Sophomore cornerback Tyler Patmon pulls an Oklahoma State ball carrier to the ground near midfield during the first quarter of Saturday night's game at Boone Pickens Stadium. Patmon had four tackles against OSU along with a defensive pass interference while in the end zone during the second quarter.
a stand-up guy and a successful football coach don't always go hand in hand.
From what I witnessed firsthand last year and have heard this season, players love playing for Gill; they just haven't been able to win for him. Barring any monumental upsets, Gill will have six wins or fewer after two years on the job.
CHRIS NEAL/KANSAN
The one thing working in Gill's favor right now is his contract, which doesn't include a buyout. If he was fired, he would receive the remaining salary left on his five-year deal. At $2 million per year, he is set to receive $6 million more after this season.
It's common knowledge that most college football coaches need at least three seasons to get their affairs in order, and besides that, it's highly unlikely KU Athletic Director Sheahon Zenger has the resources to shell out around $10 million to dismiss Gill and his assistants as well as hire a completely new staff. But if enough angry, big-money donors bang on Zenger's door and open up their checkbooks — and that's a big 'if' — things could change quickly.
stayed for the final act of the Jayhawks' blowout loss to the Cowboys watched their team get out-scored in the fourth quarter to Kansas.
Yes, it was against a mix of first, second and third string defenders that the Kansas offense faced in the fourth quarter, but the 14 points Kansas scored at the end of the game Saturday showed that the offense is resilient. The 28 total points Kansas scored helps put in perspective just how poorly this Kansas defense has been playing.
- Edited by Jonathan Shorman
Scoring 28 points against the No. 6 team in the nation, is no small accomplishment. Scoring 28 points would've been good enough to win 11 FBS games last week and tie two of them. Instead of being the 12th winning team in college football with 28-points or fewer, the Jayhawks lost by 42.
Kansas actually scored one more point than Oklahoma State has allowed on average all season. The biggest margin of victory the Cowboys had before
Following the Oklahoma State game, coach Turner Gill broke down the defensive woes into two simple categories: "Our guys did not tackle quite as well, as far as early on," Gill said. "And the second thing is the guys were not doing what they were told to do in some cases."
have put Kansas on track to win 20 games that week. Of every team that scored more than 34 points and lost in week five of the college football season, Kansas had the largest deficit, falling by 11 points.
It's a combination of a lack of athleticism, play-making and tackling that have led to the team's struggles, Gill said.
By admitting that some players are not following their coaches' instructions on the field, Gill helps shed some light on the defense, which ranks 34 yards worse than any other FBS team.
Sophomore cornerback Tyler Patmon suggested Wednesday that there is only one way to fix the defenses' problem: practice.
"When it comes down to it, it's
consistency," Patmon said. "We have to go hard in practice no matter what."
It appears that the Jayhawks got the message. Freshman linebacker Ben Heeney said a few of the players asked their teammates to pick up their performance on the practice field.
"The past two days, our
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defensive practices have been 100-fold better than what it's been," Heeney said. "I just think we look a lot better even from last week to this week."
Gill said the team has practiced with more focus and energy the past two days. He said there is urgency with the team in practice, because they know
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they have to be on all cylinders against No. 3 Oklahoma this Saturday.
If the play in practice has improved, the Jayhawks' defensive performance this season has served as a wake up call.
- Edited by Alexandra Esposito