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.2005
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN SPORTS
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2005
WWW.KANSAN.COM
FOOTBALL
Rvlan Howe/KΔNSΔN
PAGE 1B
Senior quarterback Brian Luke puts his head down before running into Kansas State junior defensive back Kyle Williams during the first half Saturday. Mangino named Luke the starting quarterback for the game against Oklahoma this Saturday at Arrowhead Stadium.
Mangino picks Luke
Hopes for better offense
BY RYAN COLAIANNI rcolaianni@kansan.com KANSAN STAFF WRITER
Kansas football coach Mark Mangino named senior quarterback Brian Luke as the starter yesterday for Saturday's game against Oklahoma.
Mangino played three quarterbacks in each of the two conference games this year. He said he hoped to use Luke exclusively on Saturday.
"I told him, I am looking for you to start, to finish and win the game." Mangino said.
Luke completed four passes against Kansas State last week. This season he is 64 of 121 for 764 yards. Luke has five touchdowns and five interceptions.
"We think that Brian has been in the system the longest and really has shown the most understanding of our offense," Mangino said. "We think, when protected, he is delivering the ball better than any of our quarterbacks."
Mangino has pulled Luke often in the previous two games, replacing him with junior quar-
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ugh?
Mark Mangino Kansas football coach
"I told him, I am looking for you to start, to finish and win the game."
"What I am trying to do is create competition there, so that they push each other and move their performance to another level." Mangino said.
The team's leading receiver, senior wide receiver Mark Simmons, hopes that the offense will perform at the same level that it performed in practice.
terback Adam Barmann and freshman wide receiver Marcus Herford.
"It is not like he makes an error and we are yanking him," Mangino said. "I believe he can get the job done. We need to protect him. We need to run good routes and catch the ball when it is delivered."
Mangino also said senior quarterback Jason Swanson was completely healthy and likely would serve as the second-string quarterback.
Barmann appears to be behind Swanson after his struggles against Kansas State.
regained the confidence that he had in the past, prior to his season-ending injury last year."
"Adam has not been able to translate his good work on the practice field onto the game field. Why? I can't answer that," Mangino said. "My only guess would be that he has not
week.
The offense had 236 yards of total offense last weekend against Kansas State. Mangino will look to players aside from the quarterbacks to jumpstart the offense. One of those positions is wide receiver. He said that Herford would see a lot of time at wide receiver this
SEE OFFENSE ON PAGE 4B
Leading up to the weekly press conference, many speculated that Mangino was so desperate to spark his offense that senior quarterback Jason Swanson, who has been on the offensive scout team, would start against Oklahoma.
Mangino did say that Swanson was now practicing with the second offensive unit in practice, but starting a quarterback that Mangino admitted wasn't near ready to play last week
Mangino gets it right, finally
VIEW FROM PRESS ROW
Not only will there be no platoon of quarterbacks during Saturday's game against Oklahoma, but two of the Jayhawks' top athletes will be utilized to the best of their offensive potential.
It took Mark Mangino live games, but it looks like he's finally taking the necessary steps to improve his putrid offense.
Tuesday, the Kansas football coach gave his team its best chance at victory by announcing that senior Brian Luke would start at quarterback and freshman Marcus Herford would move to wide receiver for Saturday's game.
KELLIS ROBINETT
KROBINETT@KANSAN.COM
would have been crazy.
Making Luke the starter was absolutely the right decision.
Luke has proven to be the most consistent of any quarterback on the team, and the only one who can move the ball down field.
He was by far the best quarterback during nonconference play, and his touchdown pass to senior wide receiver Mark Simmons against Texas Tech was the only touchdown drive that Kansas has put together in a conference game this season.
Opposing defenses don't have to worry about long pass plays when junior quarterback Adam Barmann and Herford are in the game, but Luke can force safeties to move back and open up the running game.
SEE ROBINETT ON PAGE 4B
VOLLEYBALL
Volleyball coach Ray Bechard watches his team during the third game of the match against Nebraska Saturday night. The Jayhawks fell to the Huskers 3-1. They will face Missouri at 6:30 p.m. Saturday in
Columbia.
Rylan Howe/KANSAN
Jayhawks ready for Border Showdown
BY MATE WILSON
mwilson@kansan.com
KANSAN STAFF WRITER
Kansas (12-5, 4-4 Big 12) is coming off two consecutive home losses. Saturday it dropped a four-game match to No. 1 Nebraska at the Horeisi Family Athletics Center. Before that, Kansas was swept by 20thranked Kansas State.
Jayhawk volleyball continues a rough stretch in the Big 12 schedule Saturday when the team travels to Columbia, Mo., to play the seventh-ranked Missouri Tigers.
First serve is set for 6:30 p.m. at the Hearnes Center.
Missouri is 12-1 overall and 6-1 in conference play, with its only loss coming from Nebraska. The Tigers have a match tonight against the No. 18 Texas Longhorns before they shift their focus to the jayhawks.
Kansas sophomore opposite hitter Emily Brown said that the Missouri match was always a little different than other conference matches.
"They're obviously a really big rival," Brown said. "For me,
The Tigers swept the season series from the Jayhawks last year. Overall, Missouri holds a 40-31 edge over Kansas since the first match between the teams in 1975. Kansas volleyball coach Ray Bechard said his team would expect a very strong effort on both sides of the net.
"They're a great team," he said. "They're extremely good at siding out. It's a situation where we have to get them out of their system, because they're very efficient."
personally, growing up in Kansas. I always want to do well against those guys."
Missouri features senior setter Lindsey Hunter, who is in her fourth year of running the offense. Hunter led the conference in assists in her first three campaigns.The all-American is on top of the Big 12 again, averaging 14.7 assists per game.
Missouri averages 17.8 kills per game. It leads the nation in that category, according to the latest NCAA report. In comparison, Kansas is 30th with 16.24
SEE SHOWDOWN ON PAGE 4B
BASKETBALL
LIVEFIELDHOUSE
Members of the KU Constructors Club gaze at the newly-installed video board at Allen Fieldhouse on Tuesday afternoon. The group toured the fieldhouse and construction of the Booth Family Hall of Athletics with Turner Construction employees. Construction inside the fieldhouse was finished last week, Late Night in the Phog is Friday at Allen Fieldhouse. Doors will open at 5:30 p.m.
Candice Rukes/KANSAN
BY MIRANDA LENNING mlenning@kansan.com KANSAN SENIOR SPORTSWRITER
Fans ready for Phog
C college basketball season officially starts on Saturday, Oct. 15. For students at the University of Kansas, festivities begin the night before at Late Night at the Phog.
Kansas fans will not only get their first glimpse of this year's new-look Jayhawks, but they will also see the new-look Allen Fieldhouse, which underwent a facelift during the offseason.
"It will be the first time our fans can see our freshmen, the improvements to Allen Fieldhouse, and it will be their first look at this year's team," Kansas basketball coach Bill Self said.
This year's Late Night in the Phog will be slightly different from those in the past — mainly because the festivities will be broadcast live on ESPN U from 8 to 9 p.m. The celebration will run from about 6:30 to 9:30 p.m., a change from past years when the carousing continued until after midnight.
It will be important not only
Five universities were selected for the broadcast, Kentucky, Memphis, Oregon and Michigan State are also included in the telecast.
"This thing is a pretty big deal." Self said. "It's certainly the most important of the Late Night celebrations that we have had since I have been here."
because people will have access from their living rooms to what only the most intimate group of Kansas fans have had in the past, but also because there will be a gang of highly-rated high school recruits who visited the University this weekend. Last year, freshmen Mario Chalmers, Micah Downs and Julian Wright all attended Late Night.
"I was really impressed with Late Night," Downs said." "It made me realize how much they loved basketball here."
Doors to the fieldhouse open at 5:30 p.m. and seating is first-come, first-served.
SEE PHOG ON PAGE 4B