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TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2014
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THE DAILY DEBATE
Will Montell Cozart be the starting quarterback for the entire season?
"YES"
After a 41-3 beating by Duke on Saturday, and a lackluster performance the week before against Southeast Missouri State (SEMO), there have been more questions than answers for Kansas football in 2014.
One question that has arisen is the play of sophomore quarterback Montell Cozart. Before the season, Cozart was the undoubted starter. Yet, two games into the season, Cozart sits in an uncertain spot. In Durham on Saturday, Cozart went 11-27 for 89 yards and two interceptions. He finished with a 14.8 quarterback rating.
Will Cozart stay the starter for the entirety of the 2014 season? I say yes, but I say that lightly. The backup is senior Michael Cummings. Cummings saw action in the final eight games of the 2012 season, and would be the most viable option to replace Cozart. Then there is third-string sophomore T.J. Millward, who sat out last year after transferring from UCLA.
Cozart will keep his job because he is by far the best athlete out of the three. It will take a lot of good play by Cummings or Millweard to derail that. Likewise, it will take a great deal of poor play by Cozart for him to lose his starting role.
Being the most balanced quarterback, Cozart is the most capable of the three. Cummings has come on for a few plays in the first two games and run the ball,
but has only attempted two passes. Millweard is a more traditional, drop back quarterback.
Cozart showcased his ability to scramble in 2013. During the offseason, coach Charlie Weis stressed that Cozart must be able to throw from the pocket consistently. Against SEMO he showed he was suited to do so, although hesitantly, throwing for 196 yards and three touchdowns. Cozart provides the most hope for the team, and that's why he will keep the starting spot. He shows flashes of brilliance, with the only problem being that he is young and inconsistent. But he is the best option for the Jayhawks, and will continue to be throughout the year.
Edited by Sarah Kramer
"NO"
Coach Charlie Weis was commended for clearing up any quarterback controversy the Jayhawks may have had coming into the season by declaring sophomore Montell Cozart the starting quarterback in the summer. Now, just two games into the season, many Jayhawk fans are left questioning whether Weis decision to start Cozart was apprehensive.
Cozart couldn't seem to hit the broadside of a barn in Kansas" 41-3 loss to Duke
on Saturday, and he's fallen completely flat since hitting his marks in the first quarter against Southeast Missouri State in Kansas' first game.
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After starting 6-of-8 and throwing two touchdowns in the first quarter against SEMO, Cozart has gone 17-of-43 (39.5 percent) with a touchdown and two interceptions since, including 11-27 for 89 yards against Duke — a measly 3.3 vards per attempt.
Cozart overthrew and underthrew his receivers, left plenty of passes up for grabs (two of which were intercepted), and he had no sense of pocket presence, attempting to escape pressure that wasn't there and constantly looking overly panicky in the pocket.
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To put it simply: the sophomore was completely unprepared to hang with a team of Duke's caliber. If the Blue Devils' defense — which the Kansan graded only two of five stars in its preview of Duke —
caused Cozart an abundance of trouble, Weis and company have a serious problem on their hands when they get to their Big 12 schedule in two weeks.
Because he's only a sophomore, I don't expect the Jayhawks to move away from the youngster soon. It could take multiple Big 12 failures (barring a miraculous Big 12 win) for Cozart to be ejected from the driver's seat.
But when fans are clamoring for the clipboard holder after Cozart's future deficiencies, they should know what they're getting in Michael Cummings. The 5-foot-10 junior started multiple games in 2012 and had a 3:4 touchdown-to-interception ratio. Though Cummings will get the next shot, he brings the same athleticism to the table as Cozart, but lacks the passing prowess Kansas should be looking for.
Edited by Alyssa Scott
ATLANTA — Rory McIroy found his ball submerged in deep rough, next to a fence that separates the course from the driving range at East Lake. He jumped up and down, trying to see over a holly bush that obscured his view of the ninth green.
McIlroy fades in season, Horschel wins
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Having won the last two major championships and poised for a big-money triumph at the Tour Championship, McIlroy faded from contention with a brutal six-hole stretch Sunday, leaving him three shots behind winner Billy Horschel in the finale of the FedEx Cup playoff.
It summed up a frustrating finish to the PGA Tour season.
Horschel celebrated the most prestigious victory of his career by doing the "Gator Chomp," while McLroy was looking forward to a much-needed break before the Ryder Cup.
"I am tired," McIlroy said. "Not physically. I've been in the gym every day this week and that's fine, but mentally I'm a little fatigued."
This wasn't a familiar position for the world's best golfer.
In hindsight, he should've taken a week off in the middle of the playoff.
The disappointment at East Lake did nothing to take away
from McIlroy's stellar year. He won both the British Open and the PGA Championship, sandwiched around his first World Golf Championship title at Firestone. He reclaimed the world's No.1 ranking and, with Tiger Woods' future up in the air, became the undisputed face of the game.
McIlroy's not done, either.
“It’s still been a great season for me, and there’s still a little bit of golf left,” McLloyrd say. “I’ll get back at it next weekend and get ready for the Ryder Cup.”
RORY MCILROY
Professional golfer
the Ryder Cup begins in less than two weeks at Gleneagles. He's the star of the European team.
"I've been in the gym every day this week and that's fine, but mentally I'm a little fatigued."
He started the final round tied for the lead with Horschel, who went ahead for good with an 18-foot putt for his second straight birdie at the 531-yard fifth hole, the longest par-4 on the course.
A wild drive at the 601-yard ninth forced McIlroy to hit a provisional, but his ball was found alongside the driving range. Hemmed in by the trees and those holly bushes, there wasn't much he could do except rely on a swing and a prayer. The ball caught a limb and dropped behind a camera truck, and McIlroy wound up making bogey on a hole where he hoped to make up some ground.
McIlroy's troubles began at the next hole with an ugly swing off the tee, his right
hand flying off the club as he watched his ball splash in the water left of the green. After hitting again from the drop zone, he missed a 10-foot putt and walked away from the par-3 hole with a double-boogey on his card.
Going to the back side, McIlroy was four shots behind Horschel and all but done. Two more bogeys at 10 and 11 finished him off, though he did rally for three straight birdies starting at the 15th to finish tied with Jim Furky in the runner-up spot.
"There was no other option, really, than just to take a chance," he said.
"At least finished the day respectably," McIlroy said.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
West Virginia quarterback Clint Trickett waves to the crowd last Saturday after the Mountaineers defeated Maryland 40-37 in College Park, Md.
TCU, West Virginia, Iowa State show Big 12's depth
TCU, West Virginia and Iowa State weren't expected to do much in the Big 12 this season. Last weekend's performances might change that perception
The Horned Frogs, Mountainers and Cyclones each beat a power conference team on Saturday — and West Virginia and Iowa State did it on the road. The teams picked 7th, 8th and 9th in the preseason poll had three of the Big 12's four marquee wins, showing that the league might be deeper than originally thought.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
TCU (2-0) has struggled since joining the Big 12, winning just 6 of its first 18 league games. The Horned Frogs might change their fortunes if they play defense like they did against Minnesota on Saturday.
"I think this is going to be a really strong conference this year and really for a number of years because there's so many young players. And obviously we've competed well outside of conference," Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy said Monday.
Six Big 12 teams are off this week. The lone power five non-conference game is a Big 12-SEC tilt between No. 20 Kansas State and No. 5 Auburn on Thursday. No. 4 Oklahoma, which trounced Tennessee 34-10, plays at West Virginia while Kansas faces Central Michigan on Saturday.
TCU held the run-oriented Gophers to just 99 yards rushing on 39 tries and picked off Mitch Leidner three times in a 30-7 win. Quarterback Trevone Boykin continued his promising start, throwing for 258 yards and two touchdowns while rushing for 92 yards on just 12 attempts.
West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen's job status has been a major topic of discussion ever since the Mountaineers went 4-8 in 2013, but he may have the program going in the right direction again.
"I thought he handled himself well. I thought he stepped up in the pocket better than he ever has," TCU coach Gary Patterson said of Boykin.
After a surprisingly close loss to No. 3 Alabama and a 54-0 win over Towson, West Virginia beat Maryland 40-37.
Clint Trickett set career highs with 511 yards passing and four touchdowns as the Mountaineers racked up a staggering 694 yards against a team that beat them 37-0 a year ago.
"The leadership ability of him is just off the charts right now. He just understands what's going on. He's a smart kid that understands the game of football," Holgorsen said about Trickett, who is completing 75 percent of his passes.
Oklahoma's visit to Morgantown this weekend suddenly seems a bit more daunting than it did over the summer.
Iowa State looked as bad as
any high-major team in the country in a 20-point home loss to FCS champion North Dakota State in its opener. The Cyclones (1-2) have made enormous strides since then.
Iowa State led by as many as 15 points before falling to No. 20 Kansas State 32-28 in the only league game so far. The Cyclones continued their turnaround in Iowa City, rallying to beat the rival Hawkeyes 20-17 on Cole Netten's 42-yard field goal with two seconds left. Iowa State now has a ton of confidence and an extra week to prepare for Baylor's visit on Sept. 27.
"We've learned that we have tremendous upside with this team. There's a lot of growth. A lot of potential, and we're tapping into it," Iowa State coach Paul Rhoads said.
It wasn't all good news. Kansas (1-1) go drubbed 41-3 at Duke. Texas Tech's 16-game non-conference home winning streak was erased in a 49-28 loss to Arkansas.
Texas (1-2) looked a lot better this weekend than it did in a blowout loss to BYU on Sept. 6, but still lost to 12th-ranked UCLA. 20-17.
But outside of the woeful Jayhawks, it looks as though any team in the Big 12 is capable of taking a league game from anyone else.
"I think that, top to bottom, this league is going to be very challenging for all of us," Gundy said.