Thursday, August 16, 2007
The Jayhawks football team has never finished in the top half of the Big 12 North. The national media’s picks are in, and a consensus has emerged: KU fans will probably have to wait another year.
Every outlet surveyed for this story predicted the Jayhawks to finish either fourth or fifth in the North.
“Kansas will be competitive enough to beat just about anyone but inconsistent enough to lose to anyone, too,” Athlon Sports wrote.
Since the Big 12 Conference’s inception in 1996, the Jayhawks’ highest finish in the six-team north division was fourth, in 1999, when the team went 3-5 in conference play.
Chris Stassen, who compiles the accuracy of preseason predictions after each season, considers Phil Steele’s College Football Preview magazine the most accurate preseason magazine of the last eight years. Steele predicted a fifth place finish for KU this year.
“KU should jump off to a 5-1 start this year and achieve bowl eligibility for a third straight year, but finish in the lower half of the Big 12 North standings,” Steele wrote.
The quick start would come courtesy of soft non-conference matchups. The media has noticed Kansas’s conservative preseason schedule. ESPN.com’s Mark Schlabach called Kansas’ schedule the easiest in the country.
“The Jayhawks’ non-conference schedule includes more cream puffs than your favorite bakery: Central Michigan, Division I-AA Southeastern Louisiana, Toledo and Florida International,” Schlabach wrote.
Kansas finished 6-6 last year. Steele wrote that Kansas “could have easily been an 11-2 team last season,” in response to the team’s now infamous string of second-half collapses: overtime losses at Toledo and Nebraska, an 21-18 loss against Texas A&M, in which Kansas blew an 18-7 fourth-quarter lead, a 36-35 loss to Baylor, after Kansas held a 35-17 halftime advantage, and the 42-32 nightmare against Oklahoma State, when KU allowed 42 second-half points, including 300 receiving yards and four touchdowns to Cowboys receiver Adarius Bowman.
A common theme in those meltdowns was a breakdown in the secondary late in games. Not surprisingly, Kansas finished last in the nation against the pass last year.
The majority of media outlets predict a Texas-Nebraska Big 12 Championship Game, which will be held in San Antonio’s Alamodome this year. The Big 12 media collectively took the role of contrarian, choosing Missouri to represent the North against Texas in the conference title game.
Despite these predictions, the media does believe the Jayhawks will be able to handle the weak non-conference schedule, with an improved defense, and earn postseason eligibility. Kansas last played in a bowl game following the 2005 season, when it defeated Houston 42-13 in the Fort Worth Bowl.
“This is an important season for the Jayhawks to reestablish their place in the postseason,” Lindy’s wrote. “Considering the easy non-conference schedule, and no Texas or Oklahoma on the Big 12 slate, the Jayhawks should land a bowl bid.”
The expectations within the KU Athletics Department remain considerably higher than the projections of the press.
Kansas Athletics Director Lew Perkins told media outlets this summer that he expected the football team to win between seven and nine games this season.
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