'Hawks still sluggish
Defense keys KU victory
By JOE CHILDS Assistant Sports Editor
They just didn't dig it—the record crowd of 44,000 that is. They sat there through the whole thing and watched closely, but it wasn't the same as last year. Sure their team won and made some good plays—but the excitement and the thrills of last season—something wasn't the same. Could their 'Hawks, their Orange Bowl buddies be a (gulp) boring football team?
Led by a brilliant defensive showing highlighted by a fourth quarter interception by junior college transfer John Mears KU took a 13-0 win from Syracuse University in the Jayhawks home opener. The Orangenen, rated one of the top powers in the East, battled KU nose-to-nose throughout the contest in an impressive performance by both defensive units.
Photo by Mike Rieke
But KU's offense, the school that last year rolled up basketball scores against their opponents and boasted one of the nation's most productive offensive machines, wasn't the same—and the usually hard-cheering, give 'em hell, rock 'em sock em Jayhawk fans knew it.
Three times their blue-jerseyed heroes were stopped short of a first down by less than a yard, their usually accurate kicking specialist missed a field goal and an extra point and their hard-running fullback fumbled as he was making what would have been a long-awaited and much needed touchdown. Nobody ran any kicks back for scores. Nobody caught any long passes. All that happened was that their team ground out enough hard-earned yards against one of the country's biggest teams to put together a six-point scoring drive while their defensive unit shut out Syracuse stopping cold one of the strongest running attacks around.
After the game Ben Schwartzwalder, an extremely successful college coach, said, "We played a fine ball game and lost. Kansas is not a bad ball club. I can
That 'breathe again' feeling
Keith Lieppman (25) and Emery Hicks (60) escort John Mears (17) into the end zone at the completion of Mears' interception return that clinched KU's 13-0 victory over Syracuse. Hicks' deflection of Rich Panczyszyn pass made the 54 yard runback possible.
say this because we beat a fine Iowa State team last week (14-13) and actually played better today."
passes for 61 yards, said, "Sure we got better. We knew we had to improve and we did. We started slow at Texas Tech, but we're going to get better every week."
Kansas coaches and players echoed nearly the same sentiments concerning their opponent, but the one thing that was on the mind of everyone in the loud and steaming locker room was the improvement over the previous week's performance at Texas Tech. Standing by his locker pulling the tape off his injured ribs, quarterback Jim Ettinger, who connected on seven of 14
It wasn't until the second quarter that the 'Hawks started to show their improvement. Relying almost entirely on the running of tailback Ron Jessie and fullback John Riggins KU mounted a drive that took them to the Syracuse 31 where a run by Jessie over right tackle fell short by a
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