csourk article: 10-12

Just another “ho-hum week” in the world of college football . . . For the second time in three weeks, three of the top five teams were upset. This past weekend may have been the most hyped weekend of the college football season:

Texas and Oklahoma hooked up for their annually billed “Game of the Millennium.”
The last two national champions-- LSU and Florida—hooked up for an “SEC Showdown.” Oklahoma State and Missouri got together for what was supposed to be a “Shootout for the Ages.” And, of course, there were upsets. Auburn, number 20, got clipped by SEC West rival Arkansas, just a few days after Auburn fired their offensive coordinator Tony Franklin. Vanderbilt, number 13, was upset by a brutally “offensive” offense in Mississippi State. And, those poor Michigan fans—first it was Appalachian State, now Toledo. Last, but not least, in what was a great team effort, Oklahoma State, capitalizing on rare Chase Daniel mistakes, upset Missouri.

In my opinion, the story of the weekend was the Big XII. Number 1 Oklahoma, who was looking like a complete juggernaut, was upset by Number 5 Texas. Texas, who has beat Oklahoma three out of the last four times at the Cotton Bowl, played an absolutely great game. Texas was able to outscore Oklahoma (45-35) in what was the highest scoring game in series’ history. I couldn’t leave the TV screen; in my years of watching football, this had to be one of the best games I have ever watched! It was a well-played, hard hitting game that really came down to the final minutes. Colt McCoy has stamped himself as the leading candidate for the Heisman Trophy. Texas’ win over Oklahoma has vaulted them to the top of the rankings nationally, as they play Missouri this weekend, 7 p.m. on ABC.

While on the topic of Missouri. . . talk about a devastating loss. It was all set up to maybe be the game of the year in the nation: Texas had beaten Oklahoma earlier in the day, all that was left was for Missouri to beat an Oklahoma State team, which quite frankly was somewhat of an unknown. Missouri’s offense was never in a sustained rhythm the whole game. Oklahoma State had found a way to slow down Missouri’s high-powered offense; couple that with the Daniel turnovers, and it was a recipe for an upset.

This coming weekend the Kansas State Wildcats head to Boulder to take on the Colorado Buffaloes. Although K-State was able to beat an absolutely awful Texas A&M Aggie team last Saturday in College Station, it was still a pretty ugly game for the Cats. The woeful Aggie’s offense was able to roll up 544 yards of total offense. I hate to say it, but that is just inexcusable. Fortunately, at the end of the day, all that mattered was the Wildcats were able to come out with a much needed win, giving them 4 on the season. Colorado’s offense is really struggling right now and the offensive line is really banged up. The same could be said for the entire offense. Cody Hawkins, son of Head Coach Dan Hawkins, was pulled in favor of Matt Ballenger in the Buffs most recent game against Kansas. The defense is pretty middle of the road, ranking 7th in the Big XII in points given up per game and sixth in yards given up per game. If K-State is going to win this game, they have to be able to run the ball with some effectiveness. Whether it is Josh Freeman, Logan Dold, or Lamark Brown, the Cats need to possess the ball so that Kansas State’s defense stays as far away as possible from the turf. If the defense can show the ability to “bend but not break” and this is a game that they can win.


EDIT: Sorry, it's late. Got busy and forgot. Go Cats.