THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2007
SPORTS
5B
football notes
BOWL POSSIBILITIES
Kansas finished its regular season last weekend, but it will not find out its bowl destination until Sunday evening. The bowl pairings and final BCS Standings will be announced at 7 p.m. on FOX (Sunflower Broadband channel 4). If Missouri defeats Oklahoma in Saturday's Big 12 Championship, Kansas most likely will appear in the Fiesta Bowl Jan. 2 in Glendale, Ariz. If Oklahoma wins, Kansas
could miss out on the BCS bowls completely and fall to the Cotton Bowl, which is Jan. 1 in Dallas, Oklahoma is currently a three-point favorite going into Saturday's game.
MORE MCANDERSON,
LESS SHARP
Sophomore running back Jake Sharp, whose role had decreased substantially in the past few weeks, carried the ball only once and
gained no yardage against Missouri. Sharp carried much of the load early in the season, gaining 788 rushing yards on 138 carries and scoring seven rushing touchdowns. Sharp also caught 17 passes in the regular season. In Sharp's absence, senior running back Brandon McAnderson established himself as the Jayhawks' feature back. McAnderson finished the regular season with 1,050 rushing yards and 16 rushing touchdowns.
>> COMMENTARY
Low student attendance adds to weekend disappointments
6:13 p.m. Sunday — The grumblings from a group of students sitting in the front row of Allen Fieldhouse said it best. "This is embarrassing," a student in a white Mario Chalmers jersey said. "This is Kansas versus Arizona live on ESPN and there's nobody here."
The biggest travesty of the Thanksgiving weekend wasn't Kansas's first-half performance against Missouri. It wasn't Kansas Athletics' decision to rob Kansas of a home game against Missouri, either. It wasn't even my mom's decision not to make pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving dinner. No, the most unforgivable sin of the weekend was the KU students' attendance on Sunday at Allen Fieldhouse. Ever felt like head-butting the Jayhawk statue in front of Strong Hall? You might have if you were there.
BY RUSTI DODD
KANSAN COLUMNIST
RDDD@KANSAN.COM
6:37 p.m. Sunday — “Here's a riddle for you,” Kansan basketball beat writer Mark Dent said while gazing up at the deserted student section of Allen Fieldhouse. If Kansas plays a basketball game at Allen Fieldhouse, and no students are around to see it, does it make a sound?
The thing is, Sunday night's lack of student attendance made about as much sense as Christmas music in August. This wasn't Kansas versus Tahiti Tech. This was Art-FREAKIN-Zona. Here you had a matchup of two programs with a combined 16 Foulones and a colorful rivalry. You had three future NBA first-round picks in Kansas' Darrell Arthur and Brandon Rush, and Arizona's
Chase Budinger. The game was good enough for the handful of NBA scouts in attendance. Former Jayhawks Greg Ostertag and Milk Newton showed up. So did ESPN analyst Jay Bilas. You know that warm, tingly feeling you get when Bilas or another ESPN talking head gushes over how great Allen Fieldhouse fans are? Well, guess what? When Bilas turned his head to the right last night, he saw somewhere between 500-1,000 empty seats.
7:27 p.m. Sunday — Midway through the first half on Sunday, the student section of Allen Fieldhouse was finally occupied by a few stragglers taking advantage of the extra leg room. I could only imagine Kansas radio broadcaster Bob Davis announcing, "If you're driving around Lawrence and you've got nothing better to do, the No. 4 team in the country is playing in the most hallowed basketball venue in the country and there are still plenty of good seats available"
A myriad of excuses can be offered for Sunday's attendance debacle. But don't buy them.
It shouldn't matter that it was the Sunday of Thanksgiving break. It.
shouldn't matter that fans might have been burnt out after Armageddon at Arrowhead. It shouldn't matter that the use of electronic student tickets made it harder to give away basketball tickets to friends. Allen Fieldhouse should be packed to the rafters for every Kansas basketball game. Period.
8:27 p.m. Sunday — Maybe people got on the phone to friends about the abundance of open seats, or maybe some people just spread out a little bit to cover up the section of empty seats. Whatever it was, the student section was modestly filled late in the second half to watch Kansas pull off a frustrating but thrilling victory against Arizona
And the students who were at the game were lively, energetic and loud. They deserve to be lauded.
Too bad there weren't 500 more just like them.
My colleague at The Kansas, Shawn Shroyer, was critical of Kansas Athletics Director Lew Perkins in yesterday's Kansan. Shroyer — like many — questioned Perkins' decision to sacrifice a Memorial Stadium home-field advantage for the million-dollar payday at Arrowhead Stadium. He could be right. Maybe the Jayhawks would have fared better in the Border War if they had played at Memorial Stadium. But for everyone who criticized Lew Perkins' decision, here's a question: Were you at Allen Fieldhouse on Sunday night? He was keeping a seat warm for you.
— Edited by Rachel Bock
GUEST COMMENTARY
Mizzou isn't No.1 in Vegas Oddsmakers don't depend on rankings to pick favorites
BY TIM DAHLBERG ASSOCIATED PRESS
The Bowl Championship Series computer thinks Missouri is the best college football team in the country. So, too, do a group of pollsters who are charged with the weekly task of rating teams.
Down on the Las Vegas Strip though, the Tigers aren't even rated the best team in their next game against No. 9 Oklahoma.
For decades, people who follow college football have tried to figure out surefire ways to crown legitimate national champions, with varying degrees of success. In recent years the BCS has taken over with a system that forges a playoff in favor of computers and polls.
There are, of course, better ways. Here's one: Why not just turn it over to the oddsmakers, who rate with their wallets instead of a ballot?
"We do it for a living. If we send out bad numbers we're going to lose clients," said Mike Seba, senior oddsmaker at Las Vegas Sports Consultants, which sets much of the Vegas line. "We have to be right."
Being right in this case means Oklahoma is a 3-point favorite against Missouri in a game the Tigers must win to get in the BCS championship. Bettors seem to be in agreement with it if the wagers so far are any indication.
But don't stop there. Southern Cal is ranked No. 8 in the BCS and doesn't have a shot at the national title game after two midseason losses.
Put the Trojans on a neutral field with Missouri right now, and USC would be at least a 3-point favorite and possibly more to beat the No.1 team in the country. The same goes
for once-beaten Ohio State
"The polls are just a measuring stick for popularity," said Jay Kornegay, who runs the sports book at the Las Vegas Hilton. "It's like voting for prom queen."
The polls sometimes give you great matchups, like Texas-USC two years ago. But this year's possible title game likely will have little interest outside of two awfully small media markets in Missouri and West Virginia.
But network executives say no matter the matchup, the game likely will draw about 30 million viewers and dominate that night's schedule.
If Oklahoma beats Missouri and West Virginia is upset by rival Pittsburgh, the third- and fourth-place teams in the BCS standings should move into the title game. One is Ohio State, but the other is Georgia, a team that didn't even get into its own conference title game
FOX is paying $80 million this year for four of the five BCS games, including the Jan. 7 national title game in New Orleans. Last year, it got a premier matchup between Florida and Ohio State for its money
"That would probably be the nightmare scenario," said Charles Davis, who will be in the BOX booth as an analyst for the BCS title game.
Of course, everything about the championship game could change next weekend.
Davis thinks USC is probably the best team in the country right now, but the way the BCS system is set up it is almost impossible for a team with two losses to make the title game. That has pursists screaming for a playoff system that would clearly identify the best two teams the way it is done in college basketball.
Davis said the current system works to the extent that people are at least talking about possible matchups
Hawaii is the only undefeated major college team this year but didn't move up in the rankings because of a weak schedule. There are four teams with just one loss, and the main criteria about where they are ranked seems to be that the earlier the loss the better the ranking.
BYU won its championship doing the same thing Hawaii is doing this year — beating everyone else, something that has gotten Hawaii only a No. 12 ranking in the BCS. The Cougars didn't even play in a major bowl, winning the Holiday Bowl, but were voted in The Associated Press final poll as the top team in the country.
This season's Rose Bowl could end up being the most intriguing of the bowls, assuming USC beats UCLA this weekend and Ohio State doesn't move into the BCS title game. The Rose Bowl traditionally gets the highest ratings of any of the bowl games except the BCS championship game, which will be played six days in prime time and have the entire college audience to itself.
"If someone earns their way in, what's the downside?" he asked. "BYU won it all in 1984, and the earth did not spin off its axis."
"A game with Ohio State would probably get a better rating, but FOX isn't in the game for a one and out," said Pilson, who formerly headed CBS Sports. "The BCS game is approaching the Super Bowl as a stand-alone game where the matchups don't matter as much. I don't think FOX is too concerned. I think they're excited by the twists and turns and drama this year."
Because of that, television sports consultant Neal Pilson said, FOX probably isn't too worried about a matchup with two teams lacking star power.
tackle Anthony Collins struggled through the Missouri game after sitting out against Iowa State one week earlier. Junior cornerback Kendrick Harper did not start against Missouri but played several snaps from scrimmage. Junior safety Patricia Resby,
— Asher Fusco
A NEEDED REST
It will be at least a month before the Jayhawks play their next game. The lengthy layoff could benefit a squad that coach Mark Mangino said could use some rest. Junior offensive
who was injured several weeks ago in practice, played only on special teams Saturday. Sophomore safety Justin Thornton replaced Resby in the starting lineup.
The University of Kansas Chapter of
PHI KAPPA PHI All-academic honor society is proud to announce new member initiates
5:30 p.m., Tuesday, Nov. 27, Woodruff Auditorium, Kansas Memorial Union (initiates should assemble at 5 p.m. in the Big 12 Room)
Featuring special guest
Distinguished Professor and Vice Provost Don Steeples
Congratulations to KU's Best, the 2007 Phi Kappa Phi initiates!
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