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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
FOOTBALL IN REVIEW
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2007
3C Central Michigan Southeastern Lousiana
4C Toledo
5C Florida International
6C Kansas State Baylor
7C Colorado Texas A&M
8C Nebraska Oklahoma State
9C Iowa State Missouri
10C Photo essay
credits
Publisher The University Daily Kansan
Editor-in-Chief Erick R. Schmidt
Managing Editors Darla Slipke
Eric Jorgensen
advertising Director Jackie Schaffer
Sports Editor Travis Robinett
Design Chiefs Drew Bergman
Brenna Hawley
Bryan Marvin
Copy Chiefs Trevan McGee
Dianne Smith
Jyl Unruh
Photo Editor Sarah Leonard
Advertising Layout Megan Gonzales
Cover design by Drew Bergman
The University Daily Kansan is the student newspaper of the University of Kansas. Homecoming 2007 is a special section. The first copy is paid for through the student activity fee.
et cetera
Kansan Newsroom
111 Staircase/Finn Hall
111 Parkway
Lawrence KS 66045
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All contents, unless stated otherwise, © 2007 The University Daily Kansan
Jayhawks break out in 2007
BY TRAVIS ROBINETT
KANSAN SPORTS EDITOR
TROBINETT@KANSAN.COM
Crazy, Inconceivable. Absurd. Pick any adjective you want, but nothing can accurately describe this 2007 college football season. It will go down as the wackiest ever, and possibly as the one that ruined the BCS.
Appalachian State won at Michigan. Stanford won at USC. Hawaii is the only undefeated team remaining, Nebraska and Notre Dame are big losers. A two-loss team will play in the national title game. And oh yeah, Kansas went 11-1 to clinch its best season ever. We should have known a season like this would boil over from Boise State's implausible, trick-play-aplenty upset against Oklahoma in last season's Fiesta Bowl.
Parity in college football is shining through the blinds and waking up the doubtters. After a different
top 2 almost every week, did anyone emerge from the regular season? Right now, at least eight teams could make an argument to play in New Orleans for the title.
The spread offense reigns supreme. A great quarterback could be found just about anywhere. Coaching is improving from coast to coast. And the Jayhawks have taken full advantage of the modern college football landscape. The two biggest differences between this season and last was the hiring offensive coordinator Ed Warriner and the emergence of stellar sophomore quarterback Todd Reeing.
Parity wrecked havoc on tradition, and there's no doubt it is great for college football — especially for Kansas fans.
Warriner's no-huddle, spread-out scheme complemented by timely play calling a breath of fresh air compared to former offensive coordinator Nick Quartaro's bubble screens, shovel passes and third-and-long draws that were drawn up from the dark ages. Kansas learned that the best teams score lots and lots of points and decided to try it out.
But a successful spread offense
needs to be run by a general, someone who can survey the field and almost always make the best decision. That's Todd Reesing, of course. Reesing is a lot like Bill Whittemore, Kansas' quarterback from 2002-2003 who pioneered Kansas football's greatness almost by himself — Kansas was 0-5 in games without Whittemore. The biggest difference between the two quarterbacks is the amount of talent they have to work with and how prone they are to injuries.
Whittemore was hurt every season he played college football, but Reesing hasn't shown any signs of slowing down after taking a big hit. Seriously, when was the last time a Kansas quarterback made it through every game of the season as the starter? It's never happened during the Mangino era until now. And Whittemore didn't have the plethora of receivers that Reesing has at his disposal, let alone a top-notch running game.
All the pieces fell into place for Kansas this season. The Jayhawks have been on the verge ever since the days of Whittemore, but never have they had such good luck: no Texas, no Oklahoma, no decent teams on
the nonconference schedule, a relatively injury free season, and most importantly no blown leads in the fourth quarter. Thank the Kansas defense for that one.
Against Kansas State, Colorado and Texas A&M, the defense came up with huge stops very late in each game to deliver three huge road victories. Last season, I remember Toledo, Nebraska, Texas A&M, Baylor and Oklahoma State driving down the field with ease when they needed to the most. That didn't happen this season.
Even if Kansas mostly beat a bunch of cupcakes, it won 11 games. If you remember the Terry Allen years, you can appreciate this level of success even more. If anything, Kansas was supposed to slowly crawl up the ladder to earn its place among the nation's best teams. The Alamo, Gator or Holiday Bowl would have been good enough for any Jayhawk fan before the season. But instead, these Jayhawks are BCS bound and not one person predicted it.
BY ASHER FUSCO afusco@kansan.com
So take it all in and savor every moment, because college football is so unpredictable right now that you never know when Kansas' ride could end.
These players, moments shine through
KANSAS OFFENSIVE MVP
Junioroffensivetackle Anthony Collins — Todd Reeing may have received the lion's share of the attention for Kansas' offensive explosion this season, but there were other players who contributed to the sixth-best offense in the nation. Anthony Collins was the player responsible for protecting Reeing's blind side from oncoming pass-rushers and plowing downfield to open holes for running back Brandon McAnderson. He performed those tasks admirably and earned All-Big 12 First Team recognition for his efforts. When Collins was hampered by an injury late in the game against Missouri, it was painfully apparent how much he had helped Kansas all season: Without Collins at full-strength, Todd Reeing was often left unprotected and susceptible to big hits.
KANSAS DEFENSIVE MVP
Senior defensive tackle James McClinton — At first glance, there's nothing phenomenal about McClinton. The 285-pound defensive tackle is a bit undersized and he didn't finish as one of the team's top five tacklers. But the Garland, Texas, native dominated the line of scrimmage more often than any other defensive end in the conference and earned All-Big 12 First Team honors. With McClinton occupying two or more offensive linemen on nearly every play, junior defensive ends Russell Brorsen and John Larson were free to cause mayhem in opposing backfields. Though Aqib Talib was the defense's lone All-American this season, McClinton may have made a bigger impact on the game on a more consistent basis than any player.
TOP 5 MOMENTS OF 2007
1. TEN CONSECTIVE TD DRIVES AGAINST NEBRASKA If one single picture could tell the
story of the changing landscape of the Big 12 Conference and Kansas' improbable run to 11-1, it would be a snapshot of the Memorial
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open receiver. He backpedaled left, rolled to the right, eluded two Cowboys, sprinted toward the middle of the field and unleashed a bullet of a throw across his body to wide receiver Dexton Fields. The result: a 34-yard completion and the praise of ABC broadcaster Brent Musberger, who exclaimed, "Shades of Doug Flutiel!" as Reeing finished the impromptu first-down conversion.
Faced with a four-point deficit at Oklahoma State, Todd Reesing took what looked like a routine snap on a second-and-eight play midway through the second quarter. But Reesing couldn't find an
3. AQIB TALIB
GOES 100 YARDS
FOR A PICK-SIX
Aqib Talib the wide receiver put together quite the highlight reel early in the season, scoring touchdowns on passes of all sorts. In the fourth game of the season Aqib Talib the cornerback got in on the action. Talib
intercepted an errant Florida International pass in the Kansas end zone, but didn't take a touchback for an answer. Instead, the
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speedy junior raced down the left sideline before cutting across the field near the 50-yard line. As Talib neared the end zone, he received a crucial block from sophomore safety Darrell Stuckey and raced past the pylon for six spectacular points.
4. THE ROCK CHALK CHANT IN MANHATTAN
For the first time since 1989, Kansas fans chanted Rock Chalk in Manhattan as Kansas defeated Kansas State for the second consecutive season. The Jayhawks went into the game as road underdogs but came away well-respected and earning votes in the Top 25 polls. The Wildcats entered the matchup as a Top 25 team coming off of a resounding victory at Texas and quickly became one of the Big 12's worst teams. Kansas finished the regular season 11-1 and Kansas State finished 5-7 and out of bowl contention. The Oct. 6 victory stood out as a feather in Kansas' cap and another strange chapter in a topsy-turvy college football season.
5. MARK MANGINO, YOUTUBE STAR
Punt returner Raimond Pendleton returned a Central Michigan punt 77 yards for a touchdown in the first game of the season. Coach Mark Mangino didn't have a problem with that. But Mangino did take issue with Pendleton's celebratory leap into the end zone. Upon returning to the sideline, Pendleton received the tongue-lashing of a lifetime from Mangino, who used some colorful language to illustrate his stance on players participating in individual celebrations. By the next day, the clip — audio and all — had been posted on YouTube, and Mangino's diatribe was the hottest thing to hit cyberspace since the heyday of "Star Wars Kid". Although some boosters expressed discontent about Mangino's choice language, the episode reinforced the coach's tough, team-first approach.
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