Kansas Jayhawks Odds to Win the Big 12 Conference and BCS Championship
The Kansas Jayhawks should be a very good team with very good payout odds - $850 for every $100 bet at Bookmaker.com
The problem: Despite having lost only one game last season, the Jayhawks failed to advance since that one game was against rival Missouri.
"Rebuilding" may be too strong of a term to describe the state of this year's Kansas squad, according to Athlon Sports (see website here)
With nine starters back on defense and one of the country's top quarterbacks in Todd Reesing, the cupboard in Lawrence is far from bare. Still, with a beefed-up schedule and a handful of stars lost to the NFL Draft, repeating their 2007 heroics will be a tall task for the Jayhawks.
Not that they aren't up for the challenge.
"Things aren't just going to happen for us," Reesing says. "We have to show up and make them happen. The Orange Bowl doesn't mean anything this season. We have the players that we need to be great. We just have to make it happen."
Still, Athlon is hardly optimistic about Kansas' odds to win the Big 12 Conference.
Kansas' 12-1 record in 2007 will be nearly impossible to repeat. Replacing Big 12 South foes Oklahoma State, Texas A&M and Baylor on the schedule are Oklahoma, Texas and Texas Tech. Throw in a tough non-conference road game at South Florida and a neutral site tilt with Missouri, and it's very likely that Kansas' record will not be as rosy. It also doesn't help that Kansas' top two underclassmen (Aqib Talib and Anthony Collins) left early for the NFL Draft, or that the Jayhawks graduated a trio of superstars in James McClinton, Marcus Henry and Brandon McAnderson.
The defense should be good. They bring back 8 starters from what was arguably the best defense in the conference.
The Topeka Capital Journal offered this assessment of the Kansas Jayhawks defense:
Kansas' best pressure from the defensive line last season came from rotation guys Jake Laptad (three sacks) and Max Onyegbule (3.5), although linebackers Joe Mortensen, James Holt and Mike Rivera combined to add eight more sacks. The arrangement worked out well enough to go 12-1, but any witness to the 36-28 loss to Missouri would have to conclude KU needed to be able to pressure Chase Daniel without blitzing.
There is concern over the special teams as Anthony Webb, who returned the most punts last season, won't be back on the team this year.
Oddsmakers do not believe the Jayhawks can stand a chance at winning the 2009 BCS Championship either with odds set at +6000 or 60/1. A $100 bet pays $6000 at the oldest North American facing online bookmaker, Bookmaker.com.
Here were your odds to win the 2008 Big Conference Championship courtesy of Bookmaker.com
BAYLOR +8000 - -
COLORADO +1600 - -
IOWA STATE +8000 - -
KANSAS +825 - -
KANSAS STATE +4000 - -
MISSOURI +300 - -
NEBRASKA +1000 - -
OKLAHOMA +150 - -
OKLAHOMA STATE +2500 - -
TEXAS +200 - -
TEXAS A&M +2000 - -
TEXAS TECH +650
-----
Mary Montgomery, Gambling911.com
