Volume 126 Issue 14
kansan.com
Monday, September 16, 2013
COMMENTARY Kansas offense lacks identity
Charlie Weis probably isn't too sure what this Kansas offense is capable of. For that matter, neither is anyone else watching the team. When you turn over a large portion of your roster, how can you judge it after only two games?
As nice and flashy as all the "Dream Team" talk sounds, this is still a program that's rebuilding. And at the moment, there isn't too much wrong with that. It's unfair to assume that this team could come out and dominate right away; those are expectations reserved for the players. The rest of us need to be a little more rational or start counting the days until Late Night in the Phog.
What we do know is that Jake Heaps is not Dayne Crist - in a good way. Heaps has shown the ability to put a better touch on the ball than Jayhawks' receivers saw all last season. But we also know that the passing game is nowhere near ready to be the cornerstone of this team.
"Offensively, we just couldn't get going." Heaps said in a postgame press conference after losing to Rice. "We really just kept shooting ourselves in the foot. Turnovers and missed opportunities, we've got to clean that stuff up."
The Jayhawks attempted 28 passes and only connected on 13 of them. The most concerning part of which is that only one Kansas receiver caught a pass. Yes, Tre' Parmalee hauled in just two receptions for 23 yards.
What we also know is that Kansas can stack up with the best backfields in the nation. And if the passing game isn't up to par yet, it's time to stick with it.
But put yourself in Weis' shoes. When you've built your name in part because of the work you did with Tom Brady in New England, running the ball doesn't seem sexy enough.
Unfortunately, this isn't a team that's going to have much appeal at all if it doesn't play to its strengths.
We started to see that with the way Tony Pierson was used on Saturday. Weis has said that he sees Pierson as the same type of player that Tavon Austin was for West Virginia last year. On Saturday Pierson gained 95 yards receiving — including a 77-yard haul — but only one rushing attempt for three yards.
Instead, Jake Heaps ran 11 times for a loss of 26 yards and while James Sims gained more than one hundred yards, it wasn't enough to push Kansas to victory.
"I felt like we needed to give James the ball more to establish the interior line of scrimmage." Weis said, "We hadn't done that."
So what can you make of the Kansas offense after two games? It depends what you're trying to get out of it. The Jayhawks aren't capable of passing like an SEC school, and they aren't quite Oregon on the ground either. For Weis and company, their identity may not be too clear at the moment.
What you can take away is that there are already more options than last season. And on this long road back to relevance, that alone is a victory.
— Edited by James Ogdem
RICE CAKES
Kansas Jayhawks offensive linesman Mike Smithburg (65) looks to the ground as the Kansas Jayhawks are defeated by Rice.
FOWL PLAY
Owls outrun struggling Jayhawk offense on Saturday's road game
MAX GOODWIN
mggoodwin@kansan.com
Houston -- Moments after a 23-14 Kansas loss to Rice, the Jayhawks players said they were moving on, to next week's matchup with Louisiana Tech in Lawrence, and putting this game in the past.
But the disappointment on their faces couldn't be masked. A year ago, the Jayhawks dropped the second game of the season to Rice at home. That was the beginning of an 11-game losing streak that lasted the remainder of the season.
"It's not going to spiral," senior linebacker Ben Heeney said of the loss, on Saturday. "We'll be ready for next week."
Whether or not Kansas can do what it couldn't last season, and
bounce back from a disappointing loss, remains to be determined on future Saturdays. But this one was painful for the Jayhawks, as they had the ball and the lead in the fourth quarter after an interception by cornerback Dexter McDonald at the Rice six-yard line.
The game was marked by a slew of dropped passes, as well as two first-half interceptions thrown by quarterback Jake Heaps, one of which was returned 52 yards by Rice linebacker Michael Kutzler
After gaining one first down, the Jayhawks were forced to punt from their 24-yard line, and it was blocked giving Rice the ball at midfield. The Owls kicked a 56-yard field goal to take a 16-14 lead.
"We shot ourselves in the foot tonight," running back James Sims said.
for a touchdown.
Sims rushed for 109 yards on 19 carries, but following the game he was focused on why the offensive team failed as a
failed as a group.
"We were supposed to come out and start the game off fast," Sims said. "We played at kind of a slow pace, which is what they wanted."
"We shot ourselves in the foot tonight."
their play, despite the outcome of the game.
They did a good job, I give them credit. But we're better than what we showed tonight."
Rice averaged 31 points per game last season, but was held to 16 by the Jayhawks defense. Coach Charlie Weis said the defense could feel good about
"You hold 'em to 16 points, that should be good enough to win."
JAMES SIMS Kansas running back
Weis said.
Heeney agreed, and said the defense played well in all areas. The Jayhawks intercepted two passes, balancing out the two thrown by Heaps in the first half.
ney stopped Rice on important possessions.
possessions. "It hurts knowing that the defense did a great job out there," James Sims said. "They made stop after stop. We have to capitalize on that."
Kansas had an opportunity to
end a humiliating streak for the program, a stretch of four years without a win on the road.
without a win so it was a chance for this team to separate themselves from the losing ways of past Kansas teams. In the end that chance slipped through the jayhawks' grasp just like so many of the passes that receivers couldn't hold onto against Rice.
"We dropped some big ones in this game," Weis said. "The bottom line is, whether you win or lose, it's a group effort."
In the locker room, Weis told the players to put the loss to Rice in the past, learn from it and move forward.
"We're going to bounce back from this," Sims said. "This is just a bump in the road for us."
- Edited by Paige Lytle
ISTELLA LIANG
The scoring drought extended for the Kansas soccer team (3-4-1), as it fell to San Francisco 1-0 Sunday. The drought included shutouts in the two games over the weekend at the Kansas Invitational and a 4-0 loss last weekend to Arizona State.
sliang@kansan.com
Jayhawks'offense strains against San Francisco
The lone goal of the match against San Francisco came 37 minutes into the game off a Dons corner. San Francisco freshman midfielder Katherine Woodrum kicked the corner into the middle of the pack in front of the Kansas goal and tapped the ball in for her first goal of the season. But between these two events, something strange happened.
As the ball found the crowd of players, it was sent toward the net and Kansas junior goalkeeper Kaitlyn Stroud kicked the ball out. It's possible the ball went over the barcross and out of play, but that
"There were plenty of opportunities," coach Mark Francis said. "We've got to figure it out off-sively. We scored one goal in the last four games. You are not going to win many games doing that."
Kansas outshot San Francisco 19-12, with 11 of the Jayhawk shots coming in the second half. Junior midfielder Jake Fletcher led the team with six shots.
However, the Jayhawks didn't lose because of that one play. It was their inability to capitalize on scoring opportunities that caused their loss.
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The set-up on many plays could have resulted in a goal, but the execution and finishing touches were not there.
call was never made and the ball dropped back onto the field of play before finding the back of the net.
With 17 minutes left in the match, the Jayhawks turned an offensive attack by the Dons into an
SEE SOCCER PAGE 10
Volur
Junior midfielder Haley Yearout makes a shot against San Diego defender Ashley Christensen on Friday's game.
EMILY WITTLER/KANSAN day's game
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