No longer just ‘basketball schools’?

By Staff     Oct 8, 2007

Late Night is this Friday, in case you forgot.Most years, by this the beginning of college football’s seventh week, many Jayhawk fans would have had a mental countdown. This fall, football is king in Lawrence. That’s strange to read, isn’t it? It’s even weirder to write.But when it rains impressive football records, it certainly appears to pour.While KU’s 5-0 start has turned heads and landed the Jayhawks in the polls for all to see for the first time since the early days of the Spice Girls and America Online, several programs around the country can claim the same.**[No. 10 Cincinnati][1] – 6-0 overall, 1-0 Big East** The Bearcats now have a signature win after dumping Rutgers this weekend. Now, true, Cincy’s basketball relevance has taken quite a dip since the departure of Bob Huggins, but honestly, when was the last time you heart the Bearcats mentioned for anything that didn’t involve a ball and twine?A neat story with Cincinnati, though, is that of quarterback Ben Mauk, a Wake Forest transfer who [suffered a broken humerus][2] last year in the Deacons’ season opener which required season-ending surgery and a vicious-looking zipper scar covering a large portion of his upper arm. He had to sit and watch his team win the ACC and go to a BCS bowl game behind freshman QB Riley Skinner. Now, he’s getting his second chance, and his numbers (76-of-116, 1,034 yards, 12 TD, 3 INT) make him a legit candidate for Big East Player of the Year while leading a team that averages 43.3 points per game on the scoreboard.**[No. 17 Kentucky][3] – 5-1 overall, 1-1 SEC** True, a loss to South Carolina Friday night took some of the momentum away from Kentucky and might have lightened the bandwagon a tad, but no one expected them to beat Arkansas and Louisville in the first place.The story with the Wildcats is the emergence of senior quarterback Andre’ Woodson emerging as a legitimate Heisman candidate (135-of-207, 1,536 yards, 18 TD, 2 INT). If I were a Chiefs fan, I’d ditch the Brodie-Croyle-being-a-legitimate-NFL-QB dream and push for the organization to take this guy in April. Heck, as a Bears die-hard, I’m thinking the same thing.It should be interesting to see how Kentucky bounces back from its first loss of the year this weekend, when No. 1 LSU rolls into town. I’d bet just about anything that this year’s Wildcat crew wouldn’t let something like [this][4] happen late in the game, should they be ahead.**[No. 18 Illinois][5] – 5-1 overall, 3-0 Big Ten** A 40-34 loss to Missouri to start the year looks even more impressive now considering that 1) The Illini looked to be in for a rough ride early in the game and 2) the way Missouri humiliated all of Husker Nation this past Saturday.Coming off a win against Wisconsin, ending a 14-game winning streak for the Badgers, Illinois only two real tests left on the schedule are Michigan and Ohio State. Say, for argument’s sake, the Illini win the rest and drop those two, they could be a potential bowl foe for KU should the Jayhawks avoid going in the tank.**[Indiana][6] – 5-1 overall, 2-1 Big Ten** The Hoosiers’ success has to be the feel-good story so far this season in college football. This season came on the heels of the passing of late coach [Terry Hoeppner][7], who passed away this past June after a battle with brain cancer.The team has rallied, and is now one win away from being eligible to play in its first bowl game since 1993. The chances of that happening are highly likely, as the Hoosiers have a Big Ten schedule that does not include Ohio State or Michigan – basically the conference’s equivalent to KU’s Big 12 slate, which is sans Oklahoma and Texas.**[Connecticut][8] – 5-0 overall, 2-1 Big East** If there’s one team listed here in this blog that can be labeled most likely to see a second-half slide, it’d be the Huskies. But still, kudos to Lew Perkins’ former school on a 5-0 start (including a [controversial win][9] over Temple). The pessimistic outlook, however, is the product of a six-week run to end the season which includes games against Louisville, South Florida, Rutgers, Cincinnati and West Virginia.Though, on a sidenote, has anyone seen KU’s [2008 schedule][10] yet? The Jayhawks’ closing run will be the Big 12’s version of that slate.Anyways, it’ll be fun to see how these starts hold up once bowl season rolls around. But for each of the schools, should things take a turn for the worse, there’s always basketball season, right?**_How about a few videos to close out this episode…_** -Here’s [this week’s clip][11] from The Office. Man, how fun would it be to _be_ Jim Halpert?-[I’m hit!!!][12]…hehehehe-I saw [these guys][13] Friday night at The Granada. Great band. Great live performers. Unlike anything you’ll hear on the radio these days, which is refreshing.See you Thursday for Twisted Pick ’em v. 1.4**_KUSports.com editor Ryan Greene can be reached at rgreene@ljworld.com, or by phone at (785) 832-6357._** [1]: http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaaf/teams/ccj [2]: http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaaf/news;_ylt=ApSeC5t8QQEsGIXutEWHqtlL1LYF?slug=ap-t25-cincinnati-qbcomeback&prov=ap&type=lgns [3]: http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaaf/teams/kkd [4]: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Anwl5AU5zZE [5]: http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaaf/teams/iic [6]: http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaaf/teams/iie [7]: http://iuhoosiers.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/mtt/hoeppner_terry00.html [8]: http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaaf/teams/ccq [9]: http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaaf/recap?gid=200709150202 [10]: http://www2.kusports.com/football/schedule/2008/ [11]: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o477Gix30aE [12]: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkCQ8qR5-i0&mode=related&search= [13]: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCJUokCtiqE

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