Some people thought the Blaines would end up the same way the Chases did, with the shorter, less heralded guy beating out the better rated recruit for the starting job. Though it seems that Gabbert's extra year of experience in addition to his gifts has given him the leg up on Dalton, but Dalton is still well regarded. Ultimately though, he is a freshman with no collegiate experience, and is in some legal trouble right now(although it appears to be not very serious), so Mizzou is probably thin as far as capability, but not necessarily from a talent perspective. With regards to the North, I'd agree, except I simply don't think that highly of Nebraska. They're replacing even more of their offense than Mizzou, and they had a gap to bridge to reach Mizzou's level to begin with. KU is pretty clearly the best team, and the only reason another team should win the North is because of their schedule(both OU and Texas, @TT, Mizzou on a neutral field). It wouldn't be unlikely at all for KU to lose to both OU and Texas, and split Nebraska and Mizzou. If it were Mizzou that beats them, they could lose @OSU, v. Texas, and v. Nebraska and still beat out KU(the other 4 games are the dregs of the North and v. Baylor). If it's NU they can lose @Mizzou, v. OU, and v. TT and still beat KU(with the same dregs of the North + Baylor as their conference wins). Dalton will probably be a third stringer this year anyways. I feel like I've heard Jimmy Costello has the leg up on the No. 2 spot.