Missouri unanimous pick to win Big 12 North in media poll

By BLAIR KERKHOFF

The Kansas City Star

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Attention has trickled along for Missouri since the demolition of Arkansas in the Cotton Bowl. As the football season approaches, the pace of praise will dramatically increase.

Are the Tigers ready for their close-up?

We’ll know soon. Missouri was a unanimous selection to win the Big 12 North by media representatives in a poll released Wednesday. Kansas was picked second.

Oklahoma was the choice on all but two ballots to win the South. Second-place Texas received the other two.

This is old hat for the Sooners, who won their fifth Big 12 championship by beating Mizzou in last season’s title game.

But lofty expectations are new territory for Missouri. Oh, the Tigers were picked to win the North last year, but they started the season unranked and didn’t crack the top 10 until late October.

This time, Missouri will start with the bull’s-eye.

“Everybody talks about pressure,” Missouri quarterback Chase Daniel said. “We don’t feel pressure.”

In a sampling of preview magazines, the Tigers were sixth nationally in the Sporting News and Athlon’s and seventh in Phil Steele’s College Football Preview.

Heady stuff, but deserved. The Tigers return 17 starters from a 12-2 team that spent the first week of last December ranked first nationally.

Those same publications have the Jayhawks, coming off a 12-1 season and Orange Bowl victory, ranked as high as 12th and as low as 30th.

Coaches and players will be in Kansas City starting Monday for Big 12 Media Days.

| Poll and related chart, D6

Posted on Wed, Jul. 16, 2008 10:15 PM

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