Volume 126 Issue 15
kansan.com
Tuesday, September 17, 2013
COMMENTARY Kansas offense disappoints
Environmentalists have attempted to ban rice at outdoor weddings, citing the adverse effect it has on the pigeons that eat it.
Maybe it's time someone attempts to ban Rice from the Kansas football schedule. It's not healthy for Kansas fans.
For the second straight year, Kansas came up short against Rice. The Owls managed to hold the Jayhawks to two touchdowns and 270 yards of total offense.
Last year, Rice gave up 54 points to Marshall, 56 points to Louisiana Tech and 49 points to Tulane.
159 points allowed in three games to non-BCS teams and Kansas couldn't at least put up a third touchdown?
Rice's defense improved as the year progressed and returned almost all major contributors, including Conference USA Preseason Defensive Player of the Year Phillip Gaines. Rice is not a bad team.
However, it is a team that relies on its offense to simply outscore the other team. At the very least, it should have been a high-scoring affair that instilled confidence in our revamped attack.
Nevertheless, instead of putting pressure on Rice's offense to score, Kansas' offense was as lifeless as a Jack·O·Lantern in December.
Jake Heaps failed to impress again, but that is almost more the fault of his supporting cast. His receivers failed to get any separation from the Rice corners. When they did get separation, they treated the football like it had chickenpox. Tight end Jimmay Mundine, who Weits told in the offseason, had two key drops that would have resulted in first downs. One could have even been a touchdown. With the receivers' poor performance, it comes as no surprise that most of Heaps' completions were to the backs.
As I feared, Weis didn't use his running backs to their full potential. Instead of implementing the relentless five-headed attack he used against South Dakota, Weis relied heavily on James Sims.
Granted, Sims had a strong game with 109 yards rushing on 19 carries, but Weis largely ignored his superior depth. Last week against South Dakota, 31 carries were by running backs not named James Sims. Against Rice, Sims had all but four of the carries. Weis also tried to use Heaps in option situations, which were about as successful as Eddie Murphy's music career.
There is no reason that Darrian Miller only got two carries or that Tony Pierson only rushed it once. If you take away ten of Heaps' throws and replace them with rushes, the outcome of this game could have been very different. Instead, Weis opted to throw the ball almost 30 times. He also decided to give Heaps more rushes than any of Sims' backups.
Weis clearly is planning on riding Heaps and his receivers, for better or for worse. In the South Dakota game, the rushing attack was able to overcome the woes of the passing game. Against Rice, it was a different story.
Maybe Heaps will get more comfortable in the offense. Maybe the receivers will succumb to fewer drops.
Or maybe, Kansas should just stop scheduling Rice.
Edited by Heather Nelson
BASKETBALL BOOT CAMP
Andrew White III shares his boot camp experience with reporters during a press conference Monday. Bill Self Boot Camp started Monday and will run through the remainder of the week
GUT CHECK
Men's basketball team grinds through Bill Self Boot Camp
BLAKE SCHUSTER
bschuster@kansan.com
"Nobody threw up." Andrew White III said. "So it was a real good experience."
Bill Self can run practice without basketballs and make his players lift weights until their arms fall off, but after one day of his famed "Boot Camp" he's going to need to work a little harder to see what his team is made of.
Alas, there's still time for Self to make his team sick. For the remainder of the week the Kansas men's basketball team will go through 5:30 a.m. workouts before taking a break for classes, then getting back to the gym.
Keep that in mind if you happen to see any players sleepwalking down lajhawk Boulevard, and
perhaps help them look both ways before they cross the street. You can be sure they'll need as much assistance as possible.
"It's a different kind of tired, you know what I mean?" former Kansas player
that much.
Marcus Morris said to the University Daily Kansas in 2010. "Your body's tired. You really can't sleep
Then you're just running around and doing drills and getting yelled
"Coach does it for a reason. I think that's what really brings a lot of guys together."
ANDREW WHITE III sophomore
at. It's just drain ing."
"Coach does it for a reason," White III said. "I think that's what really brings a lot of guys together."
Think about that the next time you consider walking onto the team. It doesn't matter how much playing time you get, Self's standards hardly change.
Yep, nothing like running wind sprints before the sun comes up to reaffirm the concept of teamwork.
But, for those who've been through Self's Boot Camp before, it's a chance for voices to become a little louder and set the tone for the year ahead.
"There's so much communication going on today," White III said. "Just to make sure everybody was getting through it at the pace we need to have it done."
White III also said there's a part of him that enjoys the process.
When the Jayhawks are battling through tough games he'll think back to all these workouts to keep his teammates motivated.
With a heavy non-conference schedule, Kansas must be ready to start grinding out wins early.
The jayhawks face the Duke Blue Devils just two games into the season, and head to the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament just a couple of weeks after that.
The tough competition has made Self's Boot Camp more vital this year. Fortunately, even the new-comers have been able to keep up so far — although there's still plenty of time to draw the ire of Self.
"We didn't have to do much extra," White III said. "That's always good for the first day."
Edited by Duncan McHenry
FOOTBALL
Kansas gains insight, still room for improvement
IMAX GOODWIN
mgoodwin@kansan.com
As dishearingen as the final result was for the Jayhawks in the loss to Rice, Charlie Weis saw several encouraging signs.
On defense, the secondary held up in its first true test of the season. Weis said the unit played bet ter than at any point last season,
and with three sacks there was plenty of pressure on the quarterback.
"Our defense was great," Weis said in his Monday teleconference.
Additionally, James Sims rushed for more
Charlie Weis shares a small victory with an assistant coach during the game at Rice last Saturday. Kansas lost 14-23.
It was the second straight week that dropped passes have been a major issue, and a dropped pass on third down can be the same as a turnover in some cases.
"The problem you have is when you're intermittent in the passing game then you don't score points and you end up losing."
against Rice. Jake Heaps threw two interceptions, but more costly still were the six dropped passes by receivers.
MICHAEL STRICKLAND/KANSAN
"I mean, six drops, and five of
Volu
CHARLIE WEIS head coach
than 100 yards once again.
These were major strengths in Saturday's game, but they couldn't make up for the disappointing passing game.
"The problem you have is, when you're intermittent in the passing game then you don't score points and you end up losing," Weis said.
Intermittent is a nice way to describe the Kansas passing attack
them for key first downs, and one of them for a walk-in touchdown," Weis said. "That is significant." Significant enough that Weis will consider whether changes in personnel are necessary.
"We'll address the guys that are dropping them and then look to see if there's other guys that can play instead of them." Weis said.
So far, Weis has no concerns with Heaps. It can be frustrating for a quarterback to see his passes drop to the ground despite being perfectly thrown, but from Weis's perspective Heaps has handled the situation as best as he can.
Heaps is one of the leaders on the team that Weis believes he can count on to handle unfavorable situations in the right way.
"There's no problem with Jake, he knows that is part of the deal." Weis said. "All his frustrations are because he's trying to be error free himself."
The statistics, however, were unimpressive again for Heaps. He threw for 157 yards and one
"Throw those on the completion category and tall them up and look at the percentage and the yards there and all the sudden you're saying he had a heck of a game." Weis said.
touchdown, along with the two interceptions, completing 13 of 28 passes. The drops made up six of those 15 incompletions.
Weis went a step further on Monday, and said that during
practice passing was nearly perfect.
"Well, I mean, when you have a practice on Wednesday when you complete 29 of 31 passes without a dropped ball and then you go into a game and there's a bunch of them, it's just not consistent with what is happening in practice," Weis said.
Edited by Ashleigh Tidwell
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