THe Big 12 North seems to be wide open right now. No team has stood out as the team to beat and every team in the North is going to be a tough game for us.
Kansas State- Sproles got shut down again this year, this time by Texas A&M which has improved in leaps and bounds since their lost to Utah. They have a tough road ahead of them in the next month. THey play at Kansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Tech, then at Missouri. If they can not rebound from their last lost, then this could be a very difficult stretch. If they get through this stretch undefeated or with just one lose then they have a chance at the North.
Colorado is hard to read right now for me, I don't think that they have the athletes to win the North but they are a team that could win any game that they play. They play Oklahoma State next week and they end the season with Texas, at Kansas, K-State, at Nebraska. They will have a tough road but could shake up the standings.
Iowa State is still a year or two away but they could shock some team down the line.
Kansas- We just beat them which gives them two conference loses. I think that the North winner may have two conference losses which still leaves Kansas in the running, but they have a tough road ahead to stay in the race. They still must play K-State at home next weekend and then travel to Norman two weeks later. It doesn't give Kansas a great shot at the North considering Texas is still on the schedule in mid-Novemeber.
Missouri- in my opinion is the best of this bunch. They have a great quarterback and pretty good defense. They play Baylor next week in which they shouldn't have any problem with, but then comes the tough part of their schedule. In four consecutive weeks, they play at Texas, Oklahoma State, at Nebraska, then Kansas State. Even if they would go 2-2 through this stretch, they still might be the winner of the North depending on who they beat. They do not have Oklahoma on their schedule which is a plus for them considering that both Nebraska and Kansas State must play the Sooners.
Nebraska- our schedule is favorable in the fact that we don't have consecutive weeks of really tough teams. We have Tech in Lubbock next weekend and then Baylor the following week. We then travel to Kansas State followed by a home game against Missouri with trips to Iowa State and Oklahoma on the road with Colorado at home to end the regular season. Every game is going to be tough but if we take it a game at a time and not turn the ball over, I think we have a shot at winning the North this year.