The North Will Rise Again!
2 comments so far
June 4, 2009 by
With the Big 12 South's total domination in the Big 12 Championship game for the last five years, the Big 12 North has to make some changes in order to steal a victory away from the toughest division in the country. It will take more than just a North team "stepping up their game" to take down one of the top Big 12 South opponents. Texas and Oklahoma are returning Heisman hopefuls at quarterback, and Texas Tech, as usual, just appears to be restocking their cupboards with talent fit for their system. I discount the Red Raiders only slightly because Texas and Oklahoma have represented the South for the last 10 games. No, one team can't get it done by themselves, and Phil Steele gave me the indication that the North is on track to take the Championship this year or next.
Up until 2007, Kansas State, Colorado, and Nebraska were the only teams to represent the North in the Big 12 Title game. Missouri swept onto the scene the last few years with a level of talent that was headed for the NFL, the only surefire way to win games. But the emergence of Kansas and Missouri was bad for the Big 12 as a whole. There is only so much talent to go around and it was spread pretty thin over the North teams. The South had its pick of the cream of the crop - I'm sure there were guys sitting on the bench of UT and OU that could have started for one of the teams sitting at the bottom of the Big 12.
It's not until the Wildcats, Huskers, and Buffs are the top teams that the North that Nebraska can get its shot to win. Nebraska has the highest average finish in the Big 12 North since the beginning of the Conference and actually has the second highest average finish in the Big 12 (tied with Oklahoma). Nebraska was the first school to win the Conference Title twice, and it's only by the top three North schools returning to form, that we can consistently compete. Phil Steele is only the first of what I think will be many people suggesting that there is going to be a shift in the Big 12.
Inspiration, strangely enough, should come from teams like Kansas State - where they defeated a "better" Texas team in '06 and '07 when most people clearly thought they did not have a chance. Colorado nearly knocked Nebraska out of a January bowl game a few months ago, if not for game-saving heroics. What we didn't see was anything worthy of taking inspiration from in 2008 in the Win column from those two teams. I hate to say it, but those two teams must be much better for Nebraska to look like they've got a shot.
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Matt Jun 04 09
I think Nebraska will have plenty of inspiration when we beat VTech at their place this year and roll into the Oklahoma game undefeated.
That will have given us a win over a South team not named Baylor (if memory serves me right), and with Oklahoma being on a downswing and Nebraska on an upswing...
Scott Jun 21 09
Missouri and Kansas can easily take the place of K-State and Colorado. I agree the talent can't be spread too thin but can switch places. NU will be fine if KSU and CU are poor.