SPORTS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
GAME DAY: JAYHAWKS FACE GORILLAS IN SEASON TUNE-UP PAGE 10B
PAGE 10B
WWW.KANSAN.COM
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2007
ALLEGRO 15
FOOTBALL
Hawks expect to beat Huskers
BY CASE KEEFER
ckeefer@kansan.com
Something must be incredibly wrong here.
something must be incredibly wrong here. Kansas enters Saturday's game against Nebraska as a 17-point favorite. Forget that the Jayhawks have beaten the Cornhuskens only once in 38 years. And overlook that in that span, Nebraska has played in 37 bowl games opposed to eight for Kansas.
"It's been a century of inconsistency here, and we are trying to get that righted," Kansas coach Mark Mangino said. "As far as Nebraska, we have great respect for the program. But if you look at the last four games against Nebraska, they've been hard-fought; they've been toe-to-toe."
Kansas has competed better with
history
Overall: Nebraska leads with an 88-22-3 record
In Lawrence: Nebraska leads with a 46-7-1 record.
Past 10 years:
Nebraska leads with a 9-1 record
biggest KU win:
31-0 in 1960
biggest NU win:
70-0 in 1986
Nebraska of late.
It took overtime in Lincoln, Neb.
last year for the Cornhuskers to beat the Jayhawks. Two years ago, Kansas embarrassed Nebraska in Lawrence with a 25-point victory.
But there's a role reversal in effect for Saturday's contest at Memorial Stadium. For the first time since 1974,
Kansas (8-0) has a better record than Nebraska (4-5) coming into the game.
What happened in the 1974 showdown when Kansas (4-1) traveled to play Nebraska (3-2)? The Cornhuskers thrashed the Jayhawks 56-0. But Kansas players don't need history to convince them to take Nebraska seriously.
"You can't sleep on Nebraska," junior cornerback Kendrick Harper said. "They are a very good football team. We are just going to practice well and hopefully be ready on Saturday."
These Cornhuskers clearly aren't the same caliber as past Cornhusker teams. They have lost four games in a row, which hasn't happened at Nebraska in 46 years. The memories of players like Tomma Frazier, Lawrence Phillips and Ahlman Green, who helped lead Nebraska to three national championships in the 1990s, seem more distant than ever.
Even last year's quarterback, Zac Taylor, who won Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year honors and led Nebraska to a Big 12 North title, looks legendary compared with this year's team. Despite the team's record, Nebraska coach Bill Callahan said that he had seen signs of life.
"I just want our kids to give their very best; I believe they are striving to do that. That's what I'm encouraged about as a coach," Callahan said. "I see that on the field, and you see it on film and their attitude. I know they'll be encouraged to go on the road and upset Kansas this week."
Adding to an already disastrous season, this week was the announcement that Cornhusker senior quarterback Sam Keller will miss the rest of the season with a shoulder injury. To beat Kansas, Nebraska will have to do it behind inexperienced junior quarterback Joe Ganz.
To beat Nebraska, Kansas will have to escape its unsuccessful history in the series.
FOOTBALL
Edited by Chris Beattie
Kansas to face new starter
BY ASHER FUSCO afusco@kansan.com
Nebraska's Sam Keller lies on the field after being injured in the fourth quarter at Texas. Keller will miss the rest of the season, causing another bump in Nebraska's rocky season.
When the Kansas coaching staff sits down to study Nebraska's personnel and schemes in preparation for Saturday's game, they won't have much film to choose from. The Cornhusker team that shows up at Memorial Stadium this weekend will probably bear little resemblance to last year's — or even last month's — Nebraska souid.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Nebraska has endured an unsteady season heavy on turmoil and light on success. The Cornhuskers are 1-4 in Big 12 Conference play (4-5 overall) and could need victories in their final three games to earn a ball berth. The school dismissed Athletics Director Steve Pederson on Oct. 15, and rumors about the job security of coach Bill Callahan have been swirling around the campus. In addition to those large-scale adjustments, Nebraska has made a major on-field change.
Sam Keller. Nebraska's starting quarterback for the first nine games of the season, is sidelined for the season after suffering a shoulder injury against Texas last week. The Cornhuskers will call on Joe Ganz, a junior who has not started a game since high school.
"What a great way to have your first start, against Kansas and the great defense they have, on the road, against the number eighth team in the country," Ganz said. "It's going to be a great atmosphere and I like playing road games so it's going to be kind of fun."
Ganz is in his fourth year in the Nebraska program, but he is anything but a seasoned veteran. He has thrown just 17 passes in his collegiate career, completing 10 for 158 yards and four touchdowns. Ganz, a 6-foot-1, 200 pound, Illinois native, played in five games last season and competed against Keller for the start job in the preseason.
offensive game plan.
Though he is a standard drop-back passer, Ganz is considered a more mobile quarterback than Keller. As a senior at Amos Alonzo Stagg High School, he rushed for 600 yards and 11 touchdowns. Though he can make plays with his legs, Callahan said he was not planning on significantly altering his
"There're not going to be much variation from the system, aside from what we do," Callahan said. "We're going to add some things, but I don't think that's going to shock or surprise them."
Ganz's relative inexperience could end up helping Nebraska solve the tough Kansas defense. With only six games and 17 passes worth of film to study on Ganz, the Jayhawks will not have the luxury of dissecting each and every tendency of the Cornhuskers new signal-caller.
"There's not much to evaluate, so you prepare for their schemes and what you know about them," Mangino said. "You try to anticipate what his strengths might be and how they might try to feature them. But we don't know and it's hard to speculate."
So far this season, Kansas has gameplanned well enough to handle all sorts of quarterbacks. The Jayhawks are ranked fifth in the nation in pass efficiency defense and second in the nation in scoring defense.
Edited by Elizabeth Cattell
quick stats Joe Ganz's career
Comp./Att. 10/17
Comp. percentage 58.8
TD/Int. 4/0
Rush att. 6
Rush yds. 17
COMMENTARY
Goalposts don't belong in Potter Lake
This Saturday, presuming Kansas beats Nebraska, there will be no excuse for Jayhawk fans to tear down the goalposts. Kansas already defeated Nebraska for the first time in nearly four decades in 2005 and is also already bowl-eligible. So what's at stake now?
Don't think it ludicrous of me to predict that the goalposts will go down anyway this Saturday.
Remember 2005? The team went 7-5. In college football, goalposts were torn down a total of seven times that year. Of those seven times, three were after victories at Memorial Stadium by Kansas' fans — Missouri, Nebraska and Iowa State.
Maybe tearing down the goalposts in 2005 after a 40-15 victory against Nebraska
was somewhat under- standable, but the other two instances were not. Tearing down the goalposts three times in one season was embarrassing for the University and for the football team. It is great to have school spirit and to cheer the team on, but three times?
Is that not excessive? Once again in 2006,
fans tore down the goalpost after a victory over Kansas State, which was 7-4 at the time. It was Kansas' second consecutive home victory against Kansas State and certainly not a reason for tearing down the
goalposts.
During a press conference the following Tuesday, Kansas coach Mark Mangino was asked about the incident. Mangino said,"I wrote a letter at the beginning of the season to the school newspaper asking (students) not to do that and I still do not want them to do that."
Plain and simple. folks. The coach wrote The University Daily Kansan asking students not to tear down the goal, posts and a few did not get the memo.
Mangino also said, "I don't like it for two reasons: one, there is a safety reason and number two, we need to have the same expectations that our players have. But our student body has been great and what happened is not necessarily an indictment against our whole student body."
This season, students have not torn down the goalposts yet, even after the 58-10 victory against Baylor, which established bowl-eligibility. But this could be because of the fallout in the student section after half time this season.
SEE WHEELER ON PAGE 7B
Power forward twins to join layhawks next season
Marcus and Markieff Morris, twin power forwards from Philadelphia, have committed to play basketball at Kansas, according to Javahawklant.com.
"Kansas was my dream school growth up," Marcus told Jayhawkslant.com. "The winning tradition is just great. I just remember seeing all of the fans when I would watch Kansas games on television. I just want to help bring a championship to Kansas. Coach Self was very excited when we told him about our decision."
Marcus is Rival's No. 37 player in the class of 2008 and Markieff is the Rivals No. 74 player. They chose Kansas over Villanova and St. Johns. Marcus and Markieff visited Kansas for Late Night and visited Villanova last weekend.
Kansas now has five commitments for the class of 2009: the Morris twins, guard Travis Releford, forward Mario Little and power Quinnrell Thomas. J.Mison Morgan, who is considering Kansas, is expected to make his decision Friday.
Mark Dent
KANSAN FILE PHOTO
Cole Aldrich, freshman center, drives past senior center Sasha Kau at Late Night. Aldrich was a top recruit for the season.
MEN'S BASKETBALL
Team sees benefit of playing early exhibition games
BY MARK DENT
mdent@kansan.com
mdent@kansan.com
Cole Aldrich planned to go trick-or-treating last night. It was all about keeping the tradition.
"I love trick-or-treating," he said. "I don't think I've taken a year off trick-or-treating, and I'll probably do it until I'm 30."
This Halloween wasn't quite the same, though. He couldn't eat his candy Halloween night because of Kansas' exhibition game. Blame it on the early start. Aldrich, a freshman center, wanted to be prepared for his first debut today against Pittsburgh State at 7 p.m.
That's right. Today. One day after Halloween, three weeks after practice started and eight days earlier than the Jayhawks'
What gives?
first exhibition game two years ago. This is liavhawk basketballs earliest start since 2000.
Well, Kansas is playing host to The Jayhawk Classic this season, and games for the tournament start Nov. 9. The Jayhawks have to get some playing experience before the season starts, even if it means the team has less time to practice.
Early starts are nothing new for college basketball. Several other teams started the season before Kansas to prepare for early season tournaments. Louisville had its first exhibition game Monday night. Memphis starts its regular season on Nov. 5.
Outside of Aldrich's Halloween traditions, Kansas hasn't changed much to accommodate for the early start. The Jayhawks haven't
had many long practices because Kansas coach Bill Self doesn't want to wear them out for their eight November games. But with several upperclassmen, less time to practice isn't a big deal.
Senior guard Rodrick Stewart thinks the early start is a blessing.
"It's definitely more urgency knowing that we play earlier this year," he said. "Guys just can't take any day off. We might walk in the gym one day and not feel like going that hard. But just knowing that the season is right around the corner, you have no choice but to take it seriously and take every day like it's your last. You have no choice but to get better."
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SEE BASKETBALLON PAGE 7B
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