12A
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Kansas football gradecard and notes
CHRISTIAN HARDY @ByHardy
Quarterback Ryan Willis
Willis is more a characterization of the offense than anything. Right now he's fine, and he's not the problem on the offensive end, but he's the face of a team that only put seven points and 216 yards on the board this week.
That's not exactly optimal, but there's a lot more beyond his stat-line. He was sacked five times this week and tackled for a loss six other times. None of his three running backs averaged over 2.5 yards per carry. His receivers dropped five passes and probably should have caught a few others.
All of that is leading to mediocre stat lines from Willis, but he's still not doing too bad under center, especially for a freshman.
The Jayhawks have surpassed 70 rushing yards in a game only once since rushing for 479 yards through the first two weeks of the season. It didn't get any better in this game, as Kansas rushed for 35 yards on 36 carries.
There's no lead back for Kansas right now, as senior starter De'Andre Mann rushed 11 times in the game, senior Taylor Cox rushed 12 times, and junior Ke'aun Kinner — who dominated to start the year — rushed only five times.
Run game
The running backs combined for 28 carries for 62 yards — just over two yards per carry. All the while, Oklahoma averaged 6.5 yards per carry against Kansas.
There's just no hierarchy, and no one seems to be performing up to expectation. The blame for that can go on game flow, the offensive line, or whatever else, but at the end of the day, the running backs just haven't been impressive this year with the ball in their hands, save for Kinner in the first two games. It's made Kansas extremely one-dimensional and predictable, and something that has to change if the Jayhawks want to win a game.
Defensive line
This line gets better every week; it's starting to show why it was talked about as the strength of the team coming into the season.
While the depth isn't tremendous, the starters are extremely talented and continue to prove it. Senior Ben Goodman has been a consistent force on the edge. Freshman Dorance Armstrong picked up two sacks in this gare and has stepped into an expanded role over the last two weeks. Freshman Daniel Wise recorded another tackle-for-loss Together, they have created a defensive line that constantly pushed Oklahoma's Baker Mayfield outside of the pocket and into trouble.
However, there were a few times where they were unable to finish those sacks and Mayfield ended up burning the Jayhawks through the air. On top of that, they were still part of the defense that was gauged on the ground by all of the Sooners backs. That said, this unit is by far the most improved this season, and the line is starting to find ways to create real pressure.
Offensive tackles
I was surprised with how freshman Clyde McCauley III did in his first career start with junior left tackle Jordan Shelley-Smith sidelined.
career start with junior left tackle Jordan Shelley-Smith sidelined. McCauley had been moved around all year but finally got a chance to start at the place where he was brought to Kansas to start at -left tackle.
Larry Hughes, another freshman, did well opposite McCauley at right tackle.
"I thought we were handling protection pretty good initially in the game," said head coach David Beaty. "I didn't hear a lot about Clyde throughout the game, which might be a good sign, but I got to take a look at the tape to be able to tell you."
That said, the interior line is where Beaty saw problems including the five sacks and unreliable run blocking shine through. The young offensive line has continued to be a weakness for Kansas, but against the strong edge rushers of Oklahoma, I was impressed with the way the freshmen played at tackle.
Defensive backs
Mayfield passed for 383 yards and four touchdowns, and he made it look easy on 27-of-32 passing. Then, when Oklahoma's Trevor Knight came in, he went 6-of-9 for 62 yards and a touchdown. Sterling Shepard couldn't be covered, even when he was double-teamed, and went for 183 yards on 11 carries.
There's a reason for that: This secondary is just not very good, and they are extremely inexperienced. The corners are still getting beat at the line, which means they don't have enough time to get their head around on the ball when it comes flying their way. That either results in them looking foolish or getting called for pass interference. They just don't have enough experience or talent at this point to compete with the immense receiver talent in the Big 12.
Notes
some stops there." Beaty said. "Fish did a good job of being a guy that was down there."
Freshman Tyler Patrick scored his first touchdown of his career on a 17-yard grab to start the second quarter. "When he came to the sideline, I thought he was going to pass out," Beaty said. "He was screaming so loud, so excited about getting into the end zone. That kid has steadily improved ... He just makes you play him."
Kansas has only beat Oklahoma once since the teams joined the Big 12. The Sooners are 21-1. Kansas hasn't beat Oklahoma since 1997 and hasn't defeated a ranked opponent in 21 tries.
Junior Safety Fish Smithson notched his fifth game with double-digit tackles this season. He came into the game as the second leading tackler in the Big 12. "We want
Junior Bazie Bates IV came in and notched a career-high eight tackles.
He was slotted in over senior Michael Glatczak at times.
Five true freshmen start ed for Kansas. Jacot Bragg, who didn't star but played a majority o the game, would have been the sixth.
CHARLIE RIEDEL / AP
Freshman Ryan Willis had a surprise punt on a fourth down in the first half. The punt dribbled out of bounds at Oklahoma's three-yard line. It was the only punt to land inside the opposing team's five-yard line for Kansas this season until Junior Matthew Wyman dropped one in there late in the game.
Baseball fan Laurence Leavy, right, watches during the 12th inning of Game 1 of the World Series on Oct. 27.
Oklahoma's 710 yards was the most by an opposing team since Baylor had 743 in 2013.
"Marlins Man" Laurence Leavy: A folk hero in the sports world
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MATT HOFFMANN
@MattHoffmannUDK
Tune into the World Series on FOX, and you're likely to see a middle-aged man clad in bright orange sitting right behind home plate. Makes sense, right? The Kansas City Royals are playing the New York Mets, whose colors are blue and orange. Except Laurence Leavy is a Florida Marlins fan, not a Mets fan, and he has been to more than 80 World Series games.
What profession, you ask, gives one man enough money to travel around to sporting events, so many in fact that he has been to an event nearly 99 percent of days since April?
Leavy told ESPN's Darren Rovell that he spends about five hours a day working from his hotel room before heading out to the stadium. Levy, who
He's a lawyer.
He was diagnosed with liver cancer in March, and it was presumably time to start knocking things off his bucket list.
The answer to the latter is no — he has no kids or wife. The answer to the former is a little more complicated.
owns a law firm with 47 employees, has a job that is extremely tele-commuter friendly, leaving him time to be at almost every major sporting event in the United States, which might as well be a full-time job.
But why does he do it? Doesn't he have a family, kids or other responsibilities to take care of?
After getting a second opinion, it was determined that Leavy didn't in fact have liver cancer, just some scar tissue, he told ESPN. But the original diagnosis alone was enough to start truly enjoying life.
Leavy isn't just living the life of every sports fan — he's making the dreams of others possible
in the process. He's donated his seats behind home plate in New York to charity instead sitting behind the Royals dugout. He also donated $10,000 to the families of two Kansas City firefighters killed in the line of duty, then replaced his Marlinns visor with one that read "KCFD" in honor of the firefighters.
The 59-year-old lawyer often encourages his more than 52,000 Twitter followers to "pay it forward" in between stopping for selfie after selfie with whoever recognizes him throughout the day.
And people do recognize him. The video game "MLB The Show" went so far as to put Leavy in the stands at times in game. Leavy is so popular, people are dressing up as "Marlins Man" for Halloween, and he often doesn't make it to his seat until after the game is underway because people are running him down outside the stadium.
Leavy's fame has not come without it's share of criticism and jealousy. Some criticize Leavy for not doing enough good or being too selfish. Others say it's disrespectful to the teams that are playing to wear a Marlins jersey. To be fair, he is as close to a Marlins billboard as you can get.
For whatever reason, it seems the Marlins are reluctant to embrace him. Turning down the idea of a "Marlins Man" bobblehead night, the Florida team doesn't even give Levy the clothing he wears — he pays for his gear out-of-pocket.
But the Marlins won't let him throw out of the first pitch.
Soccer ends regular season with 1-1 double overtime draw
Laurence Leavy has become a folk hero at every sporting event under the sun. And, as the "Marlins Man" says, "Go Royals."
SKYLAR ROLSTAD @ SkyRolSports
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Though her last game at Rock Chalk Park was cold and soaked with rain, she finished off a cross from fellow senior Ashley Williams with a strong header at the back post. To make the night better, Salazar's mother was in attendance for just the second time in Salazar's collegiate career. With the goal, Salazar was lifted to second on the program's all-time scoring list.
— Edited by Jackson Vickery
Kansas soccer's 1-1 draw against TCU had a little bit of everything for senior midfielder Liana Salazar.
"Personally it feels really good to score in my last game," Salazar said. "It feels amazing to be part of this great program. It's so special."
But one thing was missing for the Jayhawks: an important result. A 1-1 draw after two overtime periods puts Kansas in sixth in the big 12. Kansas coach Mark Francis lamented a missed opportunity.
"It was a bit disappointing," Francis said. "In the first half we were all over them. We lost our rhythm [in the second half], I thought they had the better of it in the second half. [It was] disappointing, I think this is a game we clearly needed to win."
Senior Ashley Williams goes in for a ball against TCU Defender Julia Thurston.
The Jayhawks took control toward the end of the first half
in one of the most end-to-end games of their season so far. The Jayhawks edged the Horned Frogs six to three on shots at halftime, but the match ended 17 shots to 16 in favor of the Jayhawks.
Salazar's goal put the Jayhawks ahead 1-0 in the 31st minute. Salazar powered a header into the net from the back post after Williams sent a well-placed cross into the box.
HANNAH EDELMAN/KANSAN
Education
The Horned Frogs equalized in the 57th minute as Michelle Prokof slid a through ball past the Kansas defense to forward McKenzie Oliver. Oliver chipped the ball over Kansas goalkeeper Maddie Dobyns, who rushed out of her goal to cut out the pass. Dobyns made four saves on the night before leaving the match due to injury in the 84th minute.
Francis said his team were forced to switch to a back line with four defenders, away from the team's usual defense of three players in the second half to combat TCU's switch to a three-forward formation. This led to TCU earning eleven shots in the second half to Kansas' three.
"With the surface as wet as it is, we just didn't feel comfortable with three at the back," Francis said. "[In the second half] we just completely lost our rhythm I thought. But in overtime I
With the regular season over and Kansas in sixth in the Big 12, the Jayhawks will head to the Big 12 tournament in Kansas City, Kansas, where the team
Kansas recorded eight shots to TCU's three across both periods of overtime.
thought we were better again."
will play the Texas Longhorns on Wednesday, Nov. 4. The Jayhawks lost 2-1 at home to the Longhorns on Oct. 2.
"We feel like that's really good matchup for us," Francis said. "We thought we were unfortunate in that game and wed love to have another chance at them."
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