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Monday, November 19, 1973
University Daily Kansan
Kansan Photo by CORKY TREWIN
Sometimes a Selmon Gave Jaynes Time to Throw—Leroy's Too Late . . .
Kansan Photo by CORKY TREWIN
By YAEL ABOUHALKAH
Chance at Liberty Bowl Fulfills One Team Goal
Kansan Sports Writer
The Jayhawks virtually accomplished their second goal by beating Colorado, 17-15, on Nov. 10. After that victory, a bid to the Liberty Bowl was rumored to be already signed and sealed. All that was needed was delivery.
With just one game to go in their regular season, the Hawks have accomplished two first round wins and a record so far this year, KU has assured itself of its first winning season since 1968. That year, the Jayhawks went 9-1 in the Big Ten conference and Penn State, 15-14, in the Orange Bowl.
The delivery, unfortunately, came after the Hawks had seen their chances for achieving their third goal, the Big Eight. The team came in a 48-20 loss to Oklahoma Saturday.
Once upon a time, say about the spring of 1973, the University of Kansas Jayhawks set some goals for the upcoming football season. Among those goals was a winning season, an invitation to postseason bowl game and a Big Eight title.
... And Sometimes One Didn't — Lucious and an OU Player Dump Jaynes
But the consolation prize announced officially after the OU game was exactly what had been rumored for almost a week, a trip to Cincinnati to play the NC State in the Liberty Bay on Dec. 17.
The bowl, the first for a KU football team since 1968, was greeted mostly with enthusiastic reactions yesterday from KU fans. Another week ago, KU shellacking suffered at the hands of OU.
"I am really looking forward to playing in the Liberty Bowl," said Dean Koop, junior defensive end from Larned. "I'm just glad we didn't end our season last Saturday. We were back on the field and our offense and defense were really humiliated. We're going to come back, though."
Zook said that KU head coach Don Fambrighod had asked the 'Hawks as a team following the OU loss if everyone wanted to go to the Liberty Bowl.
"He just wanted to know if everyone still wanted to go," Zook said. "He asked if we were still 100 per cent behind going and we told him that we were."
Kansas had been on probation for the football seasons of 1971 and 1972. Thus, they would have been unable to go to any post season bowls even if their records had been good. Kansas' season was one of the seasons they posted. For the seniors, then, this was their first and last year to go to a bowl.
Senior quarterback Dave Jaynes was recognized as one of the major reasons that KU got the Liberty Bowl win last year in this year's trip to Memphis, the Bonner Springs product completed 35 of 58 passes for 394 yards. In guiding KU to their present 6-3-1 record, Jaynes had averaged nearly 200 yards per air, the top passing figure in the Big Eight.
Jaynes said that all he knew about the Wolfpack was that they were a fine offensive team. He said that he would probably be throwing a lot in the bowl game, but would follow any game plan that the KU coaches developed for the game. "I imagine one of the reasons we got picked was that we were expected to throw a lot
"I'm looking forward to going down here, having a good time and beating N. Carolina in the SEC," he said. "We supposed to be a big advantage of the Liberty Ball, and I know we're going down there with the idea of making KU look as good as possible, especially on national college teams."
Mike Lemon, junior noseguard from Sioux City, Iowa, said that he was thrilled to be going to a bowl game, especially one with the TV audience of the Liberty Bowel.
"A bowl game is what we've been looking forward to and working for this whole year," he said. "It's going to be a game that not filled with pressure like a conference, but we want it to provide for having such a good season. But it's only good publicity for KU if we win against N. Carolina State. I know that our team has been through some rough times this year and we're not going to forget our objective, beating N. Carolina State."
"With all the bowl talk, it was kind of hard to concentrate on the Oklahoma game," he said. "But now we're just going to be thinking of beating Missouri, and, after doing that, we're going to go out and beat the Wolfpack."
Bron said that though the KU players had been humiliated in the OU game, he thought this week of practice would be the best one of the year.
"We really worked for a bowl this year," he said. "We had an externally good attic oven."
Rocky Bron, another senior, said he would be approaching the bowl trip as something that should be a lot of fun. But he didn't imore why KU will be going.
One of the 'Hawks received a double reward from the bowl trip was John Bryant, senior offensive tackle from Arkansas City. Bryant serves as one of the 'Hawk co-captains this year, along with Don Goode, senior defensive end from Houston.
"This is something we've worked for all year," he said. "We've been fortunate this year on some of the breaks going our way, but we've made it. I really like the thought of going to a post season bowl, especially after sitting at home the past two years."
worked as a team, then we'd get rewarded as a team, and we got a winning season and a bowl trip. I think that now, after playing Missouri, we'll be determined to win the bowl game, especially after getting an victory after so long to go to a bowl game."
Ken Saathoff, junior tight end from Marysville, said he was very happy KU had won. "I just feel so proud," he
Junior Dean Baird, linebacker from Hoisington, said the excitement of the bowl invitation had not been as high as it could have been. "It was a big success of it and the runaway loss to Oklahoma.
"I'm really looking forward to playing in a post season bowl game," he said. "We're only the fourth team to go in KU's history. I think that means a lot to the players because they've accomplished something a lot of KU teams haven't."
Bill Skepnek, senior defensive tackle from Olympia Fields, III., saw the bowl bid in a slightly different light, especially for the Jayhawks.
"I think a lot of people had looked at our senior class and written them off at recruitment time," he said. "But I think this team got together and just decided it wanted a bowl bid bad enough to work hard enough to get one.
"We weren't as happy as if we'd won the game, that's for sure," he said. "Most of the players were kind of down following the game.
Throughout their interviews, the KU
students commonly noted how badly they
had been treated.
"But it's a great feeling knowing that you've achieved one of your goals, going to a 'bowl game'. We won a lot of games this season," he says. "We're just going to be going to a 'bowl game'."
and put on a good offensive show," Jaynes said. "But all I know is that we'll be trying to score against them anyway we can and triving to win the game."
Perhaps Baird said it best when he noted, "Right now we've got to redeem ourselves against Missouri. Then we've got to go to play N. Carolina State and beat them. We know now who we're playing and where we're going."
The two KU runners qualified for the national meet after finishing in the top ten
Kent McDonald, Lawrence junior, and Dave Anderson, Shawne mission senior, will run in the National Collegiate Ablethletic Association cross country meet in Spokane,
KU Distance Men in NCAA's
see
in the Big Eight meet, Nov. 3 in Stillwater,
Okla. McDonald finished fourth in that
meet, with Anderson a few steps back in
seventh place.
The KU cross country team completed their season at the Big Eight meet, finishing
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