Volume 126 Issue 9
kansan.com
COMMENTARY New season for Kansas football
It's your first college football game as a student; you wake up early, grab a few friends and start working your way over to Memorial Stadium. And at that point you held onto the one aspect that makes game day enticing — no, not alcohol — optimism.
Those of us who've been students here for the past three years haven't had much of that to go around so we defaulted to that other thing.
It was with last year's record in mind that a group of freshmen showed up twenty minutes before kickoff and were astounded by the trouble they had finding seats. "I wasn't expecting that big of a crowd," Zach Zoeller, a freshman from Belleville, Ill., said. "It really was pretty full. I was happy to see that."
When Charlie Weis was hired at Kansas it wasn't just the fact that Turner Gill had turned the Orange Bowl champions into tackling teddy bears that he had to deal with. The student fanbase had become so disinterested that it was common to see kids wearing their "We Are Basketball" lavwhips shirts on fall Saturdays.
It's no doubt easier to recruit when the stadium is packed for every game, but without a winning team many fans didn't even bother showing up. So you start to build on the spectators as well as the players. You ask them to "Join The Chant," to be part of the rebranding of Kansas football.
Zoeller, like many in the crowd, expected a Kansas victory and the team delivered. When you've fallen from near the top of the FBS you take every tiny step you can. Credit Weis with two wins on Saturday, the one on the field and the one in the stands. You could argue which one was more important.
"We're going to try and go to every game, especially the big ones," Zoeller said. "The enthusiasm was there." Every game? Don't these kids know this team hasn't won a Big 12 game since they were sophomores in high school? "I don't think the expectations are high enough to where if they lose a couple games we're just going to give up." Zach Donaldson, a freshman from Belleville, Ill., said. It's a far cry from Turner Gill's "Believe" mantra and it's everything this team needs — off the field, at least. Ben Burch was another member of that freshman group who gone to the game "just because." As a Leawood native, Burch grew up with Kansas football and, aside from the Orange Bowl year, never cared too much for it. Now he nods his head in agreement as his friends talk about sticking it out at Kivisto Field for the remainder of the season
This is it. This is the turnaround that the football program has been longing for. Create an environment that players want to be in and they'll come. Kansas has some of the best practice facilities in division one, plays in a top tier conference and is working like hell to take the track out of Memorial Stadium. This is a victory for the Athletics Department three years in the making. "I knew it was going to be one of the few wins we have all season," Donaldson said, "Hopefully there's more."
Monday, September 9,2013
Edited by Casey Hutchins
TOUCHDOWN
Quarterback Jake Heaps directs the offense on the goal line against South Dakota. Heaps was 10-for-20 passing for 110 yards and a touchdown in the game.
ON THE OFFENSIVE
Kansas looks to add passing threat to strong running game
MAX GOODWIN
mgoodwin@kansan.com
One specific goal for Charlie Weis and the Kansas offense during training camp was to develop a balanced attack.
The Layhawks hoped to gain a respectable passing game through several additions at receiver and quarterback, as well as giving some players new roles.
Quarterback Jake Heaps stepped in at a position where the Jay-hawks were among the worst in the NCAA statistically, and in his first game in Lawrence, against South Dakota, Heaps displayed the accuracy that coaches said would be the difference.
"We haven't seen those touch throws," Weis said, "not since I've
been here have we had that type of throw be able to be completed."
Tight end Jimmay Mundine caught one of those touch passes from Heaps on a corner route that barely floated over the hands of a South Dakota linebacker, and went for 19 yards.
"To be honest, I didn't think I was going to get the ball because I saw two guys right below me as soon as I broke out, but he put it right over them," Mundine said. "It was a perfect pass."
The statistics aren't especially noteworthy, as Heaps went 10-for-20 for 110 yards and one touchdown. But beyond the numbers, there's no question he showed an improvement over what Kansas had a season ago at the quarterback position.
The balance of play calling was heavily weighted toward the run, which remains the clear strength for the Jayhawks. Kansas ran 50 running plays to just 20 passes. Heaps扣到了ball off to all five running backs, who combined for 271 yards and three touchdowns'.
When the Jayhawks pulled ahead 14-7 at halftime, Weis decided to relentlessly run the ball in the third quarter, passing just three times and handing the ball off 12 straight times on one drive, which ended with a James Sims touchdown run.
"I just felt at halftime, with the game 14-7, that we should be physically controlling both lines of scrimmage," Weis said. "So, I said we're going to get the ball and
we're going to ram it down their throat. It wasn't because I didn't want to throw the ball, it was because you're sending a message to your team, 'lookit fellas, let's get going'
Miller, Tony Pierson, Brandon Bourbon and Taylor Cox.
"You might have to gameplan inside, out, speed, power," Miller said, "I mean however [you want to plan], but as long as we stick to our game and do what the coaches call I think we'll be alright."
Sims rushed for two touchdowns and 94 yards in the first game of his senior season, but it was Darian Miller that added yet another dynamic running threat to an already versatile group.
Miller rushed for 72 yards on 14 carries in his return to Kansas, after a year at Butler Junior College.
Miller said after the game that they are an unselfish group of backs who have no problem cheering for each other. And they realize how much pressure it puts on opposing defenses to game plan for all five of them; Sims,
There is a lot to improve on for the offense this week. But with a solid running game and the promise of a higher ceiling for the passing game, there is the potential for this offense to click and become a much more balanced threat than a season ago.
For now though, it's still just potential.
—Edited by Evan Dunbar
Jayhawks unable to score against Arizona State
ISTELLA LIANG
sliang@kansan.com
Within a three minute stretch of the second half, the Kansas soccer team went from being down just one goal to facing a daunting three goal deficit against Arizona State on Sunday. Add in the two yellow cards called against the Jayhawks, which is double the team's total from last season, and the inability to get the offense in sync, the Jayhawks left Tempe, Arizona with a disappoint-
Mark Francis said. really good. That is probably one of the worst performances by a Kansas team since I have been here." Less than five minutes into the second half, the Jayhawks were called for a foul in the box, resulting in
"We were really bad," coach Francis said. "They were
Junior goalkeeper Kaitlyn Stroud made a few difficult saves to keep the Sun Devils from piling on. Opportunities for Kansas to score in the first half were limited, as the Jayhawks spent most of their energy trying to stop the Sun Devils' attack. Out of Kansas' three shots in the first half, none were on goal. Arizona State had seven shots in the same time frame and four were on goal. Kansas ended the match with 13 shots with two on goal and Arizona State had 23 shots with 12 on defense, said that, nothing
fortunate to only lose by four goals. Junior goalkeeper Kaitlyn Stroud made a few difficult saves to keep the Sun Devils from piling on.
Junior defender and midfielder Madi Hillis steals the ball from her Missouri State opponent on Friday
FILE PHOTO/KANSAN
MARK FRANCIS Soccer head coach
a penalty kick opportunity for the Sun Devils. Sophomore forward Cali Farquharson took this chance to score her seventh goal of the season and put her team on top 2-0. Three minutes later, Farquharson assisted on teammate Blair Alderson's turnaround strike, which made it 3-0 for Arizona State. To describe his team's perfor-
worked for the team.
He said the players didn't pass well and didn't create scoring opportunities well.
To describe his teams performance, Francis said his team was
The Jay-
hawks felt
the press-
sure of
playing from behind for most of the match. Arizona State state senior forward Devin Marshall knocked in a goal to put her team up 1-0 in the seventh minute of the game. Marshall also scored the fourth Sun Devil goal. Kansas freshman defend-
Kansas freshman defender Aurélie Gagnet made her first start as a Jayhawk on
Sunday. She joined the team a week ago after competing for the U19 French national team. Fellow freshman defender Jen Rush also made her season debut. Gagnet was given one of the team's yellow cards seconds after Arizona State's goal on the penalty kick. Senior forward Ali Kimura had the other yellow card. Sunday's action was part of a weekend tournament hosted by Arizona State, Friday the lay-
hawks faced the Arizona Wildcats in the Sun Devil Desert Classic, ending that game with a 1-1 draw after the Jayhawks took an early lead. Ten minutes into the match, senior forward Caroline Kastor notched her team-leading third goal of the season. In a game which included a rain delay that stopped play for over an hour and two scoreless overtime periods, the Jayhawks couldn't
Volu
capitalize on multiple scoring opportunities to earn the victory.
uities to earn the victory.
The Jayhawks return from their trip with a 3-2-1 record and a snapped three game winning streak. Francis said this week the team will learn a lot about each other and how they deal with adversity.
"Wewillseewhatkindofcharacter we have on the team," Francis said.
E
- Edited by James Ogden
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