November 19, 1984 Page 12
SPORTS
The University Daily KANSAN
'Hawks defeat Mizzou, clinch fourth place
By GREG DAMMAN Sports Editor
COLUNBIA, Mo. — After Kansas clinched fourth place in the Big Eight Conference with a 31-24 victory over Missouri Saturday, the Jayhawks were able to add one more thing to the list of adversities they had overcome during the season.
Inclement weather
was that you've got to let it all hang out,
what's going to happen in the second half?
The somebody who gave Gottfried the weather forecast was correct. Midway through the first half, a wintery storm hit town streets. By the end of day one into a cold, wet, muddy dreary day.
BUT BY THE time the snow, which later changed to sleet and finally to rain, began to fall, the Jayhawks had accumulated a 210 lbs. over the Tigers, and led 28:14 at halftime.
The Jayhawks piled up 193 yards passing
and 101 yards rushing for a total of 294 yards of total offense in the first half. In the second half, the Jayhawks had only 70 yards of total offense.
"In the second half, we just played very conservative," Gottfried said. "We weren't going to give up a turnover that would cost us the ball game."
Although they fumbled five times, the Juyhaws recovered all five and didn't have it.
The Jayhawks finished with a 4-3 record in the conference and 5-6 record overall.
Kansas wasted little time getting on the scoreboard in the first half. On KU's first
possession of the day, quarterback Mike Norseth hitSkip Peete with an 18-yard touchdown pass with 10:21 left in the first quarter.
"TO TELL THE truth, I run the wrong route," Peete said of his 'touchdown catch.' "I was supposed to run a corner route to the back flag. I ran a hot rope five yards and out because I read that the linebackers were coming, but both of them didn't come."
Norseth, who completed nine of 18 passes for 201 yards, said, "Everything just worked out from the beginning. The offensive line was doing a good job and the receivers were getting open and catching the ball. Everything was just jiggling."
COLUMBIA, MO. — KU split end Richard Estell evades from quarterback Mike Norsest. The Jayhawks defeated the Missouri safety Cameron Riley on this 20-yard reception. Tigers Saturday in Columbia, 35-21.
On the Tigers' first possession they drove to the KU 25-yard line, but on third down and seven, linebacker Wilie Pless tackled MU quarterback Warren Seitz for a five-yard loss. Seitz had replaced Marlon Adler, who went down early in the first quarter with a shoulder injury. The Tigers tried a 47 yard field goal, but Brad Burdett's kick fell short.
"If Wilhe's not on the field, the tackles just aren't going to be made." Gottried said. The team gives him its support and he gives it advice should be considered for MVP in the Big Eight.
Pless ended the day with 16 tackles, 11 unsatisfied. He also had two tackles behind the line of scrimmage. Pless entered the game with a total of 189 tackles.
After Missouri missed a field goal, Kansas drove to the MU two-yard line, where tailback Lynn Williams dived over for the touchdown. Williams, who played despite a sore shoulder, rushed for 87 yards on 22 carries.
"IT WAS THE last game of the season," he said. "So you say What the hell, let me go out there and play 'til I'm paralyzed,' or something like that."
Missouri again drove into Kansas territory on its second possession or the day, but on fourth and four from the KU 32-yard line, Missouri backed Jack Seitz after just one yard.
With 7.07 left in the first half Norsemi scored on a quarterback draw from seven yards out. Missouri answered with a 20-yard touchdown pass from Seitz to Andy Hill, making the score 21.7 with 2:18 left in the half.
Missouri kicked off, and two plays later, Norseth hit Richard Estell for an 87-yard touchdown pass, and the Jayhawks were up 28.7. The touchdown pass was the longest of the year for Kansas and the second longest in KU history.
"The play was called an all-go," Estell said, "Couch just wanted to go for all the marbles. I knew we were going to have to jump for the ball, me and the defensive back. I got in front of him. When I caught the ball, I ran out, knocked the ball, fall or something. The rest was history."
The longest pass play in KU history was a 97 yard pass from Bill Fenton to Willie Smith in 1965 against Texas Tech.
THE BIG PLAY of the second half was made by linebacker Rick Brodesen, who intercepted a third-quarter Seitz pass intended to score, and if it the guard lipped, and drilled it in.
"I don't know if the pass was tipped at the line of scimmage." Bredesen said. "But it hit the receiver's hands and just popped up into the air into my hands."
Kansas then scored its only touchdown of the second half on three straight runs by Kansas.
Missouri's Jon Reed scored on a three- yard run in the fourth quarter making the final score 8-6.
Less than 10,000 of the 41,027 spectators who were on hand for the kickoff, were in the stands when the final gun sounded. The team lost the victory celebration on the field after the game.
"It is a good feeling to end the season on this kind of note." a thoroughly soaked Gottfred said after the game "but it's something to build on more than anything," he added. "We've got a lot of things we need to do before we can actually compete for the whole thing
GAME NOTES — Kansas had 57 players suited up for the MU game, three less than the traveling squad limit of 60. Gotfried had said before the game that his team could not afford injuries against Missouri because of lack of numbers.
Late in the game, two Missouri fans carried a banner which said, How bout Dick Vermeil, around the stadium in reference to a former coach of the Philadelphia Eagles.
Missouri coach Warren Powers said, "I think I've proven I can coach a football team. Things haven't gone right from the beginning of this year, but I can coach."
Freshman defensive end Marvin Mattox, who became a starter when Guy Gamble was moved to defense tackle to replace injured Kyle Smith, had seven tackles, four unassisted
Mattox had three tackles behind the line of scrimmage for a total loss of 12 yards. He
Stearns, Center make final 16 in tournament
Michael Center and Charles Stearns were among the final 16 players in the singles division at the Intercollegiate Tennis Coaches Association Regional Qualitying Tournament at Wichita this weekend.
However, tennis coach Scott Perelman said he was hoping for higher finishes from both in the 64-player singles field. The top two singles finishers and the winning doubles team at the tournament qualified for the national tournament.
"Center and Stearns were capable of being semi-finalists or finalists," he said. "They played hard and played well at times, but they were not consistent."
Stearns, a senior and the team's No. 3 singles player, advanced to be among the final 16 players, then lost 4-6, 7-6, 2-6 to Pat Connor of Oklahoma State. That gave him a 2-1 single record in the tour-nment.
Center, a junior and KU's No. 2 singles player, made it to the final eight before losing 6-4, 6-2 to Jeff Jackard of Oklahoma. He finished the tournament with a 2-1 singles record after receiving a first-round bye.
"I failed to close out important points in my match against Oklahoma State." Stearns said. "I had numerous match points early in the match and wasn't able to capitalize on them, and in turn I was just mentally fatigued. I'd had it."
David Owens and Greg Brown both advanced to the second round before being eliminated. Owens was eliminated by Warren Diamond of Oklahoma, 6-1, 6-2. Brown was eliminated by Brent Fields of Wichita State, 2-6, 6-3, 6-3.
Of the other Jayhawks at the tour-
nament, freshman Dave Brody advanced
the furthest. He won his first-round
match, advanced by default in the second
round, then was eliminated by Chris
Braaten of Wichita State, 6-2, 6-4.
Larry Pascal was defeated in the first round by John Rigas of Oral Roberts University. 6:3, 6-4
In doubles play, each KU team advanced to the second round and was then
Pereman said he was pleased with the overall progress of the team this fall. The season was disrupted when Mike Wolf, KU's No 1 singles player and one of the best players in the region, aggravated a injury and had to sit out the past two weeks.
Wolf should be ready when the Jayhawks start playing again in January Stearns said the team's ultimate goal is to win a first-Eight conference tournament in April.
"Anything less than that would be hard to take," he said.
Jayhawks, snow cause MU fans to leave early
Bv GREG DAMMAN
Sports Editor
COLUMBIA. Mo. — The Kansas Jayhawks, with an assist from cold, wet weather, made the bleachers at Faurot Field in Columbia look very empty by the time the final gun sounded at the end of the KU-MU game Saturday.
Snow and KU touchdowns led the battle of attrition that eventually defeated the Tigers.
At kickoff, 41,027 Tiger fans were on hand to hope to hit their team; picked in the pre-season to finish fourth in the Big Eight and just to that with a victory over the Javakhys.
Instead, Kansas, a nearly unanimous pre-season pick for the conference cellar, came away with a 35-21 triumph and fourth place in the conference with a 4-3 record.
Fans began to trickle out of the stadium early in the game after the Jayhawks scored their first touchdown of the day. The trickle in the run KU made the score 14-0 in the first quarter.
EARLY IN THE second quarter, snow flurries and a third KU touchdown, making the score 21.0, turned the stream into a river of departing fans.
"That played a real big part in the way we came out," he said of KU's early lead. "That means a lot, to finish in the upper division. You have the top four and the bottom four. We were picked eighth out of eight teams, and sometimes ninth or 10th."
Confidence will be the most important thing the team brings into next season and expect to see it.
In a boisterous KU locker room after the game, junior tailback Lynn Williams said the Jayhawks' chance to finish fourth in the conference placed a big part in the game.
"You've got to have a lot of confidence to compete in the Big Eight," he said. "Everybody's going to come back with a lot of confidence now."
Junior wide receiver Richard Estell, who caught an 87-yard touchdown pass from junior quarterback Mike Norseh, said the team would have been happy about the season no matter what the final score of the game had been.
Freshman linebacker Rick Bredesen said that finishing fourth in the conference was one of his greatest accomplishments.
"WE ALREADY ACCOMPLISHED so many things that nobody ever thought we would accomplish." Estell said. "So we were there, and there play hard, and whoever wore, wore."
"Coming into this game, we wanted more for the seniors to leave on a good note than for the rest of us to leave on a good note," he said.
The end of the game also marked the end of
the Jayhawks' two year NCAA probation
"We didn't think about the probation thing this season," junior defensive lineman Robert Tucker said. "We just thought about winning games. Couch Goffdid a great job of keeping our minds off of the probation and over and over we can think about bowl games."
Gottfried said, "When we started the season we weren't like everybody else. We weren't going to be on TV and we weren't going to be active." He is more creative. But today that's over. We start anew.
Norseth, who completed eight of 15 passes for 193 vards in the first half, said that finishing fourth in the conference made the outlook for next season even brighter.
"That's a big thing for us, being in the upper division," he said. "We look at it as a stepping stone for next season and the program as a whole."
Junior wide receiver Skip Peece, who ended the season as the Jayhawks' top receiver with 38 receptions for 444 yards, also at the victory as a way to build for the future.
"RIGHT NOW, THINGS look pretty good for next year," he said. "We surprised a lot of people, and probably surprised ourselves a bit. We can use this to build for next year."
williams said that the Jayhawks, who finished the season with an overall record of 5-6, had proven a lot by finishing fourth and the "outlook for next season looks pretty good."
And, with just a touch of sarcasm,
he added, "But then again, I'm not into
thugging."
Above, members of KU's offensive line celebrate after tailback L...Jilliams scored from two yards out, making the score 13-0 in the first quarter. Below, Missouri's tailback Jon Redd is brought down by KU defensive end Travis Hardy and cornerback Milton Garner during a first-quarter kickoff回返.