Time 7:05 P.M. Saturday at Bill Snyder Family Stadium
North Texas Mean Green at Kansas State Wildcats
When most people think of Manhattan , they think of New York City . However, in the rural areas of Kansas there is another Manhattan . It is home to the ferocious Kansas State Wildcats. They used to be horrible in college football by becoming the first team in history to lose five-hundred games, but now they have turned it around the last twenty years. Legendary coach Bill Snyder started and finished the rebuilding process by demolishing non-conference opponents to build confidence for his football team. Kansas State will look to carry on this tradition this Saturday when they host the North Texas Mean Green.
K-State comes in favored by 23.5 for me (instead of 24.5 see below) They are led by third-year QB Josh Freeman. Freeman passed over 250 yards 8 times last year, including a 404 yard performance against Oklahoma State . At 6"5 255lbs, he is built like a Culpepper or JaMarcus Russell. Furthermore, he has great mobility. Freeman's target will be the explosive Deon Murphy who is back after being academically inelgible in the spring. Murphy was voted Big 12 Newcomer of the Year in 2007. The RB is led by newcomer Keithen Valentine who is from Mississippi Delta Community College . He walked on in the spring and became a second-string back. Now he is the starter. Valentine must be the real-deal to go from walk-on to starter in several months given the depth of the K-State ground game which includes Leon Patton. The K-State offense averaged an amazing 35.2 points per game last year in one of the toughest conferences. Now for the defense.
The defense was great the first half of the season, which included their huge upset over Texas and tight loss against Auburn at Jordan-Hare. Unfortunately, they folded in the second half of the season and the team went with them. There were some injuries, but everybody goes through that. K-State has addressed this problem by bringing in more top JUCO talent and the great LB Olu Hall. Who is Olu Hall? He is a sophomore who was a big-time recruit in Virgina. Obviously, this is where head coach Ron Prince used to coach. Hall is considered to grow into a major NFL prospect by different scouts. There is alot of hype surrouding him. K-State also brings back DE Ian Cambell, arguably one of the best in the Big 12. K-State also brings TOP JUCO LB prospects Hansen Sekona and Ulia Pomele The secondary should be solid this year and is led by all Big-12 candidates Joshua Moore and Gary Chandler .This does not even include JUCO transfer Blair Irvin, who originally signed with LSU. Irvin, the former all-star sprinter went to play baseball for the Tampa Bay Rays and is now back concentrating on football after some JUCO time. In general, the defense should be better.
Most people like to knock the Sun Belt Conference and for good reason. They usually get embarassed this time of year in non-conference play (just don't tell the Crimson Tide that). Not only is North Texas in the Sun Belt, but they were one of the worse in the Sun Belt last year. How were they in non-conference play? They started the season by losing 79-10 to Oklahoma . They went to Arkansas and lost 66-7. They went to SMU and lost 45-31. They covered that game, but were actually 18.5 underdogs to SMU. I didn't know it was possible for SMU to be favored by double-digits over anybody. Further research shows that SMU was an underdog most of the year last year. Meanwhile, K-State Head Coach Ron Prince has carried on the Bill Snyder tradition by covering as heavy chalk at home.
Even in last year's losing season he covered his heavy chalk games. K-State pounded conference foe Baylor 51-13 as 26 point chalk. This is significant because they were playing lousy football at the end of last year, yet their one win and cover (final 5 games) was in the bully role. They also pounded I-AA Missouri State 61-10 earlier in the year. Basically, Prince is carrying on the tradition of Bill Snyder by running up the score and picking on cupcake teams like a bully. K-State loves the bully role. The new Nebraska coach Bo Pelini (the architect of last year's LSU defense) once yelled at Bill Snyder after getting blown out of the building when Pelini was defensive coordinator at Nebraska . Snyder basically told him that Nebraska had been running the score up on K-State for decades.
TAKE KANSAS STATE -23.5 (it may be 24 or 24.5 at other places)
North Texas Mean Green at Kansas State Wildcats
When most people think of Manhattan , they think of New York City . However, in the rural areas of Kansas there is another Manhattan . It is home to the ferocious Kansas State Wildcats. They used to be horrible in college football by becoming the first team in history to lose five-hundred games, but now they have turned it around the last twenty years. Legendary coach Bill Snyder started and finished the rebuilding process by demolishing non-conference opponents to build confidence for his football team. Kansas State will look to carry on this tradition this Saturday when they host the North Texas Mean Green.
K-State comes in favored by 23.5 for me (instead of 24.5 see below) They are led by third-year QB Josh Freeman. Freeman passed over 250 yards 8 times last year, including a 404 yard performance against Oklahoma State . At 6"5 255lbs, he is built like a Culpepper or JaMarcus Russell. Furthermore, he has great mobility. Freeman's target will be the explosive Deon Murphy who is back after being academically inelgible in the spring. Murphy was voted Big 12 Newcomer of the Year in 2007. The RB is led by newcomer Keithen Valentine who is from Mississippi Delta Community College . He walked on in the spring and became a second-string back. Now he is the starter. Valentine must be the real-deal to go from walk-on to starter in several months given the depth of the K-State ground game which includes Leon Patton. The K-State offense averaged an amazing 35.2 points per game last year in one of the toughest conferences. Now for the defense.
The defense was great the first half of the season, which included their huge upset over Texas and tight loss against Auburn at Jordan-Hare. Unfortunately, they folded in the second half of the season and the team went with them. There were some injuries, but everybody goes through that. K-State has addressed this problem by bringing in more top JUCO talent and the great LB Olu Hall. Who is Olu Hall? He is a sophomore who was a big-time recruit in Virgina. Obviously, this is where head coach Ron Prince used to coach. Hall is considered to grow into a major NFL prospect by different scouts. There is alot of hype surrouding him. K-State also brings back DE Ian Cambell, arguably one of the best in the Big 12. K-State also brings TOP JUCO LB prospects Hansen Sekona and Ulia Pomele The secondary should be solid this year and is led by all Big-12 candidates Joshua Moore and Gary Chandler .This does not even include JUCO transfer Blair Irvin, who originally signed with LSU. Irvin, the former all-star sprinter went to play baseball for the Tampa Bay Rays and is now back concentrating on football after some JUCO time. In general, the defense should be better.
Most people like to knock the Sun Belt Conference and for good reason. They usually get embarassed this time of year in non-conference play (just don't tell the Crimson Tide that). Not only is North Texas in the Sun Belt, but they were one of the worse in the Sun Belt last year. How were they in non-conference play? They started the season by losing 79-10 to Oklahoma . They went to Arkansas and lost 66-7. They went to SMU and lost 45-31. They covered that game, but were actually 18.5 underdogs to SMU. I didn't know it was possible for SMU to be favored by double-digits over anybody. Further research shows that SMU was an underdog most of the year last year. Meanwhile, K-State Head Coach Ron Prince has carried on the Bill Snyder tradition by covering as heavy chalk at home.
Even in last year's losing season he covered his heavy chalk games. K-State pounded conference foe Baylor 51-13 as 26 point chalk. This is significant because they were playing lousy football at the end of last year, yet their one win and cover (final 5 games) was in the bully role. They also pounded I-AA Missouri State 61-10 earlier in the year. Basically, Prince is carrying on the tradition of Bill Snyder by running up the score and picking on cupcake teams like a bully. K-State loves the bully role. The new Nebraska coach Bo Pelini (the architect of last year's LSU defense) once yelled at Bill Snyder after getting blown out of the building when Pelini was defensive coordinator at Nebraska . Snyder basically told him that Nebraska had been running the score up on K-State for decades.
TAKE KANSAS STATE -23.5 (it may be 24 or 24.5 at other places)
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