SoonerBOI
11/7/2007, 04:02 PM
Tired of hearing SEC is the best, PAC 10 dominates. Read the article and share your thoughts. I searched and did not find it posted yet. Boomer!
http://www.sportsline.com/collegefootball/story/10458248
Where's the big fuss over the Big 12?
Nov. 7, 2007
By Dennis Dodd
CBSSports.com Senior Writer
LAWRENCE, Kan. -- I want to be a marketing person for the Big 12. If there is such a thing.
I want to scream from the rooftops that, at this moment, this is one of the best leagues in the country. Certainly it has the best story lines.
Reesing has made those who didn't recruit him look pretty stupid. (US Presswire)
Well, "market" is the kind way of putting it. I want to get all 12 athletic directors and coaches in a room and scream to the top of my lungs, "You don't get it!"
I want to figure out how the SEC gets four three-loss teams in the top 25 and no one is talking about what might be the biggest football week in Big 12 history. That 12-year history has roughly paralleled that of the BCS. This week, three teams are in the top six of the BCS, two (Kansas, Missouri) from one division. That has happened once before, in 2001, when Nebraska, Oklahoma and Texas were rated that high.
Here's the tiebreaker: How about three Heisman Trophy/All-American candidates? Chase Daniel at Missouri, Sam Bradford at Oklahoma and Todd Reesing at Kansas.
Blame the Big 12 if you don't agree that all three should be shipped tickets to New York right now. Their seasons to date are a 3-2 fastball down the middle if you're a PR flak.
• The three quarterbacks are a combined 25-2.
• Only three other passers in the country are more accurate than Bradford, a redshirt freshman, who is No. 2 in pass efficiency.
• Daniel is coming off a career-high 421 yards and career-tying five touchdowns against Colorado. He is in the top six nationally in passing yards, total offense and completion percentage.
• Reesing? A school-record six touchdown passes against Nebraska has earned him a place on the bench.
That's another way of saying Reesing is off limits to the media this week. That's right, no interviews during the biggest week of the season. No, the biggest week in Kansas football in at least 39 years since the 1968 team went to the Orange Bowl. Oklahoma State stands in the way this week between the Jayhawks and a 10-0 record.
A Kansas spokesman intimated that Reesing needed a rest, he was over-interviewed. A rest? A couple with three kids and a mortgage trying to make ends meet need a rest. Reesing and his Big 12 peers need a Sports Illustrated cover. All this might be cover for coach Mark Mangino trying to limit distractions in an undefeated season ... but by hiding his star player?
KU hasn't had a first-team AP All-American in 24 years. That was kicker Bruce Kallmeyer. It hasn't had an All-American at a legit position since 1973.
Taking the week off from interviews?
"I wouldn't believe it," said student James Findley, a senior from Ulysses, Kan., tooling around downtown Lawrence on his bike this week. "I think he (Reesing) wants all the attention he can get right now."
Me too, if I was interested in, at least, my team moving up the polls, which have KU ranked fifth. The BCS likes the No. 4 Jayhawks even better. Bill Self U. is a heartbeat away from New Orleans if it finishes 13-0.
Wonder if Tim Tebow's handlers are hiding him somewhere this week before the South Carolina game? Or Oregon's Dennis Dixon, who has a perfect excuse. The Ducks have a bye week, and their Heisman-worthy quarterback is nursing a knee sprain.
Frustrated on the interview front, I figured what better way to learn how to market the top 10's most unlikely inhabitant than the Callahan Creek ad agency in downtown Lawrence. That's Callahan (as in Bill), Creek (as in, up a), which is fitting coming off the epic trouncing of Nebraska. (In the interest of full disclosure, Callahan Creek has done work for Kansas in the past.)
"Do I know who he (Reesing) is?" said president and CEO Cindy Maude. "I know he's the quarterback ... but if I walked past him on the street I probably wouldn't know right away who he was."
Exactly. I'm not asking Kansas to drape a 10-story banner on the side of a New York skyscraper, like Oregon did for Joey Harrington in 2001. I'm asking for a deeper understanding of the team and its quarterback during the most successful season in a century.
"That's the perfect question," said Chris Wheatley, a KU alum and new business coordinator at Callahan Creek. "He's not one who would say, 'Oh, now I'm a Heisman candidate ... and I'm going to have this entourage with me walking downtown.' I'm sure he's going to continue to be very humble."
Mark Mangino, now might not be the best time to keep a lid on your QB. (US Presswire)
No one doubts Reesing's humility. We just want to know more about him beyond the T-shirt in the front window of JoeCollege.com that reads: "Todd is God." Reesing is well on the way to posting the best season by a quarterback in KU history. That would be compared to such luminaries as Bobby Douglass, John Hadl and David Jaynes (that last non-kicking All-American).
After only nine games, Reesing has shattered the single-season touchdown record (23, five more than Bill Whittemore in 2003). Forty-seven more yards and he will become the school's No. 3 career passer.
His "misfortune" is breaking out at the same time when the Big 12 and its quarterbacks are at an all-time high. That and being too short. Despite throwing for 41 touchdowns and only three interceptions as a junior at Lake Travis (Texas) High School, Reesing never got interest from the big three in the state -- Texas, Texas A&M and Texas Tech.
Mangino took a shot, invited Reesing to a KU camp, and was impressed by his leadership -- so much so, that Reesing earned the nickname "Sparky." The kid just keeps making plays.
"I think everyone here plays with a chip on his shoulder," Reesing told the Dallas Morning News at a time when he was allowed to talk. "We've never really been given respect in the conference. I think people are still doubting us. So we have the attitude of having something to prove every week."
The latest proving ground is in Stillwater, where high-scoring Oklahoma State awaits. Two weeks after that, Kansas could complete an undefeated regular season before 80,000 fans in Kansas City against Missouri.
"It was in the back of our minds we were going to go somewhere," said Jessica Lutackas, a Callahan Creek account coordinator and recent KU grad. "We finally have our quarterback and we're going places."
For the rest of the national notes read Dennid Dodd's blog: Dodds and Ends
http://www.sportsline.com/collegefootball/story/10458248
Where's the big fuss over the Big 12?
Nov. 7, 2007
By Dennis Dodd
CBSSports.com Senior Writer
LAWRENCE, Kan. -- I want to be a marketing person for the Big 12. If there is such a thing.
I want to scream from the rooftops that, at this moment, this is one of the best leagues in the country. Certainly it has the best story lines.
Reesing has made those who didn't recruit him look pretty stupid. (US Presswire)
Well, "market" is the kind way of putting it. I want to get all 12 athletic directors and coaches in a room and scream to the top of my lungs, "You don't get it!"
I want to figure out how the SEC gets four three-loss teams in the top 25 and no one is talking about what might be the biggest football week in Big 12 history. That 12-year history has roughly paralleled that of the BCS. This week, three teams are in the top six of the BCS, two (Kansas, Missouri) from one division. That has happened once before, in 2001, when Nebraska, Oklahoma and Texas were rated that high.
Here's the tiebreaker: How about three Heisman Trophy/All-American candidates? Chase Daniel at Missouri, Sam Bradford at Oklahoma and Todd Reesing at Kansas.
Blame the Big 12 if you don't agree that all three should be shipped tickets to New York right now. Their seasons to date are a 3-2 fastball down the middle if you're a PR flak.
• The three quarterbacks are a combined 25-2.
• Only three other passers in the country are more accurate than Bradford, a redshirt freshman, who is No. 2 in pass efficiency.
• Daniel is coming off a career-high 421 yards and career-tying five touchdowns against Colorado. He is in the top six nationally in passing yards, total offense and completion percentage.
• Reesing? A school-record six touchdown passes against Nebraska has earned him a place on the bench.
That's another way of saying Reesing is off limits to the media this week. That's right, no interviews during the biggest week of the season. No, the biggest week in Kansas football in at least 39 years since the 1968 team went to the Orange Bowl. Oklahoma State stands in the way this week between the Jayhawks and a 10-0 record.
A Kansas spokesman intimated that Reesing needed a rest, he was over-interviewed. A rest? A couple with three kids and a mortgage trying to make ends meet need a rest. Reesing and his Big 12 peers need a Sports Illustrated cover. All this might be cover for coach Mark Mangino trying to limit distractions in an undefeated season ... but by hiding his star player?
KU hasn't had a first-team AP All-American in 24 years. That was kicker Bruce Kallmeyer. It hasn't had an All-American at a legit position since 1973.
Taking the week off from interviews?
"I wouldn't believe it," said student James Findley, a senior from Ulysses, Kan., tooling around downtown Lawrence on his bike this week. "I think he (Reesing) wants all the attention he can get right now."
Me too, if I was interested in, at least, my team moving up the polls, which have KU ranked fifth. The BCS likes the No. 4 Jayhawks even better. Bill Self U. is a heartbeat away from New Orleans if it finishes 13-0.
Wonder if Tim Tebow's handlers are hiding him somewhere this week before the South Carolina game? Or Oregon's Dennis Dixon, who has a perfect excuse. The Ducks have a bye week, and their Heisman-worthy quarterback is nursing a knee sprain.
Frustrated on the interview front, I figured what better way to learn how to market the top 10's most unlikely inhabitant than the Callahan Creek ad agency in downtown Lawrence. That's Callahan (as in Bill), Creek (as in, up a), which is fitting coming off the epic trouncing of Nebraska. (In the interest of full disclosure, Callahan Creek has done work for Kansas in the past.)
"Do I know who he (Reesing) is?" said president and CEO Cindy Maude. "I know he's the quarterback ... but if I walked past him on the street I probably wouldn't know right away who he was."
Exactly. I'm not asking Kansas to drape a 10-story banner on the side of a New York skyscraper, like Oregon did for Joey Harrington in 2001. I'm asking for a deeper understanding of the team and its quarterback during the most successful season in a century.
"That's the perfect question," said Chris Wheatley, a KU alum and new business coordinator at Callahan Creek. "He's not one who would say, 'Oh, now I'm a Heisman candidate ... and I'm going to have this entourage with me walking downtown.' I'm sure he's going to continue to be very humble."
Mark Mangino, now might not be the best time to keep a lid on your QB. (US Presswire)
No one doubts Reesing's humility. We just want to know more about him beyond the T-shirt in the front window of JoeCollege.com that reads: "Todd is God." Reesing is well on the way to posting the best season by a quarterback in KU history. That would be compared to such luminaries as Bobby Douglass, John Hadl and David Jaynes (that last non-kicking All-American).
After only nine games, Reesing has shattered the single-season touchdown record (23, five more than Bill Whittemore in 2003). Forty-seven more yards and he will become the school's No. 3 career passer.
His "misfortune" is breaking out at the same time when the Big 12 and its quarterbacks are at an all-time high. That and being too short. Despite throwing for 41 touchdowns and only three interceptions as a junior at Lake Travis (Texas) High School, Reesing never got interest from the big three in the state -- Texas, Texas A&M and Texas Tech.
Mangino took a shot, invited Reesing to a KU camp, and was impressed by his leadership -- so much so, that Reesing earned the nickname "Sparky." The kid just keeps making plays.
"I think everyone here plays with a chip on his shoulder," Reesing told the Dallas Morning News at a time when he was allowed to talk. "We've never really been given respect in the conference. I think people are still doubting us. So we have the attitude of having something to prove every week."
The latest proving ground is in Stillwater, where high-scoring Oklahoma State awaits. Two weeks after that, Kansas could complete an undefeated regular season before 80,000 fans in Kansas City against Missouri.
"It was in the back of our minds we were going to go somewhere," said Jessica Lutackas, a Callahan Creek account coordinator and recent KU grad. "We finally have our quarterback and we're going places."
For the rest of the national notes read Dennid Dodd's blog: Dodds and Ends