LAWRENCE | We know less now than we did at the beginning of last week.</p><p>Rain ruined the Nebraska-Missouri clash Thursday night. And Saturday afternoon, the Iowa State Cyclones revealed just how vulnerable the Kansas Jayhawks are.</p><p>There is no leader in the Big 12 North race.</p><p>Sure, the Cornhuskers and Jayhawks sit atop the North standings at 1-0, and the conversation this week is likely to center on hyping a collision between the KU offense and the Nebraska defense in mid-November.</p><p>Blackshirts vs. Bluebirds, power vs. finesse, Reesing vs. Suh will be promoted as David vs. Goliath. Kansas’ undersized quarterback, Todd Reesing, will attempt to slay Nebraska’s relentless defensive tackle, Ndamukong Suh.</p><p>The problem with all of the Nebraska-Kansas hype is I don’t think the game will decide the Big 12 North. This thing isn’t getting decided until the final weekend, and right now I can’t see a favorite.</p><p>Seriously, the Cyclones had a receiver streaking wide open for the game-winning touchdown on Saturday. To no one’s real surprise, quarterback Austen Arnaud overthrew his receiver on fourth down in the final seconds.</p><p>Kansas won 41-36 over an Iowa State squad that scored three and 23 points in its two previous games against BCS competition. Arnaud threw for 293 yards and two touchdowns and Iowa State ran for 219 yards against the Hawks.</p><p>I’m sure the Iowa State offense is improving, but I can’t erase the memory of how mediocre the Cyclones’ passing game looked a week ago inside Arrowhead Stadium and matched against a suspect Kansas State defense.</p><p>No. Arnaud looked good because the Kansas D played bad. </p><p>“I knew in April they were going to be exposed,” Kansas coach Mark Mangino said of his defense. “You all found out today.”</p><p>Well, that settles it. Iowa State put 36 on the board at Memorial Stadium. Oklahoma, Texas Tech, Texas and Missouri are all capable of surpassing the Cyclones’ output.</p><p>Can Reesing, Kerry Meier and Dezmon Briscoe hang 40-plus points on the scoreboard every week in conference play?</p><p>Man, that’s going to be tough. And Reesing, Meier and Briscoe are really good, the best fast-break trio at Kansas since Rush, Chalmers and Robinson led the Jayhawks to a basketball national title.</p><p>Reesing completed 37 of 49 passes for 442 yards and four TDs Saturday. He found Meier a school-record 16 times for 142 yards and two scores. Briscoe snagged 12 balls for 186 yards and two TDs, including a brilliant, falling 46-yarder.</p><p>Let’s hope Mangino is ready to channel his inner Mike Leach. It might take 60 points for Kansas to compete with Texas and beat Oklahoma, Tech and Mizzou.</p><p>That doesn’t mean I’m counting out the Jayhawks.</p><p>The national media are overreacting to Nebraska’s victory over the Tigers.</p><p>Beyond Suh, the Huskers showed me nothing on Thursday. If Bo Pelini insists on letting offensive coordinator Shawn Watson implement the Bill Callahan, pass-first offense, Nebraska is going to get smacked twice — against Tech and Oklahoma — before it ever gets to Lawrence.</p><p>The Huskers, 4-1, got lucky in Columbia. They were bailed out by the weather, Blaine Gabbert’s injured right ankle and Mizzou’s horizontal running game. Nebraska has yet to prove it is better than the Tigers or the Jayhawks.</p><p>Again, I can’t see a Big 12 North favorite. I say don’t bury the Tigers.</p><p>My money is on a three-way tie at the top of the Big 12 North, with Kansas, Nebraska and Missouri all finishing at 5-3.</p><p>What would that say about the North?</p><p>It would tell us what we already know. It continues to lose ground to the South. There’s just too much money and fertile recruiting territory in Texas for the Northerners to keep up. Also, there seems to be a lack of coaching imagination in the North.</p><p>When you don’t have the resources, you try to use your players in creative ways that your opposition is not. Tom Osborne and Bill Snyder were offensive innovators. Watching Nebraska try to implement a form of the spread with a bunch of mediocre receivers and an average quarterback is frustrating.</p><p>Mangino and Gary Pinkel are both creative risk-takers. If things play out this season the way I suspect, I hope they both spend the offseason designing new wrinkles to their offensive and defensive strategies.