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FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2011
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Humanitarian Bowl. Last week in their opener, they put up 49 points against Army, a touchdown more than Kansas scored against FCS opponent McNeeese State. Its top two running backs each averaged 9.9 and 7.3 yards per carry, and their quarterback, senior Chandler Harnish, threw for five touchdowns. So yeah, Northern Illinois is good. Good enough for Vegas oddsmakers to make them nearly a touchdown favorite in Memorial Stadium on Saturday.
Kansas football is still a year or two away from doing any kind of damage in whatever conference it will be in, but a 2-0 start that includes an early upset could do wonders for a young team looking to firmly remove that rearview mirror from its perch.
sophomore quarterback Jordan Webb averaged more than 20 yards a completion, including three touchdown passes that were all more than 25 yards.
Coach Turner Gill and his staff would like to see a similar effort from their team this Saturday against Northern Illinois.
"I think the other thing that's going to be important for us is making sure that we have a 2-to-1 ratio when it comes to big plays." Gill said. "I'm talking about 20 yards or more that we need to be 2-to-1 ratio as far as our big plays in our favor versus them with the plus 20 yards."
Kansas ran the same amount of plays as McNeese State on Saturday, had the ball for nearly ten minutes less, and scored 18 more points than its opponent.
JORDAN WEBB Sophomore quarterback
Offensive coordinator Chuck Long said the big plays that were present Saturday were missing from the offense last season.
opened the second possession with a 30-yard run. The freshmen running backs added playmaking capabilities as well.
Darrarian Miller averaged 4.8 yards a carry and Tony Pierson averaged 14.6 yards a carry.
"Big plays are huge in college football," Long said. "It's very
ASHLEIGH LEE/KANSAN
"We feel like we have a running game that is built for explosive plays," Webb said. "We can get the 70 and 60 yarders out of the running game just as easy as the passing game."
Even though the run-game is full of playmakers, the receivers are without one of their top players. Senior Daymond
Freshman receiver JaCorey Shepherd, who caught three passes for 107 yards and two touchdowns in his Kansas debut, will replace Patterson with his 4.5 speed.
The newfound, ground-heavy attack is far away from the spread offense Mark Mangino ran, but that doesn't mean that a more balanced style won't provide just as many opposing defense-killing, scoring opportunities.
"When you look at steady offenses like that in the past, they are traditionally run-play action pass teams and a lot of times they get open," receivers coach David Beaty said. "They don't have a whole lot of passes in the game, but a lot of times they count for big points. That's the direction our offense is headed in."
Edited by Jennifer DiDonato
Sophomore quarterback Jordan Webb hands the ball to freshman running back Darrian Miller. "We did exactly what we wanted to do. We ran the ball and as quartbacks and receivers we made the plays that we needed to and that's the team we need to be," Webb said.
A
MEN'S BASKETBALL
Falkenstein to announce Legends of the Phog game That familiar Max Falkenstein draw will return before college basketball season even begins.
Falkenstein and his iconic voice will join Dave Armstrong in broadcasting the Legends of the Phog alumny game at 4 p.m. on Sept. 24 at Allen Fieldhouse.
game is now officially sold out, according to Kansas Athletics.
Brian Hanni and Bud Stallworth will announce for the Jayhawk Radio Network, which will broadcast the game to the state
— KCSP (610 Sports) in Kansas City, WIBW (580 AM) in Topeka and KLWN (1320 AM) in Lawrence.
Max Rothman