How Good Is Kansas?

That's been the topic of debate in college football; is Kansas the real deal? Most of the hollering around the message boards go something like this:

"I'm still skeptical about Kansas. They haven't played any hard teams and I GUARANTEE they watched the Mizzou/Nebraska footage to find out how Mizzou was able to take it to them. If you know where the holes are its easy to score. "

"and by the way...Kansas' opponents' record is an astounding 35-51"

"it is a joke that KU is ahead of Oklahoma on the ratings"

Well, you get the idea. It's no surprise that 99% of these comments are made by people with names such as Gators82 and OSUgurl and a whole slew of other fans of powerhouse schools. The biggest argument against the Jayhawks seems to be strength of schedule. Though, it's a little sketchy when you look at Ohio State's SOS, which is only one spot higher than KU's. That by itself is enough to kill the argument, but let's take it a step further.

How can you fault a team for winning every game on its schedule? To say LSU, Oregon, Oklahoma or whoever else is better is complete speculation. There is no way to know if KU would be undefeated if they played an SEC or Pac 10 schedule, so going on what we know, Kansas is at least the fourth best team in the country. Actually, not having them ranked second is a testament of speculation. It is saying that LSU and Oregon are, without any doubt, better than KU. Anyone with half a brain realizes that nobody can make this assumption. That is why in sports like the NFL, they go by your record, not by how good they really think you are. College football is the only sport with this asinine system, and with teams like Kansas and Hawaii (who is getting snubbed more than anyone), it could really end up hurting.

Fact is, Kansas has beaten everyone on their plate, a feat only two other teams share. Traditional football schools need to get over themselves. As of now, the rankings don't matter at all to them, since they control their own destiny. As does Kansas, because if they were to win out through the Big 12 championship, they would undoubtedly play in the national title game. All these rankings mean right now is that Kansas, a football laughing stock relegated to celebrating only in March, is the hot topic right now. Ranked fourth in both basketball and football, the national exposure they are getting is doing nothing in the grand scheme of things other than helping their program reach out beyond the confines of Kansas and targeting blue chippers all over the country. I guess it's no wonder why the SEC, Pac 10 and Big 10 schools don't like it. If Kansas can do this with players that the big schools didn't even want, then imagine what they can do with top-tier talent.