4B the university daily kansan
sports
wednesday, september 24, 2003
Broncos gain confidence
The Associated Press
DENVER - Beating Cincinnati and San Diego was a nice way for Denver to start the season. The victories gave the Broncos more confidence and new quarterback Jake Plummer time to get comfortable.
But it is not like the Broncos took out the town bully with one punch. It was the Bengals and Chargers, after all. Embarrassing the Raiders on national television? Now that's saving something.
"I'm tired of all these people talking about other teams and how great they are," Broncos tight end Shannon Sharpe said after Denver's 51-10 victory Monday night. "They talk about these teams that are supposedly set for the Super Bowl. But you know what? We played like a great team and we showed what we are all about."
Denver joined Kansas City and Indianapolis as the only teams in
the AFC at 3-0. Oakland, last year's AFC champion, fail to 12
OK, so the Raiders have been a shell of the team that lost to Tampa Bay in the Super Bowl last year. But don't tell the Broncos about Oakland's troubles. They're not listening. Not only is Oakland the team Denver loves to beat, the Raiders embarrassed Denver twice last season.
It's hard not to be.
"I'm about as satisfied as I've been in a long time," Broncos defensive end Trevor Pryce said.
Plummer shook off last week's shoulder injury and showed why the Broncos picked him up in the offseason.
"It was a lot of fun to be that efficient in the first half and score 31 points," said Plummer, who was 14-for-21 for 197 yards. "It was a great feeling."
No one felt better than Denver's defense.
Nearly a year after being picked apart by Rich Gannon, the Broncos made the Raiders' quarterback look like an unsure rookie instead of a confident league MVP.
Defensive end Bert Berry sacked Gannon on the game's first play, one of five by the Broncos, and the line disrupted his rhythm all night. The Raiders, the highest scoring team in the league last season, had just 7 yards in the first quarter and finished with 195 for the game.
A week ago, Shanahan came under league scrutiny after saying Plummer's injury was a concussion instead of a shoulder injury in his halftime injury report against San Diego.
When' running back Clinton Portis went down against the Raiders with a bruised sternum, word from the Broncos sideline was that he was out because of a coach's decision.
BERLIN: Whittemore's numbers turning heads
"I played pretty well yesterday, unfortunately I threw away a few strokes on the par 5s." Ward said.
Total offense: Whitemore 6,127 yards of total offense would put him on top, besting Seurer's career total by 15 yards.
Ward parred his first three holes yesterday, but then started hitting the ball closer to the pin, which gave him putts usually within 20 feet of the pin.
Oh, but there's one more thing:
To be fair, the passing-oriented offense Whittemore plays in gives him some statistical advantage over past quarterbacks. And, as stated before, it's unlikely Whittemore can maintain his 2003 pace and finish with such
huge career numbers.
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1B
The team had two players other than Price in red figures yesterday. Ward shot a 1-under 71 and Krsnich was two strokes under par with a 70.
Oh, but there's one more thing.
All these other guys on the career lists accumulated their numbers in at least three years.
Seurer and Donohoe played four years. Whittemore's career will last only two.
cuss Whittemore's legacy after the season. But it's important that Kansas fans understand now what they have in Whittemore, while they still have a chance to watch him work. He's building a case as the greatest quarterback in Kansas history, and he should earn his rightful recognition as a legend of Jiahawk football.
GOLF: Kansas overcomes competition
It would be more fitting to dis-
So, if Whittemore had played at Kansas four years ... well, use your imagination, then wipe away your dool.
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1B
"We have so much individual talent on this team," Price said. "Last week we didn't show it, but we got it together this week."
Berlin is a Leawood senior in journalism
The team easily defeated two Big 12 Conference foes, Iowa State and Nebraska this week. Docking said it was still tough to tell how the Jayhawks would stack up against the entire conference.
Freshman Gary Woodland, who played as an individual in the tournament, finished in a surprising tie for eighth place at even par.
Randall said Woodland would be participating in the team's next tournament at Pepperdine, Oct. 6 to 7.
"It's a great feeling, the win has gotten our hopes up for our next three tournaments," Docking said.
Edited by Dave Nobles
LITTRELL: Assistant coach learned from mentors
Now, Littrell spends his time during the week in his spacious but sparse office in the Wagnon Student Athlete Center. He aides in the recruiting process and analyzes game film of the opponent to help the Jayhawks prepare for battle each Saturday.
it takes to win."
"Coach Stoops and coach Mangino are very similar," Littrell said. "They're both going to go work their but off everyday on the field, and they're going to instill that confidence in you that
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1B
Littrell wants to become a head coach one day, but as he climbs the ranks, he remembers the pieces he has picked up from both Stoops and Mangino.
Littrell also learned from his mentors that football was about more than what took place on the field each Saturday. He said learning how to relate to the players and teach them that football wasn't everything was just as important as coaching the fundamentals of the game.
Littrell learned that lesson from Stoops and Mangino, and they learned it from their former boss at Kansas State, coach Bill Snuder, he said.
Even though the University of Oklahoma provided Littrell with memories, opportunities and successes he will cherish forever, he said he rarely thinks back to those times. Littrell's main focus now is on helping a once-dormant Kansas program in its rebuilding process.
In fact, he said he would love nothing more than to beat the Sooners when Kansas travels to Norman next fall. For wins over top-tiered teams like that to come though, the Jayhawks must learn the hard way, like Littrell's Oklahoma teams did.
"We worked hard at Oklahoma, but these kids work every bit as hard as we did," Littrell said. "I'll never forget my junior year in college, coach Stoops' first year there. We went down to Notre Dame and we were up 14 at halftime, and at Texas we were up 21, and ended up losing those two games. It's a matter of learning how to get that killer instinct."
As much as coach Mark Mangino would love to keep Littrell with him for the rest of his career at Kansas, his former student's drive and ambition to build a program from the ground up may be too great to keep him bottled up at Kansas for too long.
"It was a bad time at Oklahoma before Stoops and them got there,"Littrell said."They did a great job of restoring tradition there, that's what we're doing here, and that's what I want to take away from here.I don't want to sit in an office all day.I want something challenging.It's about the competition,and if you're not a great competitor,you shouldn't be in this business."
FEUD: Players from outside the state learn about the Border War
Those players who came from Kansas as well as Missouri and have a sense of the rivalry's storied history have been filling in the details to their out-of-state teammates. One of those who is learning about the rivalry is junior safety Tony Stubbs, who came to Kansas all the way from Lake Worth, Fla.
Stubbs said he learned about the conflict between Missouri and Kansas dating back to the Civil War.
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Along with players who did not grow up near the Border War, players who are new to the team this season are getting a sense of what Missouri is all about from the veterans.
"That's kind of messed up, so that's one reason why we've definitely got to get after them," Stubbs said.
"They've told me just going to Columbia, and how their fans treat them is real bad," Gordon said. "The fans throwing things at the band. I've never seen that before. We don't want them to be able to celebrate after Saturday."
Edited by Katie Bean
A plus for the Jayhawks is that this season's annual meeting with the Tigers is in Lawrence, where Kansas has an all-time record against Missouri of 24-16-3.
Everyone on the team acknowledges that it feels good to be both recognized and commended on campus and around town for their winning record, but things at Memorial Stadium will not get out of hand should the Jayhawks win, compared to what happened last October.
"I don't know why they tore it down, like we won the Big 12 championship or something." Stubbs said. "We're going to go in there with class, and if we win, we're not going to tear down the goalposts or nothing like that. We're just going to go in, get a victory, and leave."
Kansas Football Notes
Kansas coach Mark Mangino yesterday announced the players of the game from Saturday's victory against Jacksonville State. The defensive player of the game was junior safety Tony Stubbs, who recorded four tackles and one interception. The offensive honors went to freshman offensive lineman Bob Whitaker and senior quarterback Bill Whitte-
Here is what some of Kansas' players from out of state have learned about the history of the Kansas-Missouri rivalry from their teammates.
Junior safety Tony Stubbs (Lake Worth, Fla.)
About border tensions since the Civil War: "That's kind of messed up, so
that's one reason why we've definitely got to get after them."
Freshman wide receiver Charles Gordon (Carson, Calif.)
"They've told me just going to Columbia, and how their fans treat them is
real bad. The fans throwing things at the band. I've never seen that before."
Senior defensive end David McMillan (Killeen, Tex.)
"They've told me the history about Missouri as a slave state, you know that story, I
haven't had a quiz on it."
more. Whitaker was key in opening up gaps for Kansas to rush for 258 yards. Whittemore completed 19-of-32 passes for 319 yards and two touchdowns. On special teams, honors went to freshman John Cornish for bone-jarring hits on kickoff and punt returns.
Edited by Michael Owells