This time tie won't do as gamble doesn't pay
ByGENE MYERS
Sports Editor
The second-guessing started as soon as Bucky Scriner's left foot struck the football. It peaked when the ball rolled dead on the Oklahoma 43-yard line, untouched by Sooner hands.
The last-ditch gamble, punting when most teams would have been passing, failed for the Kansas Jayhawks to oust coiled KU3 hopes of a triumphant win. The ranked OKC Sooners had off a second-half rally to win 19-7.
With 1:37 to play and fourth and 10 from the KU 21-yard line, Head Coach Dambrough called for a punt. The offensive unit was stunned as it came off the field.
THE PLAN WAS for a high punt, good coverage and a few sandwich hits. The hope was that Okahoma's fumble-prone Jay Jimerson would do his thing. But Jimson didn't fumble. He didn't even touch the ball. He didn’t have to.
"I thought they would go for it," Oklahoma coach Barry Switzer said. "I was surprised that they would punt with only one timeout left."
Also surprised were the 40,150 people in Memorial Stadium. The final pint seemed a bit too conservative for a team that played a liberal game.
The same team that played it safe and went for a tie in the season opener was taking every precaution to avoid picking up its third tie. The season. there was no way KU would go 3-3-1.
1:50 remaining in the third quarter, quarterback Steve Smith, who replaced injured
Frank Seurer, scored on a naked reverse from the 5-yard line. that made the score 21-12. KU needed a touchdown, a two-point conversion and an extra point to tie.
PLACE-KICKER Bruce Kalmeyer was out on the field and had his kicking tee in place, but the coaching staff called him back. After a decision-making timeout, KU went for two and failed.
After the season-opening 7-7 tie with Oregon, there were cries that KU was not only afraid of losing, but also of winning. Those crises should be been silenced Saturday, except for the final punt.
"It would have just been a giveaway," Fambridge said. "The guy had gumbled the last three times we'd kicked. We felt our chances were better to get him to fumble.
"The offense has also been known to fumble a few times even though I don't think they did but once.
"We felt our chances were better of recovering a fumble on the punt or getting the ball airnied loose than for us to make the fourth and 10. If we hadn't, it would have just given them a touchdown."
The only problem was that Oklahoma's returner didn't have to field the punt. Fambrough was open to second guessing.
SWITZER ALSO should have been fair game for second guessers for his last-second strategy. On fourth and 8 from the Oklahoma 45, Switzer had enough only four seconds remained in the game.
KU, in a similar situation the week before against K-State, simply fell on the ball to run out the clock.
"Sure, we were a little disappointed on fourth down," Smith said. "But it's not for me to decide what we do.
No one was back for the return when Oklahoma punted. Eleven men charged so determined that the punter was roughed long after the kick was off.
"The coaches thought that we would probably get the ball back."
The Jahyahs scored with 8:40 left in the game on a 13-yard run by Garfield Taylor, who replaced the injured Kerwin Bell. Kallmyer's kick made it 21-19.
KU would have the ball two more times. Smith, who went 1-for-8 passing, would throw five more passes and all would miss badly.
"I DON'T KNOW what it was," Smith said, "I know I can throw better than that. It was tough to pass because they had five defensive backs in there and were rushing a lot of tall guys.
"AND I don't know why the wind decided to shift in the room, and that strong wind got into the entire second half."
But the close game shouldn't be a wasted effort. Fambrough expects the long-term benefits to overshadow the short-term loss.
The Jayhawks lost, their slim hope for a bowl bid probably slipped away. The team is 14-2 with read games at 1-8 Colorado and 7-2 Missouri left on the schedule.
"we gave it everything we had," Fambrough said. "Today we gave hope to this football program. Many came in and did a heck of a job for them, but they were not prepared." The pamphlet all day, they laid it all on the line.
"They left us something to grow on."
Fullback Harry Sydney sprained an ankle in the second quarter, just as he did last year. Quarterback Frank Seuer bruised a knee in the third quarter. Flanker David Verser suffered a chest bruise in the second quarter. Tight and Mike Kennaw was also shaken up.
JAYHAWK NOTES: The hitting was hard the entire Kansas-Oklahoma game Saturday and in almost every series at least one player went to the bench. Jayhawks, the injuries were to the skill positions.
With those injuries and the disabling toe injury to Kermin Bell in last week, KU played most of the game with wide receiver Lester Mickens on an offensive line as the only regulars in the game.
"I just hope that we are not completely beat up after this football game and can come back and play well in our last two," Head Coach Don Fambrough said. "If we are not too beat up and our injuries are not too serious, we've got a chance to win our last two football games."
The decision to keep Bell out of the game was finalized early Saturday morning. He wore his 0.4 jersey, pants and tennis shoes to watch from the sidelines. Bell's mother, Momi, had come from Huntington Beaul, Calif., with Frank Seurer's family to see the game.
She is the only member of the Bell family who disapproved of Kerwin coming to KU.
"It's a big joke between Coach John Haddl and I that maybe these Californians can make something out of this Kansas team," Momi Bell said.
Accompanying Momli Bell to the game were two sons, Dino and Henry. Dino is this year's
senior superstar running back on the Edison High School team, which is No.1 in the California Interscholastic Federation.
Dino is undecided where he will play his collegiate ball.
KU's cause was hurt by two interceptions by the anonymous Orlando Flanagan, a defensive end. Flanagan won No. 38, but his name was not on the scoreboard when Oklahoma played North Carolina last week.
Bell's replacement Saturday, redshift freshman Grabert Faytler, gained 100 yards on 19 carries. He had 89 yards on 15 carries at the half. Waltacker, Walter Mack, had 62 yards on 13 carries.
"They sent it in and the printer misprinted my name," Flanagan said. "It came back Flangan."
Big Eight Standings
Kansas at Colorado
Nebraska at Iowa State
Missouri at Oklahoma
Okahanna state at Kansas State
COVE GRANTS
Nebraska 5 0 0 940 30  App. 1 0 Plt. App. 177
Missouri 5 0 0 940 30  App. 2 0 377 154
Missouri 4 2 118 65  App. 2 0 283 142
Kansas 2 2 118 65  App. 2 0 283 142
Kansas 2 2 118 65  App. 2 0 283 142
Iowa State 1 4 0 70 99  App. 2 0 183 176
Iowa State 1 4 0 70 99  App. 2 0 183 176
Colorado 1 4 0 72 108  App. 2 0 283 149
Colorado 1 4 0 72 108  App. 2 0 283 149
Kansas 1 4 0 541 141  App. 2 0 183 176
Okahanna 21, Kansas 19
Nebraska 55, Kansas State 8
Missouri 11, Iowa State 10
Okahanna State 42, Colorado 7
BEN BIGLER/Kansan staff
The quarterbacks were really concentrating in Saturday's Kansas-Oklahoma game. Above, Oklahoma's quarterback J.C. Watts hands off to Weldon Ledbetter. Right, Kansas' quarterback Frank Seurer dives for extra yardage as Oklahoma's Mike Coast prepares for a tackle. The Sooners held off a second-half Jayhawk rally to win 21-19.
CHRISTODD/Kansan staff
Game-dav atmosphere. high ticket prices draw fans to Hill
By. JIM SMALL
Sports Writer
For some it is a tradition that stretches back as far as they can remember. For others it is a good reason to get in a little partying on a Saturday night. Simply find it a cheap way to see a football game.
The people who sat on the hill overlooking Memorial Stadium at Saturday's Kansas-Oklahoma football game represent a social reaction with his or her own reason for sitting on the hill.
There was the businessman and his family from Olathe who enjoyed the wide-open space the hill provides. There were the alumni from Overland Park who decided that $9.50 was too steep a price to pay to see a football game. And there were the Walmers, a group of KU students who have come close to making hill-sitting a fall ritual.
the founders of the Walmers, said that the Walmers were guys who had run around together for the last couple of years and found themselves to be a good partying place on Saturday afternoon.
“It’s a tradition,” Lay said. “We are trying to keep a tradition going.”
DOUG LAY, Gardner sophomore and one of
Lay said that the name of the group went back to his high school days.
"I had this teacher in high school named Mr. Walmer and he was really dorky," Lay said. "One of my friends knew this kid whose last name is Michael, so we really dorky, too, so that is how we got the name."
One tradition that the 20 Walmers are carrying on is the "cooler kill." Kevin Vater, Leawood senior, performs a series of cartwheels and flips the molded rubber mold over soft skinform beverage beaker, smashing it to pieces.
"THE COOLER kill was originated by an Evans Scholar named Squirt," Vater said. "But he graduated. I am trying to carry on the tradition."
the cooler kill requires the utmost in concentration and poise, Vater said.
"When I am making my approach to the cooler I try to concentrate on the cooler itself and make sure that I hit it squarely in the middle," he said. "The only things you have to make sure of is that the cooler is empty and it's not over a fire hydrant. That might hurt a little."
Vater said that he might go through as many as three coolers a game.
"It all depends on how many I can find," he said.
"I look at the other school's cheerleaders and we make bets about them," she said. "I know they look better looking than ours."
WHILE VATER is searching for his styrofoam coolers, Lay usually can be found behind the eyepiece of his telescope.
In sharp contrast to the wildness of the wildew in the Leeckhoff family of Olitas Brodleckhoff, the Leeckhoff family of Olitas Brodleckhoff.
Lay found it hard to say which team had the best looking cheerleaders.
"We go into the stadium for the games half the time and we come out here half the time," Broodschief said. "It's hard to say which place we want to play, but it is a little nicer in there in colder weather."
and Todd, 15 and family friend Bart Goddard, 14,
found the hill a perfect place to enjoy the indian summer weather and a brunch of barbecue ribs.
Brodbeck said he used a portable radio to stay on top of the game's action.
it is hard to keep track of what is going on in a game sometimes, but the radio helps with that.
BRODBECK SAID he enjoyed watching the antics of the Walmers throughout the game.
"Ah, it fun," he said. "I like to see it. It's all part of the enjoyment of being up here."
Craig and Joanne Herre and Bob and Cindy Phillips of Overland Park, all recent KU graduates, said they sat on the hill for mostly financial reasons.
"Season tickets for non-students can get pretty expensive," Herre said. "When we went to
If anyone typified the average hissiter it probably would be Sarah Tagart and Jamie and Dana Wilson, all from the Washington, D.C., area.
school here we sit up in the stands but for now, we anyway, we are going to sit on the hill."
"We bought season tickets but the hill is more fun," Jame Wilson said. "You can talk to people, jump the Frisbee around and party."
Despite Wilson's observations, Captain John Mullens of the KU Police Department said there had been no reports of problems on the hill for the last few years.
"We haven't received a complaint about the hill this year," he said. "I think that we had a problem up there a couple of years ago but I can't even remember what it was about."
A hint of remorse could be detected in Lay's as the game wound to a close and he talked of it.
Late TD drive gets KC victory
Fuller made two key plays on the final drive while he scrambled to avoid the pass rush. The big plays were a 33-yard completion to Stan Rome from the end zone and a 28-yard completion to Ted McKnight that took the Chiefs to the Seattle 6.
Fuller, who was for sacked a club record of 10 times by the Colts a week ago, hit 6-7 passes for 93 yards on the game-winning drive. Arnold Morgade's 1-yard plunge in the second half set the Seahawks had taken a 30-24 advantage on Jim Jodal's 2-yard run with 4:10 left.
"rus season is over," he said. "但 we'll be
for now or next season." Walmers
banner is across the whole league.
SEATTLE—Kansas City's Steve Fuller, who was nearly hounded to death by the Baltimore Colts last week, showed the Seattle he could do with just a little time to throw.
Fuller, a second-year quarterback from Clemson, directed the Chiefs on two long drives in the fourth quarter yesterday, including a game-winning 91-yard march, to lead Kansas City to a 31-30 victory over the Seahawks.
By winning the error-filled game, Kansas City, 5-5, stayed alive in the playoff chase.
By United Press International
The Big Eight Press Day at the KCI Marriott Hotel yesterday was certainly no exception to the rule. The amount of humor in the coaches' spiels was, in most cases, directly proportionate to the number of games the coach expected his team to lose.
Losing is laughing matter with Big Eight coaches
Call it anything you like. The fact is that coaches who expect a tough season are usually the cut-ups at preschool meetings. Coaches that want to get ahead of the leaders talk about how good the other guy is.
KANSAS CITY, Mo—Psychologists call it denial. Alumni call it covering up. Sportswriters call it a good quote.
Enough about basketball. The show was a comedy and let's talk about comedians. The Big Bounce is the most recent season when Iowa State landed Johnny Orr, Michigan's head coach for 12 years. With a style
nails always rated mention, but always a disclaimer was issued: If they play as a team, if they mesh, they'll be good. Nebraska and Oklahoma will be the top five, according to most of the coaches.
IN THE SERIOUS moments, the coaches agreed that Missouri was the favorite to win the Big Eight championship and Kansas State also should be in the race.
By KEVIN BERTELS
Sports Writer
He left Michigan and the Big Ten for an attractive offer at Iowa State, Orr said. He tried to ignore the fact that he was an established legend at Michigan.
reminiscent of Henry Youngman, Orr fired jokes and one-liners. By the end of his act, he had loosened the crowd to the point that 'goodbye' got one of the biggest laughs of the day.
On 6-foot, 155 pound Terrance Allen, a freshman: "He's a skimny, short kid. He stands about 5-foot-11, but we say that he '6-foot so that he won't get an inferior complex."
"You have seen the advertisement on television where they say that when E.F. Hutton talks people listen, 'he said' is the same thing but I never have anything to say," but I never have anything to say."
On John Kunert, a 6-foot-6 junior forward:
"He seems to get hurt all the time. Last week he got a dislocated jaw. I guess it wasn't that funny to him but it sure is starting to be funny to me."
"If we get a chance, we will fast break," he said. "We have tried it in practice, but it looks bad. It looks slow to me. We'll throw the ball around and maybe even catch it.
Orr even made player introductions interesting:
ORR HAS LONG been known for giving his teams the ball and telling them to run. That won't change at Iowa State, but he will have to make some adjustments.
"I won't change. I've coached for 29 years and 26 of those were winning seasons. I don't like to watch a slow team, anyway. Why should I coach something that I don't like to watch?"
Orr will be challenged for the founiest newcomer of the year award by another addition to the Big Eight coaching ranks, Billy Tubes of Oklahoma. Tubes led Lamar University to the final 16 in the NCAA basketball tournament last season.
With the Sooner, Tubbs inherits the remains of a 15-team unit. Until last week, Tubbs had a difficult job. Then senior guard Raymond Whitte, with his first season in the season, Nowton has an impossible job.
"We were picked to finish eight in Playboy, I understand," he said. "I didn't see it. I didn't make it past the centerfold. I understand that they picked us to finish last without the knowledge that Raymond Whitley was out for the season. That's bad."
Tubbs has a junior college transfer, 6-foot-10 250-pound Charles "Big Time" Jones. Big Time obviously has been a let-down.
"Big Time Jones looks like Little Time to me," Tubbs said. "I don't know where he got that name. He has the size and height but not the offense we need."
BOTH TURBS AND ORR can laugh. They won a bunch of games last season. Bill Blair of
Colorado won a few also, 17 in fact. He did it the hard way.
Injuries and academic difficulties stump down every true forward on the team. This season, no injuries have haunted the Buffaloes. But Blair indicates that to continue. He speaks like a bitter man.
"We will probably start the season before Christmas with some wins and then everybody will flunk or break their ankle," he said. "I'll just work with both the first team and the second and when the first team is injured, I'll play the second team. That's all I can do."
Nebraska assistant coach Moe Iba, who handles most of the coaching duties for Joe Cipriano, who has cancer, said that his team would rely on center Andre Smith.
“At this point, none of our big men are ready to help us,” said Iaf. “And Andre gets in foul trouble, I'm going to run a five-man passing game with 5-foot-2 Jack Moore at post. We'll give him the ball and run it in and out and hope that they back him.
"I'm serious."
We were most of the other coaches. The big three, Ted Owens of KU, Jack Hartman of K-State and Norm Stewart of Missouri, wore the serious look of winners. Paul Hansen of Notre Dame, Jared Foster with hepatitis and didn't attend, instead serving Wayne Ballard, his assistant coach.