Campus Confidential

BY MIKE ROSE

There's no doubt that the Big 12 has exceptional offensive teams. It's playing defense that seems to be the problem.

No. 8 Texas Tech shredded No. 23 Kansas, 63-21. Quarterback Graham Harrell completed 34 of 42 passes for 386 yards and five touchdowns. The Red Raiders can also play defense, picking off Todd Reesing three times.

Next week's home game against No. 1 Texas, providing the Longhorns win today, is going to be huge.

No. 4 Oklahoma put 55 points on the scoreboard by halftime against Kansas State and cruised to a 58-35 win.

But what would have me worried is that this game was tied 28-28 in the second quarter. The Sooners need to start playing better defense. Kansas State quarterback Josh Freeman threw for a whopping 478 yards.

No. 20 Ball State remains unbeaten at 8-0 with a 38-16 win over Eastern Michigan.

Bad loss for No. 22 Northwestern, losing 21-19 at Indiana. Meanwhile, No. 24 Minnesota (the same team that finished 1-11 last season) is 7-1 after a 17-6 win over Purdue. The Golden Gophers could end up playing on Jan. 1 in either the Outback or Capital One Bowls.

Some other games ...

North Carolina hammered Boston College 45-24. The ACC just keeps getting more and more interesting each week. Speaking of the ACC, Miami got a nice win, beating Wake Forest 16-10. North Carolina, Boston College, Miami and Wake Forest are all 2-2 in conference play.

Illinois took a hit today, losing 27-17 at Wisconsin.

Nice win by UConn, beating Cincinnati 40-16.