Suggest removal

Permalink

kujayhawk (Anonymous) says…

I can't believe the LA times would criticize the Big XII (sarcasm). Who cares about our non-conference schedule, if you run the table in a BCS conference, you deserve a chance at a NC. You can make the same weak argument about Ohio State, Oklahoma, Missouri, West Virginia, Virginia Tech, Hawaii and a host of other school's schedule that are near the top of the BCS rankings. Hell, Georgia is in the BCS top 10 and they've lost 2 games. If we run the table we will have beaten 3 top 10 bcs teams which will make our SOS one of the toughest in the country. If you run the table in a BCS conference and don't get a shot to play for a national title, then college football's national championship game is a popularity contest, not a true national championship.
13 November 2007
at 12:36 p.m.

Suggest removal

Permalink

BigDog (Anonymous) says…

First it was Kansas can't win on the road ….. so they go on the road to Manhattan and beat Kansas State …. the same Kansas State team that beat Texas handily. Then it is said …. well that was a rivalry game …. they won't win at Colorado (afterall they beat the “giant” Oklahoma). Kansas goes to Colorado and wins. Then there is the “well they still have to play at College Station and they have never won there” …… and they win there. Then there were those who said that Oklahoma State was going to be their downfall because Oklahoma State should have beaten Texas the weak before and had been on a terror the last six games.

Face it ….. just like many national sport broadcasters are saying ….. if Kansas wins their next three games they no doubt belong in the BCS National Championship. In order to do that they will have to beat Iowa State and the number 3 and 4 teams in the BCS rankings. What teams in the PAC 10 have beaten teams ranked highly in the BCS? If you look at the pre-conference schedule of Oklahoma and Texas ….. not really much tougher than Kansas. Oklahoma played Tulsa, Utah State, North Texas, and Miami (maybe the exception). Texas played Arkansas State, Central Florida, Rice, and TCU.
13 November 2007
at 7:45 p.m.

Suggest removal

Permalink

jayhawks71 (Anonymous) says…

Clairedirtfield is a TROLL, plain and simple.

“An Internet troll, or simply troll in Internet slang, is someone who intentionally posts controversial or contrary messages in an on-line community such as an on-line discussion forum or group with the intention of baiting users into an argumentative response.”

This is at least the second article where claire has posted the same remarks. Refute my claim in light of the definition claire.
14 November 2007
at 3:25 a.m.

Suggest removal

Permalink

The_Voice_of_Reason (Anonymous) says…

If I may add…. Yes KU has had a somewhat softer season than usual…. BUT they still beat everyone that came in front of them, usually by a VERY wide margin and just so claireredfield knows because “he is not a football fan” OU and MU haven't had that much harder of a season either…. the only teams MU played that were ranked at the time were #25 Nebraska and #24 Texas tech and their only loss was to #6 OU IN Norman! Yes OU beat #19 Texas and MU but not by very much AND! their only loss was to Colorado…. A team WE beat on their own turf! So to all of the doubters I say wait and see… because I doubted them at the beginning of the season and they have made a believer out of me…

Just my two cents…. V of R

GO Hawks!