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MONDAY, NOVEMBER 18.2013
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THE STREAK IS OVER
Freshman quarterback Montell Cozart stiff-arms a defender during a run. Cozart made his first career start in Saturday's 31-19 victory against West Virginia, throwing for 61 yards and rushing for 60 yards.
ANDY LARKIN/KANSAN
FOOTBALL REWIND
Sims' career day helps Jayhawks end 27-game conference losing streak
CHRIS HYBL
chybl@kansan.com
OFFENSE: B+
Montell Cozart made a few plays on his feet to start off the game including a 12-yard rush to convert a 3rd-and-6 on the opening drive, resulting in a field goal. But from that moment on, the offense started to really click as James Sims gashed West Virginia's defense for a career-high 219 yards. Sims had two 60-plus yard runs, including a 68-yard touchdown run at the end of the first half as the Jayhawks offensive line put its foot down and paved the way for Sims. While Cozart finished with just 61 yards through the air, he compiled 60 yards on the ground. Cozart didn't do anything gaudy, but he put his head down, limited his mistakes and extended a good portion of plays.
DEFENSE: B+
After a shaky first drive on defense allowed the Mountaineers to go 75 yards in six plays in under three minutes, the defense turned up the intensity. Kansas forced two turnovers, thanks to Ben Goodman and Ben Heeney's interceptions. Both of them were returned into West Virginia's territory and resulted in touchdowns. The defensive numbers tend to be a little skewed due to the 24-point lead Kansas had late in the game. West Virginia put up 12 points in essentially garbage time.
COACHING: A
Charlie Weis' gameplan played to its tune as Kansas tried to spread West Virginia out with its receivers; taking as many defenders possible out of the box, leaving Sims room to split the defense up the middle. It worked beautifully and West Virginia couldn't stop it as Kansas took advantage.
SPECIAL TEAMS:B
Ron Doherty booted a 25-yarder on the opening drive for Kansas and Trevor Pardula was nails again, including two punts inside the 20 with a long of 54. Kansas didn't make any mistakes here and was just about average but that's all the Jayhawks needed from this unit.
GLASS HALF FULL
Montell Cozart is 1-0 as a starter. He quarterbacked the game from start to finish, led the team to a win, ended a nasty losing streak and helped the team score more than 30 points. The result can be placed largely on the back of James Sims' three touchdown performance, but Cozart was in and he gets the win. Cozart is the future for the Jayhawks.
GLASS HALF EMPTY
Kansas' offensive scheme isn't extremely hard to figure out. The weakness in the offense is clear: make Cozart throw. If this weakness is exploited in the next two games, the Jayhawks may not get a nice result. But if Cozart is able to control his accuracy, Kansas might be able to pull off a couple of upsets and finish the season 5-7.
Charlie Weis acknowledged after the game that the way Kansas closed the first half was crucial to continuing to build on the team's success for the second half. James Sims had ripped off a 68-yard rush touchdown leaving about one minute left in the half for West Virginia. WVU was able to get the ball into field goal range and set up a last second kick, only to be blocked by Kansas. A group of excited and inspired Jayhawks all ran jumping up and down into the locker room with an energy that hasn't been matched this season. The energy continued in the second half, and Kansas won.
VERDICT: GOOD
STAT OF THE DAY
FINAL THOUGHT
219 yards gained by James Sims on Saturday. It was a career day for Sims, and with his career clock at Kansas ticking down, it was an unforgettable performance.
James Sims lead the Kansas offense by rushing for a career-high 219 yards while scoring three touchdowns. He's inching closer and closer to the Kansas all-time career rushing record.
GAMEBALL
Although Kansas may not be bowl eligible, there is still a lot left to prove. This most recent win isn't enough to show that the Kansas football program has made any significant progress from last year. Kansas needs to take a step forward and pull off either a road win against Iowa State or another home win against rival Kansas State. Looking back on two or three conference wins a year from now will be a lot better for fan base confidence compared to looking back on only one.
GOOD, BAD OR PLAIN STUPID
DELAY OF GAME
Kansas got the win and actually looks like it can be a formidable opponent in the final closing games against Iowa State and Kansas State. Kansas stands a better chance of taking down Iowa State and ending the 24 road game losing streak next Saturday, and if Kansas can play the way it did Saturday, they have at least have a chance to end a four game losing streak with Kansas State to close the season.
Although the Kansas offense was able to break an eight-game skid of not scoring more than 20 points, it did so majorly without the help of Tony Pierson. Pierson hadn't posed much of a threat to West Virginia in his early involvement, on but a handoff in the second half Pierson was sandwiched in between two West Virginia defenders. Pierson left the game, and Weis confirmed that Pierson's concussion symptoms may have returned. After the play Pierson told Weis, "Coach, my head hurts." Ever since Pierson was injured on Oct. 5 against Texas Tech he hasn't been the same, and he sure wasn't the same Saturday. Pierson is perhaps Kansas' most important offensive player moving forward.
LOOKING AHEAD
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