TEMPE, Ariz. | For now, we&#8217;ll resist the temptation to overhype the 2009 Kansas football team.</p><p>After watching Todd Reesing, Dezmon Briscoe and Kerry Meier thrash the Minnesota Golden Gophers in the Insight Bowl, I want to label next year&#8217;s Jayhawks favorites to win the Big 12 North and a legitimate top-15 squad.</p><p>But the Missouri Tigers taught us a lesson about falling in love with 20-somethings around New Year&#8217;s Day. They&#8217;re unpredictable, easily influenced and prone to make fools of middle-aged sportswriters.</p><p>Kansas&#8217; 42-21 romp in the Insight Bowl looked eerily similar to Mizzou&#8217;s romp in the Cotton Bowl a year ago. And I felt the exact same goosebumps.</p><p>The Jayhawks scored on their first offensive play, a 60-yard, Reesing-to-Briscoe bomb. They built a 35-14 lead early in the third quarter. I thought for sure Reesing would throw seven or eight TD passes before the night was finished.</p><p>&#8220;(Kansas) is as good an offensive team as we&#8217;ve seen all year,&#8221; Minnesota coach Tim Brewster observed.</p><p>Reesing, Briscoe and Meier might as well be Daniel, Maclin and Coffman. Kansas&#8217; quarterback and top two receivers all return next season.</p><p>With his 313-yard, four-touchdown afternoon on Wednesday, Reesing launched himself onto the Heisman radar. So did Briscoe, who closed his sophomore season with a record-setting, 14-catch, 201-yard, three-TD display. Meier, as usual, caught just about everything that hit his hands (10 for 113 yards and a TD) and tossed a touchdown pass to Briscoe.</p><p>The comparisons between KU&#8217;s trio and MU&#8217;s trio are just too obvious.</p><p>OK, Jeremy Maclin is better than Briscoe. And Chase Coffman is bigger and better than Meier. But Reesing&#8217;s improvisational skill, pocket awareness and long-ball touch are superior to Chase Daniel&#8217;s and give Briscoe and Meier more opportunities to make big plays.</p><p>I haven&#8217;t even touched on the real difference-maker: Mark Mangino.</p><p>Gary Pinkel is a good head coach. Mangino is special.</p><p>Kansas is going to field the best offense in the Big 12 next season. Mangino has too many tools at his disposal. He played this year with two redshirt-freshmen tackles and a true freshman tight end. His running backs return.</p><p>Kansas will score 50 in the Big 12 North and 35 on its South opponents. If the Jayhawks find some linebackers to replace Mike Rivera, James Holt and Joe Mortensen, they&#8217;ll be good enough defensively to win 10 games and surprise at least one of their Southern foes &#8212; Texas, Texas Tech or Oklahoma.</p><p>&#8220;I think that we have a chance to be a very good football team next year,&#8221; Mangino grudgingly admitted. &#8220;We have some things to shore up. &#8230; We may even need some immediate help in recruiting at an area or two.&#8221;</p><p>Mangino has a knack for fixing shortcomings. He converted Meier from quarterback into an NFL receiver. Mangino played Charles Gordon on offense and defense. Mangino took a midget quarterback no one wanted and turned him into Fran Tarkenton.</p><p>Mangino will come up with a defensive solution. The front four and secondary will carry the Hawks until the new linebackers get up to speed.</p><p>And the Jayhawks &#8212; I think &#8212; will handle the hype that&#8217;s headed their way. It&#8217;s unlikely that Reesing will become BFF with Warren Buffett and text buddies with Colt McCoy, Tim Tebow and Sam Bradford.</p><p>The Jayhawks get the benefit of learning from Missouri&#8217;s mistake, too. It&#8217;s easy for 20-somethings to fall in love with themselves. You can bet Mangino will spend the offseason reminding the Jayhawks to not get too full of themselves after an 8-5 season.</p><p>Back-to-back bowl trips and victories are nice, but the Hawks have yet to win the Big 12 North.</p><p>&#8220;That might be the food that will keep us hungry throughout the offseason,&#8221; Meier said.</p><p>They better be hungry. Kansas won&#8217;t be able to play the no-respect card next season. The Hawks have our attention now.</p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;m just glad our senior class and this KU football team could go out on an exclamation point and go into this next season with a lot of high hopes,&#8221; Rivera said. &#8220;I am looking forward to see what they can do.&#8221;