The Cyclones, consistent with their stature as Northmen, put up little resistance as the Tigers rolled again.  This is getting ridiculous.  There’s the South, then the Tigers, then the rest of the North.  Let’s look at a few numbers.

In 2007, the Tigers went 5-0 v. the North, winning by an average score of 45-21.  In 2008, the Tigers have gone 4-0 against the North with a 51-15 average score.  In ’07, the Tigers were 2-2 against the South with a score of 32-29.  This year we’re 1-2 and 28-37.  Sure sure sure, small sample size and all that jazz.  Still, the Tigers have won ten straight Big 12 North games.  The last time the Tigers lost a North game the refs called a couple days later to tell Pinkel that the Tigers should have won.  I realize there may be some regression in ’09, but I’m going on record right now as saying that anything less than a North Division Championship will be a disappointment.  The gap is just that big.

Conquering the North is no small feat.  The poor villagers across the northern plains battled valiantly, but never really stood a chance against the Tiger’s quest for total domination.

Tigers rape and pillage from Ames to Boulder

The problem now, of course, is Alexander III of Scotland, aka the Big 12 South.  Beating up on the defenseless serfs in Ames or Lincoln is one thing, but taking on the great armies of the South is another.  Before we worry about that, the Tiger Quest must plunder the Lawrence plebes, and plunder we will.  Their women will be ours! - and quite a nice score at that.  We will stow them away on our ships and bring them out for grocery store grand openings and fundraising car washes.  And, just FYI, I will keep this one:

Oh Phenom, blogging turns me on…

Before I get into our most recent pillage, the Big 12 could not have been more boring this weekend.  As Chris Berman likes to say, “you’re with me, Leather“…, oh wait, for our purposes here, he likes to say, “that’s why they play the games….”  In this instance, there was no need to play them.  The five games held no surprises.  KU, KSU, ISU, and A&M didn’t put up much of a fight.  CU pretended they were in the game late, but I never bought it. 

On to the ransacking of Ames, Iowa.

Iowa State is not a good team.  There’s no question that Chizik’s bunch has regressed from a year ago, which can happen when you lose three players to the NFL and replace them with cardboard cutouts.  Last year the Clones’ defense finished 7th in the conference in yards/game, and this year they’re locked in a heated battle with fellow incompetents K-State and A&M for last, giving up over 500 yards a game.  Yikes.  The thing of it is, the Cyclones played about as well as they could have played against the Tigers and still lost by 32.  The Cyclones held Mizzou to 7.4 yards/play, which is just a little worse than their average in conference.  The Cyclones gained 5.8 yards/play, which is better than what they usually get and more than the Tigers usually give up.  Of course, when your base-line sucks, exceeding your average isn’t necessarily a difference maker.  The Cyclones are just not good.  Hey, we already knew that. 

No Chase Coffman, no problem.  That’s not exactly true, but this week Andrew Jones slipped into the TE1 job and played well.  Seven catches for 61 yards made him the second leading receiver on the team. 

Andrew flashed good hands and tough running, making future domination of the North even more likely.  Pinkel said after the game that Coffman will definitely be back for the Kansas game.  No offense to Andrew and his fellow frosh TE Michael Egnew, but THANK GOD!  I miss Coffman almost as much as Preston missed Amanda Beckett after he went to science camp.  

Now, there’s a Tight End worth pillaging.

But seriously, there’s a hole in my heart that can only be filled by Coffman.

Maclin again.  He’s quickly entering the Greatest Tiger of All Time discussion.  222 all-purpose yards in the game push him to #1 in the nation.  Another 100 yard game and another 1000 yard season.  He’s the first Tiger receiver to have two 1000 yard seasons and is just 158 yards behind Phil Johnson’s favorite target, Victor Bailey, for most receiving yards in a season.  He also has 159 career receptions putting him fourth behind Coffman, Rucker, and Gage.  Not bad for not quite two seasons.

If Maclin goes pro in a few months, and I think there’s about a 95% chance he will, he may be harder to replace than the other guy in the picture and will make arctic domination a bit more difficult.  Nobody is going to step in and be the playmaker he is, and what a useful tool it is to run that simple crossing pattern 50 yard touchdown play once a game. 

Willy Mo!  Finally, he gets a pick.  Interceptions are flukey, but it was hard to believe that through ten games Willy Mo, ball-hawking safetyman extraordinaire, was pick-free. 

Carl Gettis added his first interception of the season which leads to quite a battle for the Defensive Backfield Interception Challenge 2008.  Gettis, Moore, Bridges, Rutland and Kenji Jackson each have one. 

D Wash has been as Erik the Red Black and Gold as any Tiger.  On the year he’s averaging 83 yards a game.  Against the North alone, he’s at 106 per game, averaging more than 7 yards per carry.  Against Iowa State, he had 128 yards on 11 carries, which included a very cool cut-back run that spanned the entire width of the field – that’s becoming his calling card.  Continued northern domination rests as squarely on his shoulders as anyone’s.  He will need to be the focal point so as to take some pressure off Blaines TJ Glaser.

Congrats to our conquering heroes on another North title.  The Jayhawks will bring their A game to KC in hopes of avenging last year’s sacking at Arrowhead and avoiding a .500 season, which would mark a serious step-back for a program that won the Orange Bowl a year ago.  The Tigers will no doubt vanquish this North opponent like the rest of their useless and weak kind. 

Hurl the subjugated Jayhawk from our proud Kansas City soil!  Pads up!  Horns blow!  Tigers smite!  The Northland is ours!