Sports
WEST THE KANBAN
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Ryan Greene's picks for this week include a fifth-straight victory for the Jayhawks. PAGE 8A
The University Daily Kansan
7A
Kansas on top; Colorado not
Friday, October 10, 2003
Kansas ranks second in Big 12 North; Jayhawks ready to take on Buffaloes
By Ryan Greene rgreene@kansan.com Kansan sportswriter
What a difference a year makes.
Exactly 363 days ago, the Jayhawks were trapped by the Colorado Buffaloes at home 53-29. Even though Kansas held on tight, trailing 36-22 at halftime, Colorado's Chris Brown scorched Kansas to the tune of 309 yards and two touchdowns and the Jayhawk defense gave up 546 total yards. Buffers coach Gary Barnett appeared in the Kansas locker room after the game to commend the fallen opponents on the heart they displayed, even in defeat.
Fast forward to today, and opposite of last year, the Jayhawks are atop the Big 12 North standings while the Buffaloares are in the cellar. While Kansas is on the verge of cracking the Top 25, Colorado has lost three straight, including last week's 42-30 mysterious loss at Baylor. The first thing that popped in the mind of most Kansas faithful who watched the Colorado loss last week was that the Buffs would be much tougher to deal with this week. The Jayhawks players have already prepared for that likelihood.
"They lost to Baylor, which they're probably going to be mad about," sophomore tailback Clark Green said. "You've gotta come out there with the same or a higher attitude than they do. You can't focus on what they're doing. You have to focus on your team."
Green, along with freshman tailback John Randle and senior quarterback Bill Whittemore, are looking to capitalize on a bruised and battered Colorado defense that is missing numerous starters due to injuries. The three primary members of
the Jayhawks' ground attack have combined for 996 yards and nine touchdowns, averaging an eye-popping 5.3 yards per carry. On the other hand, Colorado will be without starting senior tailback Bobby Purify for the third straight game. The Buffalooes, who led the Big 12 in rushing a year ago, are without Purify, as well as Brown who gave the Jayhawks nightmares a year ago and left early for the NFL at the season's end. The brunt of the carries will be taken by Brian Calhoun, who is looking to jump start a ground game that ranks 11th in the conference.
The Jayhawks have improved vastly on the defensive side of the ball so far this season, but must continue to do so as they hit the meat of the conference schedule. Early in the season, it was the linebacking corps who impressed, and in recent games it has been the defensive line. Defensive ends Monroe Weekley, David McMillan and Reggie Curry have found ways to get their hands on opposing quarterbacks. Coming off of a big performance against Missouri, the pressure tomorrow will be on senior cornerback Remuise Johnson and sophomore cornerback Donnie Amadi.
John Nowak/Kansan
The duo will be paired against one of the country's most lethal receiving units that includes Derek McCoy and D.J Hackett. Both rank in the top six in the conference in both receptions and receiving yards per game. Amadi has quietly shown a big improvement from his freshman season, and Johnson has finally reclaimed his starting spot from opening day starter Shelton Simmons.
While Hackett and McCoy will without doubt have balls thrown to them all afternoon long, the question is who will
Sophomore running back Clark Green and the other Jayhawks are looking to take advantage of a bruised and battered Colorado defense. He said that they were more focused on their own actions rather than on their opponents.The Jayhawks will take on the Colorado Buffaloes Saturday in Boulder,Colo.
SEE FOOTBALL ON 9A
Soccer to continue Border War
Three Jayhawks collide with Texas players for control of the ball. The Jayhawks, 9-3-1 overall and 1-2-1 in the Big 12 Conference, are on the road this weekend, traveling to Iowa State today and Missouri Sunday. Kansas coach Mark Francis said, "These are two tough games on the road for us. We need to show up ready to play."
Eric Braem/Kansar
By Nikki Nugent
nnguget@kansan.com
Kansan sportswriter
The Kansas soccer team can extend Kansas' lead in the Border War with a victory against the Tigers this weekend.
The Jayhawks are coming off a tough Big 12 Conference weekend in which the team losed a hard-fought game to Texas 1-0, and tied No. 3 Texas A&M.
The Jayhawks, 9-3-1 overall and 1-2-1 in the Big 12, are on the road this weekend, traveling to Iowa State today and Missouri Sunday.
Kansas coach Mark Francis said the Iowa State game would be difficult because the Cyclones played well on their home field. The game against Missouri would be tough because of the huge rivalry, he said.
Francis gave the layhawks the day off from practice Wednesday before hitting the road for Ames, Iowa yesterday morning. He said the team needed to catch up on some school work and get some much needed rest.
Kansas forward Amy Geha said the team was glad to take the day off. The team was confident after playing well against two really good teams last weekend, she said.
"These are two tough games on the road for us," Francis said. "We need to show up ready to play."
"Those games show people we are a lot better than they think we are."
Amy Geha Kansas forward
"Those games show people we are a lot better than they think we are," Geha said.
Injuries played a role in Francis' decision to cancel practice. Though there are no major injuries, team members have nursed nagging injuries since the start of Big 12 play.
Big 12 play The Jayhawks take on Iowa State at 7 p.m. today.The Cyclones are 3-5-3 on the season and 0-2-1 in conference play. Iowa State finished 7-11-1 last season and seventh in the Big 12. The Jayhawks defeated Iowa State 2-1 last season.
The Jayhawks travel to Missouri for a 1 p.m. game with the Tigers, who face No. 21 Oklahoma State today. Missouri is 6-6-0 on the season and 0-3 in the Big 12.
Missouri leads the Border War 5-3, including a 2-0 victory over the Jayhawks last season.
The Jayhawks are on the road again next weekend, playing at Colorado and Nebraska.
- Edited by Michael Owells
Pool work disturbs swim team schedule
By John Domoney
jdomoney@kansan.com
Kansan sportswriter
The football team has Memorial Stadium. The basketball team has Allen Fieldhouse. But for about three months, the Kansas swimming and diving team hasn't had a place to call home.
The pool at Robinson Center has been closed since July to replace a new home.
"I can't justify driving such a long way for a small amount of swimming that could possibly get some of the athletes sick."
Jeff Goelz Southern Illinois women's swim coach
filter system and install a new pump that has been in place for 30 years.
The renovation of the pool was intended to be finished by the time school started, but a delay occurred in the renovation process.
"We wanted to have it back up and running by the time school started," said Jerry K.
Phillips, director of facilities at Robinson Center. "It just kept getting pushed back further and further because some of the new parts we ordered did not come in on time."
Those late parts cost the swimming and diving team a chance to compete in its first meet.
The Jayhawks were scheduled to open their season with a meet against Southern Illinois University on Sept. 26, but there was one problem: the pool had no water. The open-water part of the meet at Clinton Lake was canceled the next day because the water was too cold.
"I can't justify driving such a long way for a small amount of swimming that could possibly get some of the athletes sick," said Southern Illinois women's swim coach Jeff Goelz in a statement.
Fortunately, the pool has been finished this week and is ready for competition.
On Tuesday the pool was filled with water, and Phillips has worked over the past few days to properly balance the chemicals in the pool and get the water temperature up to nearly 80 degrees from 60 degrees.
"We've got it pretty well balanced," Phillips said. "It's not exactly where I want it yet, but the team is practicing in it and it is ready for competition."
The swimming and diving team returns to action today with its intrasquad meet at Robinson.
Southern Illinois officials have reported that Kansas will make up the cancellation of the meet on Sept. 26 by competing against the Southern Illinois team in Carbondale, Ill., next September.
— Edited by Ehren Meditz
Kansas football team ranked 11th in unofficial poll
In one of this week's college football polls, Kansas is ranked 11th in the nation.
Sound kind of funny? It doesn't to Mike Vail, an Oregon State engineering graduate who is in his third year of posting his college football poll.
Still skeptical? The poll is completely unbiased, utilizing performance-based results through mathematical formulas. "The poll doesn't know the difference between Miami or Miami of Ohio," Vail said.
"I think KU is definitely underrated by national polls," Vail said.
Kevin Flaherty
kflaherty@kansan.com
In other words, preseason rankings or teams who thrive off the past football season have no place in this poll.
sports commentary
The formula is made up of three components. The first is conference difficulty. This is established by finding the conferences with the best winning percentage in nonconference play. The Big 12 Conference is the nation's strongest conference, according to Vail. The formula doesn't distinguish between Bowl Championship Series and non-BCS conferences, so potentially the Mid America Conference could be stronger than the Southeastern Conference by winning more of its nonconference games. The Big 12 so far this year has won 75.5 percent of its games, so every Big 12 team is given 75.5 points towards its score.
The second factor is win-loss percentage. The simplest part of the rankings, teams get points for having the highest winning percentage. Kansas, with its 4-1 record is higher in the final rankings than most of the teams with two losses.
The final factor is strength of schedule/margin of victory. To calculate this, Vail takes the first two factors to decide
how good an opponent is. The team also gets points for margin of victory up to 20 points.
There also are several multipliers in the equation that Vail cannot disclose to keep the exact formula secret.
Here's an example of how the formula works. For the Jayhawks victory against Missouri, the Jayhawks were awarded a season high 108 points. The Jayhawks were awarded for playing a Big 12 school that was undefeated at the time by a 20-point margin of victory.
Like any poll, this one has its faults. It takes the average of all the games, so if a team catches a hot or cold streak, the computer will not pick that up. It is also based on numbers, so common sense is
out of the equation.
Vail had problems in the 2001 season with the strength of schedule becoming too large of a factor, so he put more emphasis on wins and losses. The result? Last year's champion Ohio State Buckeyes actually led Vail's poll for most of the season. The number one team right now is Nebraska.
Vail said he started the poll to satisfy his own personal curiosity about how other polls work.
The BCS utilizes a number of polls to come out with the final number that decides who the national championship participants will be. It is Vaill's goal to become one of the used polls. The BCS
TALK TO SPORTS: Contact JJ Hensley and Shane Mettlen at SPORTS@KANSAN.COM
SEE SPORTS ON PAGE 9A