kansan.com
Thursday, September 8, 2011
COMMENTARY
Hope is in the home games
The Jayhawks' Saturday night matchup against Northern Illinois is bigger than most week-two home games against an opponent from the Mid-American Conference. Kansas football hasn't seen an ounce of real momentum in almost two calendar years. It was Oct. 10,2009,when the Jayhawks erased a fourth quarter deficit to beat Iowa State,winning their fifth game in a row.
But it was the team's last win of the season, and the last time Kansas won back-to-back games.
Its No. 16 national ranking heading into that day was followed with seven straight losses by Thanksgiving weekend, and Kansas football has been more punchline than power since.
Starting the season 2-0 before the first road trip would be huge for a team and coaching staff looking to put last season's debacle as far in the rearview mirror as possible. With the young team that coach Turner Gill has right now, finding many wins on the road is doubtful. Capitalizing on those precious five remaining home games will be key, especially when one of those games is against No. 1 Oklahoma on Oct. 15. I'll go out on a limb and say Kansas won't beat Oklahoma that day, so that leaves Northern Illinois, Texas Tech, Kansas State and Baylor as winnable home games left on the schedule. If six wins and a bowl game are a goal this season, home games are opportunities that can't be missed.
Besides the need for anything resembling momentum and the need to capitalize on winnable home games, there's this: Northern Illinois isn't your average directional school from the MAC. The Huskies won 10 games last year, including a 40-17 romp over Fresno State in the Humanitarian Bowl. Last week in their opener, they put up 49 points against Army, a touchdown more than Kansas scored against FCS opponent McNeese 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.
Edited by Lindsey Deiter
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CROSS COUNTRY RUNS TOGETHER PAGE 8
MORE TEXAS DRAMA
NOT SO FAST, AGGIES
A&M's departure is at the mercy of the remaining Big 12 schools
ANDREW JOSEPH
ajoseph@kansan.com
The realignment dominoes are beginning to fall as the Southeastern Conference voted unanimously Tuesday to accept Texas A&M as its newest member.
The invitation is contingent on every Big 12 Conference member waiving its right for litigation against the SEC.
"After receiving unanimous written assurance from the Big 12 on Sept. 2 that the Southeastern Conference was free to accept Texas A&M to join as a new member, the presidents and chancellors of the SEC met last night with the intention of accepting the application of Texas A&M to be the newest member of the SEC," the chair of SEC presidents and chancellors board, Bernie Machen, said in his statement issued Wednesday morning.
The "written assurance" was a letter from Big 12 Commissioner Dan Beebe and is actually non-binding for the Big 12 schools.
One Big 12 institution was reportedly not content with the Aggies' departure from the conference. Machen said that the SEC was alerted Wednesday morning of a school considering legal action against Texas A&M and the SEC.
According to Orangebloods. com, that school is Baylor University. In the grand scheme of conference realignment, Baylor would be expected to lose its membership in a BCS conference if the Big 12 were to dissolve. Such relegation would potentially cost the school millions of dollars, so the Bears have a clear incentive to keep the Big 12 together.
"The SEC has stated that to consider an institution for membership, there must be no contractual hindrances to its departure," Machen said. "The SEC voted unanimously to accept Texas A&M University as a member upon receiving acceptable reconfirmation that the Big
12 and its members have reafirmed the letter dated Sept. 2, 2011."
In addition, Baylor launched a campaign entitled "Don't Mess with Texas Football" on its website, pointing all signs to the Bears fighting the potential break up of the Big 12.
As Wednesday progressed, it appeared that Baylor was not standing alone in its attempt to derail the A&M departure from the Big 12. The Waco Tribune Herald first reported that Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri, Iowa State and Texas Tech would decide to not waive the right of litigation.
In reaction to these unforeseen roadblocks in Texas A&M's departure, all 10 Big 12 presidents participated in a conference call in hopes of resolving the issues. According to ESPN, this is when every Big 12 school except Oklahoma revealed that
Aug 25.2011
SEE CONFERENCE | PAGE 8
Texas A&M President R. Bowen Loftin sends a letter to Big 12 commissioner Dan Beeber explaining that Texas A&M is considering leaving the Big 12.
Aug 30, 2011
Texas A&M denies the Monday New York Times report that it notified the Big 12 of its intention to leave the athletic conference.
Sept 6, 2011
Oklahoma President David Boren announces the school's intention to explore its conference affiliation options.
Sept 2. 2011
The SEC presidents and chancellors unanimously vote to invite Texas A&M contigent that the Big 12 schools waive the right of litigation against A&M and the SEC.
Aug 29, 2011
The New York Times reports that President R. Bown Lottin informed Big 12 Board Chairman Brady Deaton that the Aggies will officially withdraw from the conference as early as Tuesday.
Sept 7, 2011
ESPN reports that only Oklahoma signed the waiver.
The other eight Big 12 schools will not.
Aug 31,2011
Texas A&M officially notifies the Big 12 of its intention to withdraw from the conference.
Sept 2. 2011
SEC Commissioner Mike Slive receives letter from Big 12 Commissioner Dan Beebe stating that the SEC is free to add Texas A&M without facing legal hurdles.
Sept 7.2011
Baylor alerts the SEC that the university will not waive the right of litigation.
Sept 7, 2011 Texas A&M indefinitely postpones the SEC announcement press conference and celebration. ATM
FOOTBALL
Jayhawks to use run-heavy offense with Huskies
MIKE VERNON
mvernon@kansan.com
A run-heavy offense can also be a big play offense.
While the running attack chipped away at the McNeese State defense for 301 yards, 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.
Offensive coordinator Chuck Long said the big plays that were present Saturday were missing from the offense last season.
difficult to just pluck away down the field for 80 yard drives."
Sophomore running back James Sims set the tone and opened the second possession with a 30-yard run. The freshmen running backs added play-
making capabilities as well.
Darrrian Miller averaged 4.8
yards a carry and Tony Pierson
averaged 14.6 yards a carry.
Although the ground game helps open up the passing game, it can also make some noise itself.
"Big plays are huge in college football," Long said. "It's very
JORDAN WEBB Sophomore quarterback
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
Patterson is listed as doubtful after receiving an undisclosed injury on Saturday.
"He's a leader," Webb said.
"He's the type of guy who you give the ball to and expect him to take it to the house. If we miss him, it's be a big piece."
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.
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
MEN'S BASKETBALL
Falkenstein to announce Legends of the Phog game
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That familiar Max Falkenstein drawl will return before college basketball season even begins.
Falkenstein and his iconic voice will join Dave Armstrong in broadcasting the Legends of the Phog alumni game at 4 p.m. on Sept. 24 at Allen Field game.
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
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