SPORTS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
SOCCER MOVES TO THIRD IN BIG 12
PAGE 8B
WOMEN'BASKETBALL DEFEATS PITT STATE
WWW.KANSAN.COM
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 5,2007
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KANSAS 76 - NEBRASKA 39
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The tables have turned
BY ASHER FUSCO
Senior wide receiver Marcus Henry reaches for a catch in the Kansas end zone during Kansas' victory over Nebraska Saturday at Memorial Stadium. After Kansas' victory over Nebraska Kansas is ranked fourth in the Bowl Championship Series rankings and fifth in the other three major leagues.
Anna Faltermieer/KANSAN
afusco@kansan.com
The Nebraska Cornhuskers visited the Kansas Jayhawks on Saturday, and the game was an absolute blowout. There's nothing unusual about that statement.
What was strange about Saturday's game was that the Jayhawks were the ones doing the dominating.
For the better part of the last half-century, Nebraska pushed Kansas around, winning 37 of the teams' last 38 match-ups. Saturday, the No. 5 Jayhawks played the role of Big 12 bully, turning the tables and routing the Cornhuskers, 76-39.
With the victory, Kansas moved into fifth in The Associated Press and Coaches' polls and fourth in the BCS standings while securing its first ever 5-0 start in conference play and first 9-0 start since 1908. The Jayhawks' 76 points set a school record for the most scored in a conference game and easily surpassed the team's previous high of 40 points against Nebraska (4-6, 1-5 Big 12). Kansas actually passed that mark by halftime, scoring 48 points before the end of the second quarter.
"Nebraska has a good tradition, and they always play hard," senior wide receiver Marcus Henry said. "So to look up and see that score on the scoreboard was pretty amazing."
The Jayhawk offense looked impressive the entire game, but the defense suffered through several rough stretches early in the game. Nebraska, which had relied on its strong running game all season, threw Kansas a change-up by going to the air early and often. In the first half alone, Nebraska junior quarterback Joe Ganz threw for 266 yards and two touchdowns, leading two solid scoring drives in the first 12 minutes of play.
"They threw the ball a lot," Kansas coach Mark Mangino said. "We did not anticipate them throwing the ball as much as they did because they had not done that all year. We were caught a little bit off-guard."
and Kansas were tangled in a 28-21 shoot out.
By the opening minutes of the second quarter, it was clear that high-powered offense would be the theme of Saturday's game. The teams combined for 35 points in the first quarter, and neither showed any sign of slowing down early in the second quarter. Every time Kansas looked primed to pull away and stretch its lead, Nebraska used its most potent weapon, senior wide receiver Maurice Purify, to crawl back into the game.
Trailing 28-14 early in the second quarter, Ganz connected with Purify, who was streaking past Kansas junior cornerback Kendrick Harper, for a 60-yard gain down the middle of the field. After the long pass, the Kansas coaches adjusted the defensive secondary to keep junior cornerback Aqib Talib on Purify at all times. The challenging match-up did not faze Purify. Two plays after the 60-yard pass, Ganz lofted the ball into the air to Purify in the corner of the end zone. Purify, at 6-foot-4 and 220 pounds, muscled his way through Talib and to the ball to put six points on the scoreboard. With 9:44 to play in the first half, Nebraska
From that point on, Kansas patched up its imperfections and performed like the unde feated powerhouse the way it has all season.
Sophomore quarterback Todd Reesing led the Jayhawks on a four-play, 61-yard drive that lasted only one minute and seven seconds to extend his team's lead to 14 points. The defense stiffened and allowed just 15 yards on the next two Nebraska drives combined and held the team dormant long enough for the offense to score three more touchdowns before halftime.
After yielding four touchdowns on the Cornhuskers' first nine drives, the Jayhawk defense made adjustments in the third quarter, intercepting three passes and recovering a fumble. Sophomore safeties Darrell Stuckey and Justin Thornton had momentum-killing interceptions in the second half that set the offense up with prime field position, and Nebraska scored only one touchdown in the game's final 25 minutes. By that time, the reserves were on the field, and the game was all but over.
"We went right back to our fundamentals and focused on our responsibilities," junior linebacker Mike Rivera said. "We tried to keep it simple, just reading our progressions and dropping into our spots. We came in at halftime and talked about that and got some
BCS standings
SEEFOOTBALL ON PAGE 4B
Kansas' 76-39 thrashing of Nebraska turned some heads across the nation as the Jayhawks jumped to fourth place in the BCS Standings and into fifth place in all three major polls. Kansas leapfrogged Oklahoma, West Virginia, Boston College and Arizona State with help from a weighted computer average that favored it heavily over Oklahoma and Missouri. The No. 5 ranking in The Associated Press poll is the Jayhawks' highest since 1968. Other Big 12 teams in the BCS Top.25 include Oklahoma (5), Missouri (6) and Texas (14).
BCS Rankings
1. Ohio State
2. LSU
3. Oregon
4. Kansas
5. Oklahoma
6. Missouri
7. West Virginia
8. Boston College
9. Arizona State
10. Georgia
— Asher Fusco
Hawks win in record-setting fashion
COMMENTARY
shroyer@kansan.com
To say Kansas made a statement with its 76-39 victory against Nebraska would be an understatement.
According to ABC's broadcast team during the Texas-Oklahoma State game, Cowboys fans gasped when the Kansas score appeared on the JumboTron in Boone Pickens Stadium. Teams just aren't supposed to touch the 70s in November.
Nothing short of a 37-point beatdown would have lived up to the hype of homecoming, complete with a pregame fly-over, sky divers and a hippie dancing in the front row of the west bleachers. In the end, Nebraska's 36-year dominance over Kansas was a distant memory.
But, make no mistake, Saturday's blowout came against a deeply flawed Nebraska team, which lost five consecutive games.
The Cornhuskers are still under the direction of lame duck coach Bill Callahan, who is incapable of inspiring greatness out of his
team. I don't think there's a single player on his roster willing to lay it all on the line for him at this point in the season.
Nebraska's offense was led by quarterback Joe Ganz, who made his first collegiate start. By the second quarter, it was apparent that Callahan had abandoned his running game and Ganz's inexperience came to the forefront with four ensuing interceptions.
Nebraska's defense (formerly known as the Blackshirts) again proved to be softer than a Tempur-Pedic mattress. Ranked dead last in the NCAA in rushing defense, Nebraska actually improved its season average by "holding" Kansas to 218 yards on the ground. By the end of the third quarter, with Kansas leading 69-31, Nebraska interim athletic director and three-time National Champion coach Tom Osborne had already placed an order for a custom-made casket to rest in when his time came.
Nevertheless, Kansas' dominance was downright scary. Offensively, the layhawks took the fight out of the Cornhuskers. After a three-and-out on its first drive, Kansas had only three other drives that failed to net points. Two were a result of Kansas running out the clock at the end of each half, and the third ended with a missed 51-yard field goal attempt.
Although Anthony Webb continued to be a non-factor returning punts, the Kansas offense
didn't need him, stringing together five drives of at least 60 yards for touchdowns. For the second straight game, Brandon McAnderson couldn't be stopped. And Todd Reesing went Tom Brady on the Pinkshirts, throwing a school-record six touchdown passes compared with just 11 incompletions.
Defensively, it looked initially that Kansas' secondary had been exposed. Ganz threw for 266 yards and burned All-American Aqib Talb twice for touchdowns in the first half. But the four front turned up the heat on Ganz, and the secondary tightened up, allowing only 139 yards in the second half, when Nebraska running back Marlon Lucky was in the backfield mostly for show. Kudos to defensive coordinator Bill Young for making the necessary adjustments.
Kansas' 76 points were the most ever surrendered by a Nebraska team (although that record could fall again as long as Callahan is coach) and the list of offensive records went on from there for the Kansas.
In fact, kudos to the entire Kansas football team. When you're down to your final three games of the season and your biggest concerns are your punt return and punting game, things couldn't be much better.
The Jayhawks are starting to make a believer out of me — and that's saying something.
Edited by Kaitlyn Syring
GUEST COMMENTARY
Cosgrove deserves appreciation
Nebraska fans probably would have loved it, especially those waving Kevin Cosgroves noose in the air. I was going to declare that I literally could have stepped in at defensive coordinator and allowed 76 points or less, referencing my extensive background in EA Sports" NCAA College Football."
Then Cosgrove, after a long, long delay after the game, stepped out from the visitor's locker room, misty-eyed and quiet. He held his lips as stuff as he could, but the corners of his mouth quivered and turned down. There wasn't much to say, and from the looks of the lump in his throat, he wasn't able to say much anyway.
Kansas had dropped 76 points on Nebraska, and I had my column.
8
"I'm sick about it" Cosgrove said. "Just sick about it."
I'm not going to offer excuses or explana
From the first loss against USC, Cosgrove has been lambasted, criticized, insulted and topped the side. Even before the sixth loss, when Nebraska's defense hit historic lows across the board, the surest thing about this football team was that Cosgrove was a winner.
It's pretty clear Cosgrove has two games left as a Cornhusker — three if you're extremely optimistic. I'm not sure there's anyone like that left out there.
tions. There's nowhere to begin, and nothing you can say to spin 11 touchdowns. I could fill the front page with criticism, but there's enough of that out there.
So much, in fact, that I wonder if it's too much.
What's the point in carrying it on? Negativity is addictive. And Nebraska fans, encouraged by the media, are bastardizing their defensive coordinator, it would appear, just for the fun of it.
Pretty sick. Especially from those who consider themselves the greatest fans in the nation.
Cosgrove has failed miserably this season. The defense has gone downhill. There's no way he could ever stay at Nebraska, not even with three straight shutouts.
SEE NEBRASKA ON PAGE 2B
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