Thursday, November 5, 2009
Dennis Dodd, senior writer for CBSSports.com, spends most of his time traveling, watching games and writing sports stories. Dodd covers college football in his column but says it’s a year-round job no matter what beat you’re covering. On Tuesday, he took time from his busy schedule to talk Big 12 Football, the BCS Championship and Kansas basketball.
Big 12 Football
The big story in Big 12 Football is the fight for the North. Dodd said that the jumble of teams and performances in the division make it the story to follow. Teams like Texas always do well, but this week the focus should be on Kansas vs. Kansas State Dodd said. Kansas State went 2-6 in Big 12 play last year.
“No one expected Kansas State to be any good,” Dodd said.
With the return of coach Bill Snyder to Kansas State, the Wildcats have gone 3-2 in conference play with a surprising 62-14 victory against Texas A&M, Oct. 17. This was not the Kansas State team that writers, including Dodd, saw coming into the beginning of the season and the Sunflower Showdown could be an elimination game for the Big 12 North, Dodd said.
BCS
In the BCS race, Dodd is following the smaller teams such as TCU, Cincinnati and Boise State, who are all gunning for a bowl game. All three teams are undefeated going into this week with Cincinnati ranked 5th, TCU ranked 6th and Boise State ranked 7th in the BCS poll. Dodd said his biggest fear is that these teams will go up against each other, hurting their chances to play against some big schools in the postseason.
Iowa, currently ranked 4th in the BCS polls is also on Dodd’s radar. Iowa has crept up the BCS rankings after making their first appearance since their preseason rank of 22nd, in week 5 at 13th. The Hawkeyes are undefeated and beat teams such as Michigan and Indiana already this season. Dodd said they could be on their way to the national championship game if Texas, Florida or Alabama have any upsets.
“They’re like Lyndon Johnson becoming the president,” Dodd said. “They’re just a heartbeat away if one of those teams fall.”
Kansas Basketball
As football heads into the second half of its season, Dodd is already looking at the potential for the Kansas men’s basketball team. Kansas is currently ranked No. 1 in the preseason polls and Dodd said he thinks they deserve it.
“It’s almost a curse being ranked No. 1 going into the season,” Dodd said. “Luckily the rankings aren’t as important in college basketball because of the tournament.”
Two years ago, Dodd said that Kansas kind of came out of nowhere in the its rise to national champions. With returning All-Americans Sherron Collins and Cole Aldrich, and coach Bill Self, whom Dodd highly respects, he said he expects that the team can go all the way to the National Championship again this season.
— Edited by Alicia Banister
Goble: Small schools deserve a chance
Non-BCS schools are ranked too low in preseason polls.
Toland: Voting bias spans coast-to-coast
West coast bias also prevalent in college football.
Big 12 conference remains unstable
And then there were nine...
Lavieri: TCU would bring renewed rivalries to ...
The Big 12 would welcome TCU into the conference, as Missouri appears ...
Shroyer: BCS isn’t only judge of top ...
Kansan Shawn Shroyer kicks off the debate about the first BCS rankings ...
TCU invited to join Big 12
The Big 12 has extended an invitation to Texas Christian University to ...
Toland: No way to tell who's really ...
The most interesting match ups in college basketball won't see the court ...
One game at a time
In order to have a chance at the BCS National Championship game, ...
Appalachian State raises more questions about ranking ...
At the end of each college football season, a normally controversial bowl ...
Dent: You won't regret watching tennis
The Big 12 Tennis Championships are being held at the Plaza Tennis ...
Blog: Initial reactions to the first BCS ...
Trevor Graff goes over the current BCS standings and explains what each ...
National college football preview
Staff writer Case Keefer previews the nation's college football action. There are ...
Rankings: Oct. 29, 2007
The Kansas football team’s 19-11 victory against Texas A&M on Saturday was ...
Blog: Where will Kansas land in the ...
Sam Kovzan takes a look at possible conference destinations for KU
Iowa State Gameday
Take a glimpse at Iowa State football, Kansas' opponent this weekend.
Morning Brew: How legit are sports pundits ...
Fluctuating polls and illegitimate expert opinions muddy up football debates.
Column: Ranking this season’s bowl games
Take a look at Kory Carpenter’s ranking of this winter’s college football’s ...
Morning Brew: The BCS is a sham
Placing TCU and Boise State against each other in the Humanitarian Bowl ...
Coaches argue about preseason polls
The debate continues about how accurately college football polls reflect team talent.
Football notebook: October 2, 2007
Kansas ranked 40th in AP poll, 28th in USA Today’s Coaches’ poll
Kansan's OK with living in the shadow ...
KU basketball traditions don't come close to clout and money of UT's ...
Wheeler: Small-time opener benefits Jayhawks
Kansas’ easy schedule should allow the team to gain confidence and have ...
BCS Watch
Kansas climbs to No. 2 in the BCS rankings
Ranking the Big 12
How one writer stacks up the conference's 10 teams early in the ...
Wheeler: College postseason should be tournament
With consistent upsets of unranked teams beating college football powerhouses this season, ...
Dufek: The upsets are coming
In terms of upsets, 2008 has been a pretty mild season. But ...
Kansas ranked No. 3 in Monday's polls
Men's basketball up one rank in the Associated Press and ESPN/USA Today ...
Texas and Texas Tech dominate poll
Men's and women's track teams ranked nationally
The men fell from 12th place to 14th while the women joined ...
Could Kansas meet this season’s Cinderella team ...
The East Carolina Pirates could be considered this year’s version of last ...
Johnson: Two can share the spotlight
Kansas has the potential to become a major contender in football as ...
Offensive flood defeats Baylor
After more than two hours of weather delays, Kansas drilled Baylor with ...
Jayhawks receive votes in major polls
Check out Kansan sportswriter Andrew Wiebe's women's basketball notes.
Bowls put Big 12 rep on the ...
The Big 12 should have an easy ride, but one upset could ...
Toland: Hope springs eternal next semester
With football's disappointing season in the rearview mirror, it's time to focus ...
Gill has no regrets
Despite Saturday’s one-point loss to Baylor, coach Turner Gill stands next to ...
Gameday: Nov. 29
The Border Showdown is Saturday at Arrowhead. Kansas will play Missouri at ...
Big 12 boasts three of nation’s best
In recent years, Texas and Oklahoma were the only consistent representatives for ...
Kansas drops to No. 5 in BCS ...
After Missouri defeated Kansas on Saturday, the Jayhawks’ rank, previously No. 2, ...
A step backward for Kansas football?
College football expert Phil Steele has Kansas at No. 30 in his ...
Kansas Jayhawk fans hold aloft a reproduction of ...
2 comments
Erin Saupe, a Ph.D. student from St. Cloud, ...
1 comment
0 comments
Armed robbers continue to threaten.
3 comments
Lecture from Greg Mortenson, co-author of New York ...
0 comments
KUnited presidential candidate Libby Johnson and vice presidential ...
1 comment
Comments
Use the comment form below to begin a discussion about this content.
Sign in to comment
Or login with:
OpenID