Bowl Preview: Insight Bowl

Insight Bowl
Sun Devil Stadium, Tempe, Az.
Kansas vs. Minnesota
Date: Dec. 31
Time: 8 p.m.
TV: NFL Network
Line: Kansas -9

About Kansas: Yes, Mark Mangino is still fat. But that fat SOB can coach. You know how much NFL talent is on this team? About the same amount that was on my college flag football team. But they're decent and every time I've seen them they play hard. That's all cute, but they're still Kansas. Mangino should leave soon.

Intangibles:
Rock, Chalk Jayhawk: +5
Not Kansas State: +2
Not Oklahoma: +3
Not Nebraska: -2

About Minnesota: The Gophers were pathetic last year. They won one game. Then second-year coach Tim Brewster put his best Zooker Professor Positive spin on everything and recruited the hell out of everybody. (Except his own kid, who went to Texas. smart move, son.) This year Minnehaha won some games and was even ranked for awhile before imploding to end the season in a funk.

Intangibles:
Open new stadium next year: +4
Playing outdoors in Minnesota in November: -8 (degrees)
Rickey Foggie: +4
Jim Wacker era: +.5

Impact player: Kansas QB Todd Reesing. I love watching this dude play cause he's about my height and slow. But damned if he doesn't get some stuff done. He can also be horrifically inconsistent and turn the ball over a lot.

Little known fact: This is the second bowl game no one will get to see because it's on the NFL Network which has a distribution of 14 homes. But 4 of those 14 people REALLY like it.

The Pick: Minnesota 28, Kansas 27