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"We've just got to stay focused and play as a group. Down-by-down,play-by-play. We'll be okay."
BRANDON STEWART Junior Cornerback
Lynch, a major nuance of the Memphis offense. Often times, they never got their heads around when the ball was floated their way. Footwork was sloppy at times, and tackling — though a touch better than in Week 1 — was poor.
It didn't help that Kansas brought little to no pressure from the front seven. Lynch sat in a clean pocket for most of the game, and forced the defensive backs to stay in coverage longer than they should have to, just as they did on Stewart's holding. Kansas had one sack, and three tackles for loss (one was on a sinister looking end around).
"At the end of the day, you have a job to do," Stewart said. "I just have to do my job better. I just have to cover them for however long I have to cover them for. That's on me."
The pair of Stewart and Miller looked young, unseasoned and flustered by the task at hand. Then again, that's exactly what the Kansas cornerbacks are.
Stewart had never played at the Division I level before the South Dakota State game, and was only a two-star recruit coming out of high school in 2012. Miller is only a freshman, and a two-star recruit whose only offer from a power five conference was from the Jayhawks. Even Davis, who played all over the field on Saturday, has only played on
special teams before this season. That's easy to forget when they're all on the field and getting major playing time for the layhawks.
"It's just inexperience," Stewart said. "But I feel like we got better from this game, than we were in the first game. I feel like every game will get better."
"For both of us, this is our first D-I experience," Stewart said. "I just told him to play it slow, trust your technique. It'll come to you, just get a feel for it. I tell him what I try to do myself."
"We're at a point in our program right now where we have to continue to do a great job of developing these young guys... That's going to take some time to get that done."
That showed on the stat sheet, as Lynch completed 22 of his 25 throws (an 88 percent completion percentage) for 354 yards and two touchdowns.
tackling specifically. "But we've got a long way to go.
And Beaty agreed: there are improvements, but it's not quite there yet.
Even in preparation for Rutgers, the team has to be better. Eye discipline, which defensive backs coach Kenny Perry coaches steadfastly, failed the Jayhawks on Saturday. Their inability to keep their heads on a swivel didn't help either, and the entire stadium noticed.
"There [were] some things that I saw those young DBs improve on tonight, which was good," Beaty said, pointing out
"You're in that position, you just panic, and you forget your fundamentals," Stewart said. "You've just got to know, just to trust your training."
"We've just got to stay focused and play as a group. Down-by-down, play-by-play. We'll be okay."
Edited by Scott Chasen
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