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THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2013
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Students tailgate at a house near Memorial Stadium before a football game against McNeese State. Students and alumni pack the residential area around the stadium to tailgate for football games each game day.
I CHRIS HYBL
chybl@kansan.com
Football season starts this weekend for the Kansas Jayhawks, which also means the return of tailgate season.
"You wake up at 8 in the morning, get wasted," said KC Waterman, a junior from Shawnee. "Then go watch our football team, but try to have fun with it at least."
This has been a common game day itinerary for many KU students in recent years. It's not like that
wasn't happening in the 2007-2008 season, when Kansas strung together an 11-1 season. But student attendance at the game has dwindled drastically and there's no denying it.
"Overall I think Kansas has been in a slump, so I think students are expecting that again," said Kristine Flynn, a freshman from Chicago. "So I think students are just going to use that as an excuse for game day as just a recreational day."
Watching Kansas football has been unbearable in previous years. They've won six games in
the past three years, losing 16 of 36 games by more than 20 points. They haven't beaten a conference opponent in two years. But students say you can forget the past.
"Over the past few years I think everyone has just come to think that they're pretty terrible, but since Charlie Weis came as the head coach, everyone thinks they're heading in at least a decent direction now," Waterman said.
So is Charlie Weis the one to pull students from tailgates and into the stands? With the odds in Kansas'
favor this Saturday, more students may choose to enter Memorial Stadium to see the jayhawks attempt to get their first victory in over a year.
"Hopefully they're better than they were last year and I think we will be. I don't think we look too bad," Dylan DeVries, a freshman from Olathe, said, "I still have faith."
- Edited by Chas Strobel
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