005 THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN SPORTS WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 2005 WWW.KANSAN.COM FOOTBALL PAGE 1B Students and other fans bring down the goalposts in the north end zone after the football game against Iowa State on Saturday at Memorial Stadium. Seven goalposts have been torn down after college football games across the nation this season. Three of those seven were at the University of Kansas. Antics anger officials Students top ESPN list for toppling posts BY RYAN SCHNEIDER rschneider@kansan.com KANSAN STAFF WRITER Athletics Department officials, however, aren't pleased with the ranking. The Kansas Athletics Department might want to consider buying goalposts in bulk after student anties put the University at the top of a national list ESPN College GameDay listed seven times this fall that students across the country have torn down goalposts following home games. Memorial Stadium has been the site for three of those fallen goalposts. Other schools involved in tearing down goalposts this season have included Missouri and Minnesota-Morris, where a student was killed earlier this year. Associate Athletics Director Jim Marchiony said the department did all it could to warn students about the dangers of goalpost celebrations. "Frankly, it's getting embarrassing," Marchiony said. "I think the student body is embarrassing themselves." Marchiony said the cost of replacing goalposts after the victories against Missouri, Nebraska and Iowa State was about $21,000. In an effort to curb student violence after games, schools such as Ohio State and West Virginia have suspended students involved in raucous postgame activities. that measure, however, appears unlikely at Kansas. Marles Roney, vice provost for Student Success, said the University had not given thought to punishing students who rushed the field after football games. once a season during Kansas football coach Mark Mangino's four-year tenure. "The man focused on is safety," Roney said. "Our hope is that we can work with students on making safe choices. The hope is that we won't be tearing down goalposts in the future." "The main thing we're really "I think the student support for the football team has been tremendous, but rushing the field, it's just irresponsible." Marchiony said the department Jim Marchiony Associate athletics director The goalposts have come down on average more than sonnel at games asked students in the first row of the student section to wait until the goalposts were lowered before they rushed the field. "I think the student support for the football team has been tremendous, but rushing the field, it's just appreciated the support for the football team, but that students should make better choices after games. irresponsible," Marchionv said. The responsibility for stopping the student behavior after football games rests solely with students, Marchiony said. - Edited by Alison Peterson WOMEN'S BASKETBALL High hopes for high scorers BY MICHAEL PHILLIPS mphillips@kansan.com KANSAN SWIPTERWITH The Kansas women's basketball team is putting up big offensive numbers for the first time since the '90s. The last time the Jayhawks averaged 72 points in the month of November, they went to the NCAA tournament. The team is receiving votes in the AP Top 25 poll, in part due to the depth of its lineup. The team's reserves played 88 minutes during a 70-65 victory against Northeastern on Sunday. "We've talked about our quality of depth," said Bonnie Henrickson, Kansas women's basketball coach. "Those kids need to come in and give us what they're capable of." The team's reserves have been inconsistent at times, and Henrickson will continue to train the team's six newcomers as the season progresses. Junior guard Shaquina Mosley will likely play as a reserve on Friday. She was denied a starting spot Sunday after a disappointing performance in the previous game, which was a 70-68 victory against Detroit on Nov. 22. She made only one basket on six attempts. "I told Shaq, 'You're not going to start, but that doesn't mean I'm not going to go to you.'" Henrickson said. Mosley managed to score seven points in 22 minutes of action. She utilized her speed to blow by defenders on the fast break. Freshman forward Marija Zinic will also play a critical bench role, relieving the starting centers if they get into foul trouble. But Zinic has not been able to fulfill that role because she has a tendency to get into foul trouble herself. "That's being young and that's unfortunate, because I really SCORES After scoring 102 points against Chaminade, the Kansas men's team outscored the women's team this November for the 10th straight season - but the gap season - but the team's closing. - A look at the teams' aver age scores in November: Men's Women's Year Men's Women's 2005 80 72 2004 81 56 2003 86 57 2002 79 63 2001 93 69 2000 92 79 1999 95 72 1998 78 59 1997 86 67 1996 81 73 1995 76 77 1994 83 71 1993 76 74 1991* 99 74 1990 76 70 1989 88 58 1988 87 56 *In 1992, neither team played during November. Source: Kansas athletics think she's close to turning the corner," Henrickson said. Despite the team's offensive success, it has yet to win convincingly because of a struggling defense. Kansas had difficulty playing against the four guards that both Northeastern and Detroit played on the court at the same time. The Jayhawks usually play three guards on the floor. "I've never guarded guards before," said sophomore forward Jamie Boyd. "We just had to focus and really communicate our switches." Henrickson said the point of switching players as a defender was to stop a pass, something the team was unable to do. SEE HIGH SCORES ON PAGE 6B BIG 12 FOOTBALL Rat trap reminds Texas not to eat the cheese' BY DANIEL BERK dberk@kansan.com KANSAN SENIOR SPORTWRIVER Sporting a rat trap around his neck, Texas football coach Mack Brown ran around the practice field last week. Brown stressed to his players the importance of taking every game seriously and not getting trapped on its way to playing for a conference championship and, potentially, a national championship. Brown said the team nibbled at the cheese in the trap when it played a close game with rival Texas A&M last weekend, but eventually won the game 40-29. The Texas Longhorns will play the Colorado Buffaloes this weekend for the Big 12 Conference Championship in Houston. "Bill Parcells sent me an email and told me to make sure our players didn't eat the cheese and get trapped," Brown said. "They got a little nibble, but we didn't get snapped." If Texas can get by Colorado this weekend, it will land itself in the Rose Bowl playing for the national championship. Texas senior safety Michael Huff said he was not worried about the team getting upset this "We know we have so much riding on this game, we won't let the outside stuff affect us," Huff said. "I have never heard of a coat wearing a rat trap around his neck, but whatever works, I guess. I just started laughing at him when I saw it." weekend because everyone on the team understood what was at stake. Early Saturday afternoon, before Kansas defeated Iowa State, it seemed that Texas would play Iowa State in the conference championship game. SEE TEXAS ON PAGE 6B Texas players dunk coach Mack Brown after defeating Texas A&M last Friday and completing an undefeated regular season. Brown was named AP Big 12 Coach of the Year on Tuesday. UNSPORTSMANLIKE CONDUCT Fans should thank Mangino for reversing Jayhawks' fortunes The Jayhawks are a team on the rise, and there is one man to thank for it: Mark Mangino. In 2001, watching KU football for the first time as a student, I witnessed the Jayhawks struggle before beating Division I-AA Southwest Missouri State — now Missouri State — 24-10. It was a sign of things to come. Since 1995, Kansas fans have seen a lot of football — a lot of bad football. MARK ZILLMAN MZILLMAN@KANSAN.COM Kansas' Zach Dyer and Mario Kinsey were not Division I quarterbacks. UCLA and DeShaun Foster, now a running back with the Carolina Panthers, exposed Kansas 41-17 the next week. The Jayhawks would collapse for a 3-8 season and abruptly end the Terry Allen era. There was no excitement for Jayhawk football. The biggest buzz in 2001 had nothing to do with what was on the field, but what was in the parking lots instead. Former athletics director Al Bohl created a new policy allowing alcohol in tailgating areas around Memorial Stadium, showing how dire things had Things were bad for KU football. Allen instilled zero discipline in KU football. Players stealing purses, falling asleep during games, botching coin tosses and getting lodged in Taco Bell drive-thru windows were all staples of the program. become for the rare KU football fan. A KU football fan needed beer to get through an 11-game schedule. Winning was not. The Jayhawks victory total decreased every year from 1999 to 2001. Attendance suffered, too in 2000, attendance hit its lowest mark since the 1980s. If not for crowds infused with Nebraska and Oklahoma red, 2001 would have been the same. The famous KU First shirts, which students could wear to get into the game for free, were passed out like candy on Wescoe Beach before the UCLA game. The Cornhusker game seemed more like Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Neb., than Memorial Stadium in Lawrence. 1 Even in the men's restroom, one half of the fans chanted "Husker" while the fans on the other side of the urinals yelled "Power." These were dismal times indeed for KU football fans. --- SFE ZILLMAN ON PAGE 6B