It's one of the best weeks of the football season. Up there with the Red River shootout, bowl week and the opening weekend of the NCAA tournament. Rivals get together to close out their season in a contest that means everything to each of them, regardless of each others record. USC-Notre Dame, Auburn-Alabama, Bedlam, the list just goes on. Three years ago, Missouri and kansas met in the first Border War game held at Arrowhead, ranked 2nd and 4th in the country. It was the highest rated regular season game of the year, propelled both teams to great bowl games that year and high hopes for both programs futures. However, since the close of the 2007 season, the teams have headed in somewhat different directions. Missouri has won 28 games since and has reached double digit wins in 2 of the 3 seasons. kansas has won 16 games, lost 16 of their last 19, finished last in a weak north division twice and as you can see from the photo, pretty much embarrassed their university with poor attendance; make that piss poor attendance in a game held 45 minutes from their campus.
To see how far this has fallen, we rolled into Arrowhead Stadium yesterday at 10:00 am for the 11:30 kickoff in a morning game broadcast on Fox Sports. Missouri opened as a 28 point favorite, and despite the records, this is almost always a game that comes down to whoever has the ball last. But not yesterday. Missouri jumped out to a 14-0 first quarter lead and 21-0 by halftime. They held the jayhawks to 141 yards of offense and dominated both lines of scrimmage. Frankly, the game was never in doubt, and while some would say it makes for a boring game, there's a lot to love about destroying your rival. The Tigers opened as a 28 point favorite, but I didn't believe they would cover. Since the final margin was in fact 28, the game was a push and didn't figure in, on what was a pretty mediocre week for me. I wound up 5-1 straight up, pushing me to 70-20 for the year, but 2-3 against the spread and 39-42 for the season. I need some luck this week as a few regular season games as well as conference title games remain to be played.
The weekend began on Thanksgiving evening in the Big XII where Texas A&M traveled to cross state rival Texas, attempting to gain a share of the south title, and the horns hoping to salvage something, anything from a lost season. The Aggies opened up as 4 1/2 point favorites but I really thought that UT had already packed it in for the season. I was correct for a change. The whorns tried to make a game of it, but A&M running back Cyrus Gray rushed for 223 yards yards and 2 touchdown as the Aggies held on to win, 24-17.
A game that I whiffed on completely happened Friday in Lincoln where corn nation opened as 24 point favorites over a Colorado team that had enjoyed something of a revival since Dan Hawkins was fired. I thought the Buffs would make more of a game of it, but the hicks were firing on all cylinders, despite losing Taylor Martinez and Niles Paul. Nebraska covered and won 45-17. Next week the tractors will be fueled up and heading south as a combine caravan heads toward Dallas and Jerry World for the final Big XII title game against Oklahoma, who won in something of an upset their selves in a 47-41semi upset of Oklahoma State in Stillwater. Had the Cowboys won they would have taken sole possession of the south and would have gotten their rematch with the corn. But it wasn't to be. Okie Lite reminds me of the 2008 Tigers in that they can score at will, but play absolutely no defense when they face an offense with a pulse. Like Missouri, they'll sit at home with their 10-2 record and hope for the best when bowl selection Sunday captures all of our attention a week from today.
In a couple of games that fall into the "who gives a shit" catagory, the Kansas State Wildcats played a surprisingly tough North Texas team that really had nothing to look forward to except possibly closing out with a win against a team from a BCS conference team. It was the Mean Green's final game at Fouts Field and apparently not much of a turnout. K State finished the season at 7-5 and may well be appearing in the first ever Pinstripe bowl played in balmy New York City at some point over the holidays, for some unknown reason. Texas Tech also went to 7-5 with a 35-20 win over the Houston Cougars. I wouldn't be surprised to see the Red Raiders win up in Houston this year at the Texas Bowl.
So, it's an off week for most of college football, except for a few remaining games and some conference championship match ups. We'll take a look at those later this week. In the meantime, have a great week.
To see how far this has fallen, we rolled into Arrowhead Stadium yesterday at 10:00 am for the 11:30 kickoff in a morning game broadcast on Fox Sports. Missouri opened as a 28 point favorite, and despite the records, this is almost always a game that comes down to whoever has the ball last. But not yesterday. Missouri jumped out to a 14-0 first quarter lead and 21-0 by halftime. They held the jayhawks to 141 yards of offense and dominated both lines of scrimmage. Frankly, the game was never in doubt, and while some would say it makes for a boring game, there's a lot to love about destroying your rival. The Tigers opened as a 28 point favorite, but I didn't believe they would cover. Since the final margin was in fact 28, the game was a push and didn't figure in, on what was a pretty mediocre week for me. I wound up 5-1 straight up, pushing me to 70-20 for the year, but 2-3 against the spread and 39-42 for the season. I need some luck this week as a few regular season games as well as conference title games remain to be played.
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