InSpin

Jayhawks -1 vs. Red Raiders

One of the more interesting matchup of this weekend's college football schedule which is chalked full of interesting Top 25 matchups, is the game which will take place in Lawrence, Kansas when the undefeated and eighth ranked Red Raiders of Texas Tech head north to battle the Kansas Jayhawks Saturday at noon.

Texas Tech (7-0, 3-0) is riding high as they are undefeated this late in the season for the first time since 1976. Cynics will point to the easy schedule Texas Tech has played so far, not having played another Top 25 team, but the Red Raiders will get the chance to silence everyone with a road victory over the 23rd ranked Jayhawks in Memorial Stadium. They will also get that same chance the next four weeks. Texas Tech can certainly control their own destiny and perhaps find themselves in the BCS Championship game if they can get through Kansas, then number one Texas, number seven Oklahoma State and number four Oklahoma. If a team gets through that daunting schedule, they should just crown them champions there and then! Of course Texas Tech is saying all the right things and will say they are preparing for each game one at a time.

Kansas has grown accustomed to matching up with ranked teams dating back to last season. This season has been no different, albeit still as difficult. On September 12, Kansas lost a tough road game to then-number 19 South Florida and were spanked by Oklahoma 45-31 last week.

Kansas will look to avoid two straight losses for the first time since a four game losing streak in 2006 and look to buck the current trend of nine losses in their 10 meetings with Texas Tech, their only victory coming in 2001.

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Falcons -5 vs. Lobos

It has been an interesting season for the New Mexico Lobos so far in 2008 both on and off the field. It began with the word that the NCAA was putting the program on three year probation for fraud. Then they lost their starting quarterback for the season early on. The sanctions, which were announced about 10 days before the season began, along with Donovan Porterie's injury, seemed to cast a pall over the early part of the season. New Mexico (4-4, 2-2) started the season 0-2 and lost three of their first four contests until seemingly righting the ship recently by winning three of their last four, including an incredible 70-7 drubbing of San Diego State last Saturday. This Thursday they travel to Colorado to take on the Air Force Academy and hope to continue to turn their season around.

Air Force (5-2, 3-1) has been solid since the beginning of the season by winning five of their first seven games, including a thrilling on point victory on the road in Las Vegas against UNLV, 29-28.

Look for these Mountain West rivals to have a running game clinic Thursday night. Having passing attacks which rank 112th and 118th respectively New Mexico and Air Force rely heavily on their running game, and why not? The Lobos have the 15th ranked rushing offense in Division I and the Falcons' have them bested with the third best ground game. In fact Air Force runs for an astonishing 300 yards per game. New Mexico has been particularly poor in offense with the exception of the rushing game this season. The Lobos lit up the scoreboard for 70 points last week, but still only hold the 61st best school in points scored.

The Lobos may be in a culture shock for this game as the warm-climate team is facing a game with forecasted kickoff temperatures in the high 30's to low 40's, which will only get colder throughout as the game progresses. The climate may have something to do with the fact that New Mexico has not won in Falcon Stadium since 2000. The team did claim last year's contest in Albuquerque 34-31.

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