John Mabry: Big 12 North favorites going south early
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It doesn't matter that two unranked teams met at Memorial Stadium on Saturday. It was a big day.
You know it's a big day when they borrow the giant American flag from Perkins.
You know it's a big day when they blow the Husker rifle team's annual budget with a resounding pre-game fireworks show.
The Huskers' loss to Southern Mississippi didn't diminish the wonderful 9/11 tribute that took place before the game. In fact, it turned out to be the highlight of the day.
A game with no Big 12 implications stirred up thoughts of all sorts of Big 12 complications.
The North, my friends, is in disarray and we haven't even hit the official start of fall.
Let's check the scoreboard for Week 2:
Troy 24, Missouri 14.
Fresno State 45, Kansas State 21.
Southern Mississippi 21, Nebraska 17.
Colorado 20, Washington State 12.
Iowa 17, Iowa State 10.
Kansas 63, Toledo 14.
That score from Manhattan had Husker fans giddy Saturday, at least until Southern Miss helped create what's shaping up to be a Northern Mess.
The big three of the Big 12 North looked like the three little pigs this week.
NU's defeat was its first home loss to a nonconference opponent since 1991, and K-State suffered its worst regular-season loss to a nonconference team in 13 years.
Wildcats head coach Bill Snyder told reporters in Manhattan that he was more than a little disappointed.
"I've been here for 16 years," he said. "You can remember some of the 1-10 and 5-6 (seasons). We never had a football team that just got beat up as badly as we did today."
KSU, like Nebraska, has quarterback issues. It's just that the Wildcats have one more quarterback option than Nebraska right now. It didn't matter Saturday. According to reports from Manhattan, both Wildcat QBs — Dylan Meier and Alan Webb — stunk against the Bulldogs.
A bright spot for Big Red? NU's little back, Cory Ross, had a much bigger game than K-State's little back, Darren Sproles. For one week anyway, Ross (169 yards, 27 carries) moved past Sproles (37 yards, 11 carries) in the Heisman chase.
This doesn't mean it's panic time. Neither loss spells the end of the world for these programs.
I think most Husker fans would be OK with a 2-1 start, and NU can win at Pittsburgh next week if Joe Dailey licks the turnover problem.
And with Sproles on the roster, K-State isn't going to suddenly turn into a purple pushover.
Missouri? The Tigers were overhyped from the get-go, and even with Brad Smith running the show, they will have to convince me they're ready to challenge for the division title.
Adding to the intrigue in the Big 12 North is the strong play of the three teams that were supposed to be filling slots 4, 5 and 6 in the division.
Colorado won a big road game against Washington State on Saturday, hanging on for dear life in the final seconds for the second week in a row.
It wasn't pretty, but now you start to wonder if the Buffs are going to become The Story in the Big 12 after all they went through in the offseason.
Kansas is 2-0 after teeing off on Tulsa and Toledo. The Jayhawks ripped the Rockets, a team picked to win the Mid-American Conference, in a game that was supposed to be a toss-up.
And Iowa State gave No. 16 Iowa a game before falling in Iowa City.
The North is a topsy-turvy mess, and it's only Sept. 12.
After Saturday's loss to Southern Miss, NU coach Bill Callahan said it was a game "that was there for the taking."
When league play begins in a few weeks, six teams might be able to say the same thing about the North Division.
Reach John Mabry at 473-7320 or jmabry@journalstar.com.
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