Volume 126 Issue 13
kansan.com
Thursday, September 12, 2013
COMMENTARY Receivers must improve play
If head coach Charlie Weis had insisted, the Jayhawks could have run the ball for 400 yards or more - instead of 280 - in their 31-14 victory over South Dakota last week and they could have found the end zone more than the four times they did. The final score would have been inflated and Kansas might not be the six-point underdogs to 'Rice on Saturday.
Fortunately for fans and his team alike, Weis was looking ahead to this weekend and beyond. With a new quarterback and a receiving corps that didn't catch a touchdown pass all of last season, he tried getting the passing game going against an overmatched South Dakota defense.
Unfortunately, that isn't how things unfolded.
Quarterback Jake Heaps' first seven passes were incomplete and he finished 10-for-20 on the game, a potential reminder to last season's passing struggles under Dayne Crist. On Tuesday at his weekly press conference, Weis was quick to say the performance was better than any game last season, and he was right.
Well, partially.
Heaps can hit a moving target and looks like a competent quarterback, putting him a few steps ahead of Crist already. But the receivers were still dropping passes like it was the cool thing to do, missing a few perfectly thrown balls from Heaps that would have been big gains.
"Usually it's the K-Mart special," Weis said when asked if he has any motivational tactics for such mistakes. "They're selling hands, why don't you go buy a pair?"
It might not be so funny after Saturday against Rice, whose two best players, according to Weis, are cornerbacks Bryce Callahan and Phillip Gaines. Callahan leads the country with an average of 0.38 interceptions per game for his career and Gaines was Conference-USAs Preason Defensive Player of the Year after finishing second in the country last season with 18 pass breakups.
The Rice coaching staff won't be afraid to load up players near the line of scrimmage to stop the dangerous Kansas running game while Callahan and Gaines lock up receivers in 1-on-1 coverage, at least until those receivers prove their hands aren't made from stone. It's a matchup that could foreshadow the rest of the season, because we saw last year that a great running game doesn't translate to a victory on its own.
We will see on Saturday if they have K-Marts in Houston.
Edited by Hannah Barling
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GAMEDAY PREVIEW
Kansas will face Rice in Houston on Saturday at 6:30 p.m.
ROAD TO WISCONSIN
After a short losing streak, the Jayhawks head to InnTowner Invitational
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