what we heard "Go! Go! Go!"
Chanting Bavlor fans upon realizing the goalposts were not guarded by the police Saturday. The Bears upset Colorado 42-30.
Chanting Baylor fans upon realizing the goalposts were not guarded by the police Saturday. The off the bench
monday, October 6, 2003
the university daily kansan 9A
Chiefs defeat Broncos in their first 5-0 start
By The Associated Press
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — He cut left, then right, then stutter-stepped and actually ran backward toward the end zone.
Surrounded by Denver tacklers and just a couple of yards from the goal line, Dante Hall cut back left, looped around to the outside and darted 93 yards into the end zone — and the record book.
His NFL record fourth touchdown return in four games came with 8:20 left and gave Kansas City a 24-23 victory over Denver and the Chiefs' first 5-0 start.
But to the other Chiefs players, the game between previously unbeaten AFC West rivals was almost secondary. They all seemed to want to talk about their remarkable teammate.
"He's a human highlight reel," Chiefs defensive end Eric Hicks said. "He's like Michael Jordan. It's ridiculous. The play he made, really nobody was blocked on the initial part of the play. My God, I've never seen anything like that in my life."
Hall began his streak with a 100-yard
kickoff return against Pittsburgh, then had a 73-yard punt return against Houston and followed with a 97-yard kickoff return for a score against Baltimore. Until then, nobody in NFL history had ever had touchdown returns in more than two consecutive games.
Now with 11 regular-season games left, Hall has already tied the NFL's single-season record for touchdown returns.
"I was beside myself I was so excited for him," coach Dick Vermeil said. "I said to myself, 'Oh, Dante, don't go backwards.'"
The Broncos (4-1) had never trailed when Micah Knorr punted to Hall with a little more than 8 minutes left.
When he started running backward, he feared he might be about to get tackled for a safety and be guilty of a colossal error.
"I thought, 'Oh, I've got to get out of this jam.' Hall said with a laugh.
But the Chiefs didn't have a return set up. By the time he finally got outside, there were plenty of blockers to clear the way.
"The first part of that return was not smart at all," Hall said. "I caught it maybe
on the eight, then I retreated back to the five, then the two. I got dumber and dumber and dumber."
Dating to last season, Hall has seven touchdown returns in 10 games.
"He's the best in football," said Denver wide receiver Chris Cole, a former teammate of Hall's at Texas A&M. "Probably one of the best ever. One guy's not going to tackle him. You have to put 11 hats on him. You can't have a let down."
The Broncos might have had an insurmountable lead had they scored a touchdown after getting the first-and-goal from the four late in the third. But three runs netted only two yards and Jason Elam kicked his third field goal, a 21-yarder, for a 23-17 lead.
On the third play of the third quarter, Clinton Portis broke through a big hole on the right side and ran 65 yards for Denver's longest run in almost three years, putting the Broncos on top 20-10.
Then Trent Green hit Eddie Kennison for 12 yards to launch a 5-play, 77-yard drive that pulled Kansas City to 20-17.
After Priest Holmes picked up 22 vards on a run and six on a shovel pass,
Johnnie Morton beat Deltha O'Neal in the end zone for a 28-yard touchdown catch.
The Broncos took a 7-0 lead on their second possession on Jake Plummer's six-yard pass to Dwayne Carswell after wide receiver Rod Smith hooked up with Portis on a 72-vard gain.
Gary Stills recovered a muffed punt on the Denver 25. And on third down from the 20, Green threw a jump ball into the end zone and 6-foot-4 Tony Gonzalez easily outleaped 5-11 Nick Ferguson for the touchdown.
Morten Andersen kicked a 23-yard field goal, drawing Kansas Cityeven at 10 in the second quarter after Elam had kicked a 48-yarder for Denver.
O'Neal appeared to have a 64-yard punt return for a touchdown. But the play was called back by a holding call on Donnie Spragan. Then on the final play of the half, Elam made it 13-10 with a 29-yard.
Hall said he's feeling more confident than ever.
"It's kind of bringing me back to my high school days when I was so confident and so natural that I was able to do things that I did today," Hall said.
Yankees dominate Twins, advance
The Associated Press
MINNEAPOLIS — The New York Yankees sure got back to their postseason best in a hurry.
The Yankees hit four doubles in a six-run fourth inning yesterday, giving David Wells a big lead and breezing into the AL championship series with an 8-1 victory over the Minnesota Twins.
After a sloppy loss in the opener that brought back memories of last year's first-round flop against Anaheim, New York beat the Twins three straight times to clinch the AL division series 3-1.
A rested Yankees team will open the AL championship series Wednesday night at home against Oakland or Boston.
Wells improved to 9-2 lifetime in the post-season by going 7-2-3 innings for the Yankees, who sent 12 batters to the plate in the fourth and knocked out Twins starter Johan Santana.
Bernie Williams and Hideki Matsui each hit an RBI double. Nick Johnson added a two-run double. Alfonso Soriano's bloop two-run single made it 6-0
Derek Jeter later homered for the Yankees. After losing Game 1 at home 3-1, New York outscored Minnesota 14-3.
A leg cramp limited Santana's Game 1 outing to four shutout innings. After retiring 10 of his first 11 batters, Santana's success ended with one out in the fourth. A stunned, silenced crowd of 55,875 watched the Yankees bash balls all over the field.
They hit four doubles in the inning, a division series record, and hung the Twins' best pitcher with six runs. Santana gave up six hits and a walk in 3-2-3 innings, striking out three.
Baylor pulls off surprise victory
Bv The Associated Press
WACO. Texas — Aaron Karas threw three touchdown passes and the Baylor defense provided a fumble return for a score and a goal-line stop that prevented a go-ahead touchdown early in the fourth quarter, helping the Bears stun Colorado 42-30 Saturday.
Rashad Armstrong ran for 166 yards and two touchdowns, including a 55-yarder that sealed one of the most surprising upsets in the eight-year history of the Big 12 Conference.
Fans flooded the field when time expired, gathering at the 50 to savor a 1-0 start in conference play under coach Guv Morriss.
They were peaceful until all the players left.
Then, after noticing one of the goalposts was guarded only by volunteers instead of police, several thousand stopped at that goal line and waited for more to join them.
Once enough arrived that there were chants of "Go! Go! Go!", the yellow-clad fans charged to the end zone, quickly toppled the upright posts and victoriously marched them around the field before carrying them out of the stadium.
They did have a lot to celebrate.
Baylor, 3-2 overall and 1-0 in the Big
12, has won three straight for the first
time since going 3-0 in 1996, which came before its first Big 12 game in it's history.
The Bears were an ugly 4-52 in conference games, having lost seven straight and 37 of 38.
This was two-time reigning Big 12 North champion Colorado, which was ranked No. 17 a few weeks ago.
And they didn't beat lowly Kansas or Iowa State as they did in three of their previous victories.
Now the Buffaloos, 2-3 overall and 0-1 in the Big 12, are on their first three game skid since opening 0-4 in 2000.
It didn't start out memorably as Baylor was shut out in the first quarter, making it nine straight quarters against Colorado without a point.
Karas led the Bears to touchdowns on four of five possessions.
Then came a span fans won't soon forget: a spurt of 35 points in 17:15.
The only non-score came on a drive that began with 59 seconds and no timeouts at the end of the first half.
Then the defense put Baylor ahead for good and kept it there.
Derrick Cash sacked Erik Greenberg, forcing a fumble that Jamaal Harper returned 7 yards for a touchdown that put the Bears up 28-23.
Two snaps later, Greenberg fumbled a snap and Justin Crooks recovered, leading to a 3-yard touchdown by Armstrong and a 35-23 advantage.
Colorado got within 35-30 when a botched punt by Baylor set up a 29-yard touchdown pass from Greenberg to Derek McCoy.
With 1:11 left in the fourth, it seemed like the Buffs' pedigree might help it pull through or that Baylor would be haunted by its losing ways.
Instead, on the first play of the fourth quarter, Crooks helped throw Brian Calhoun for a two-yard loss on fourth down from the one-yard line.
The Bears then drove all 97 yards, with Armstrong doing most of the damage, especially his long TD run that made it 42-30.
The Buffers turned to Joel Klatt, who was superb in winning the first two games but hadn't played since hurting his throwing shoulder in the third game.
His first pass was intercepted, marking the first of his career on his 93rd pass.
Baylor scored its second-most points in a Big 12 game and most in regulation.
This was only the fourth time the Bears led a conference game after three quarters, and first since a 1998 loss to Texas.
Robert Quiroga had the impressive 25-yarder among his eight catches for 113 yards.
Nascar driver refuses pit stops, awarded eighth
The Associated Press
KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Ryan Newman's gas-mileage gamble paid off with another Winston Cup victory yesterday at Kansas Speedway.
series-leading eighth victory of the year.
Newman elected not to take part in a flurry of pit stops with 65 laps to go, then held off a furious challenge from Bill Elliott to win the Banquet 400 — his
seller beating it hard. Elliott, third after a restart with 14 laps to go on the 11/2-mile tri-oval, got held up momentarily by Mike Skinner's lapped car. He passed Jeremy Mayfield with 11 laps to go but could not manage a serious challenge to Newman.
wednesday
"I think it's pretty obvious who had the best car out there today," Mayfield said, referring to Elliott.
Volleyball vs. Nebraska 7 p.m. Horeisi Family Athletics Center
friday
Soccer at Iowa State 7 p.m.
Swimming intrasquad meet 6.p.m. Robinson Center
saturday
Football at Colorado 2:30 p.m.
Volleyball at Oklahoma 7 p.m.
Football at Colorado 2:30 p.m.
sunday
Soccer at Missouri 1 p.m.
Free forAll
Just want to tell Matthew Dunvan that by tearing down the goalposts we created excitement for Kansas football, which is going to bring in more ticket revenue, which
will pay for the goalposts.
or move to M
--your graduation needs are available NOW!
All of the Kansan writers that keep disrespecting our team and our fans need to quit being such douche bags or move to Mizou
Next time we tear down the goalpost, let's shove it up Matthew Dunavan's ass.
Matthew Dunavan hates KU football.
Mark Mangino and the KU football team; We believe.
Nobody cares about the Minnesota Twins and how they beat the Royals. I don't know one person who cares about the Twins. We go to school in Kansas not Minnesota. Thank God.
The only thing better than sex is watching the San Francisco Giants
volleyball
'Hawks take first Big 12 road conference victory
It didn't take long for the Kansas volleyball team to regroup from its loss at Missouri Wednesday.
Sophomore Josi Lima and senior Sarah Rome led the Jayhawks to a 3-1 victory at Texas Tech, their first road Big 12 Conference victory of the season.
Lima had a season high 21 kills, and Rome added 19 digs and 16 kills as Kansas improved to 11-5 overall and 3-2 in the Big 12.
Kansas coach Ray Bechard was happy with the outcome, but more impressed with the balanced offensive attack.
"We had four players with 15 or more kills, and I think that it was our best attacking match of the year," Bechard said. "It was a big match for us because any time you can get a win on the road in this conference, it's great."
After dropping the first game 30-25, Kansas won three straight games over the Red Raiders, who fell to 8-7 overall and 0-6 in the Big 12.
The victory was the first for Kansas in Lubbock since 1999.
"The seniors were particularly happy as this was the first time they had won in Lubbock," Bechard said.
Junior Ashley Michaels helped pace the offense with 17 kills, and freshman Jana Correa played well on both sides of the ball with 15 kills and 14 digs.
The Jayhawks have now won four out of their last five matches, after losing two in a row. The team will host the 7th ranked Nebraska Cornhuskers 7 p.m. Wednesday in the Horesii Family Athletics Center.
The 'Huskers swept the season series last year 2-0, and lead the all time series against the Jayhawks 69-1. Mike Norris
-Mike Norris
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