JAYHAWK
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Football
Inside Sports today
The Kansas volleyball team lost its 17th consecutive match during the weekend.
SEE PAGE 4B
Saturday's game - Kansas vs. Texas Tech
KANSAS
4-2, 2-1
UNRANKED
7
WWW.KANSAN.COM/FOOTBALL
TEXAS TECH 17
3-2,2-0
UNRANKED
SECTION B, PAGE
Monday, OCTOBER 13, 1997
Kansas running back Eric Vann sadly reflects over the last few hours of the Kansas and Texas Tech game, Saturday night. The Jayhawks only had 11 yards rushing in the entire game, which led to the 17-7 loss to the Red Raiders. Photo by Pam Dishman/KANSAN
Another sad day for the Kansas offense
By Kelly Cannon
By Kelly Cannon kcannon@kansan.com
Kansan sportswriter
LUBBOCK, Texas — The road remained the same for the Kansas football team — rocky.
Kansas lost its second game on the road 17-7 to Texas Tech on Saturday. The Jayhawks lost 34-7 to the University of Cincinnati on Sept. 20. Those two road losses account for both of Kansas' defeats this season.
Offensive problems continued to plague the Jayhawks. Kansas gained only 140 offensive yards, while the Red Raiders gained 365. Kansas quarterback Zac Wegner, starting his first game for the Jayhawks, passed for 129 yards and one interception.
"We're not real good there, and we just keep banging at it," Kansas
football coach Terry Allen said of his offense. "Zac did OK. But if you can't rush the football, they're going to tee off and come after us as they demonstrated."
The Jayhawks gained only 11 yards rushing against the Red Raiders. Kansas has rushed for less than 11 yards in one other game — you guessed it, against Cincinnati. The Jayhawks lost 46 yards on the ground in their loss to the Bearcats.
Allen said he wasn't shocked by anything Texas Tech did defensively.
"I don't know if I was surprised," Allen said. "I was disappointed in our inability."
Kansas' defense let its guard down in the first half, and the halftime statistics reflected that. Texas Tech tailback Ricky Williams rushed for 179 yards against Kansas —122 in the first half —
for his first 100-yard rushing game. Despite Texas Tech's offensive dominance, Allen said Kansas was never out of the game.
"Can you believe, as much as we were manhandled, we probably had a legitimate shot to win that football game?" Allen said. "So that gives you enough reasons to hope."
The Jayhawks' only points came from a 64-yard interception return by cornerback Jamie Harris in the fourth quarter. In Kansas' other loss, its only points also came from the defense.
Right guard Justin Glasgow said Kansas' offense had improved but was still missing blocks.
"We probably got better in some areas, but we didn't key in on some areas that we should have." Glasgow said. "We just have to get back to the basics. We weren't picking up stuff.
Wegner said Kansas' offense had had some bright moments, but it wasn't enough to win the game.
We just have to simplify things so we can be more understanding of the defense."
"We were able to throw the ball, and we had some big plays," he said. "It was just a frustrating game."
Outside linebacker Ron Warner, who set a new Kansas single-season sack record of 10.5, said the Jayhawks would have to be supportive of the fledgling offense.
Kansas will face Colorado at 6 p.m.
Saturday in Boulder, Colo.
"Our offense — we just have to rally around them, get them up because they're down right now," Warner said. "They've lost two on the road, so we have to come together as a team."
AP Top 25
The Top Twenty Five teams in The Associated Press college football poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, records, total points based on 25 points for a first place vote through one point for a 25th place vote:
rank team rec pts pvs
1. Penn St. (51) 5-0 1,724 2
2. Nebraska(14) 5-0 1,668 3
3. Florida St. (3) 5-0 1,603 4
4. N. Carolina (2) 5-0 1,521 5
5. Michigan 5-0 1,490 6
6. Auburn 5-0 1,366 8
7. Florida 5-1 1,280 1
8. LSU 5-1 1,199 14
9. Tennessee 4-1 1,172 9
10. Washington 4-1 1,121 10
11. Ohio State 4-1 1,113 7
12. Michigan State 5-0 1,058 11
13. Washington St. 5-0 1,958 12
14.Texas A&M 5-0 827 15
15. Iowa 4-1 703 17
16.Oklahoma St 6-0 665 20
17.UCLA 4-2 637 18
18.Air Force 4-2 516 19
19.Georgia 4-1 446 22
20.Kansas State 4-1 388 22
21.Georgia Tech 4-1 281 25
22.Virginia Tech 5-1 274 23
23.West Virginia 5-1 182 23
24.Wisconsin 6-1 182 —
25.Stanford 6-1 119 16
ESPN/USA TODAY POLL
The Top 25 teams in the college football poll, with firstplace votes in parentheses, records, total points based on 25 points for a first place vote through one point for a 25th place vote:
rank team rec pts pvs
1. Penn St. (51) 5-0 1,724 2
2. Nebraska(14) 5-0 1,668 3
3. Florida St. (3) 5-0 1,603 4
4. N. Carolina (2) 6-0 1,521 5
5. Michigan 5-0 1,490 6
6. Florida 5-1 1,366 1
7. Auburn 6-0 1,280 8
8. Washington 4-1 1,199 9
9. Tennessee 4-1 1,172
10.LSU 5-1 1,121 14
11.Michigan State 5-1 1,113 11
12. Ohio State 5-1 1,058 7
13.Washington St. 5-0 958 12
14.Texas A&M 5-0 827 13
15.lowa 4-1 703 16
16.Oklahoma St 6-0 665 20
17.Air Force 7-0 637 18
18.UCLA 4-2 516 19
19.Virginia Tech 5-1 446 20
20.Kansas State 4-1 388 23
21.Georgia 4-1 281 15
22.West Virginia 5-1 274 24
23.Stanford 4-1 182 17
24.Wisconsin 6-1 182 —
25.Georgia 4-1 119 —
'Hawks look for success on both sides of the ball
By Kelly Cannon
Kansan sportswriter
LUBBOCK, Texas — The Kansas defense has been winning football games this season.
Warner: new record holder
But Kansas' six quarterback sacks,
record of 10. That record was set in 1991 by Dana Stubblefield, now playing on the defensive line for the San Fran-
quarterback sacks, an interception that resulted in a 64-yard touchdown run and a new Kansas single-season sack record weren't enough for the Jayhawks, who lost 17-7 against Texas Tech. Outside linebacker Ron Warner entered Saturday's game 3.5 quarterback sacks shy of tying Kansas' single-season
Stubblefield: old record holder
cisco 49ers.
Warner didn't just tie the record against Texas Tech, he set a new one with his four sacks in the game.
"I would rather have gotten the win instead, but I feel real good about it," Warner said. "My team rallied around me, gave me some
open holes, and I got back there. But I could have had about seven sacks."
"Hopefully we can keep him healthy because he'll get a lot more," Kansas football coach Terry Allen said.
Warner has 10.5 sacks in six games this season. He is on pace to record 19 sacks by the end of the year.
"In the first half, we really didn't play good defense," Allen said. "We gave up 250 yards in one half, and you can't do that. When we settled down and made our adjustments, I thought we played an outstanding defensive football game."
Defensively, the Jayhawks struggled in the first half, Allen said. Kansas allowed 249 offensive yards by halftime.
Kansas' only points of the game came in the fourth quarter, when Jamie Harris intercepted a Texas Tech pass. He returned it 64 yards and scored a touchdown.
"It's obviously a very frustrating loss because of the things we lack offensively," Allen said. "We just didn't have enough offensively to give that defense a chance."
While the defense didn't play too bad, Allen said the offense just struggled.
"We need to get back together as a defense and go over the offensive scheme of Colorado," he said. "As Coach Allen has stressed, we've got to do it."
Warner said the Jayhawk defense would regroup and begin focusing its energy on Colorado.
Field house turns pro for big NBA game
By Kristie Blasi
And when those teams are the defending world champion Chicago Bulls and Seattle SuperSonics the fundamentals of having a game on campus change dramatically.
kblasi@kansan.com
When basketball players not wearing Jayhawk uniforms play on the Allen Field House court, the game is bound to be different from a Kansas game.
The simplest aspects of the game were different.
A regulation Spalding NBA ball was used in the Bulls' 101-92 victory Saturday instead of the NCAA model. Hashmarks, a wider free-throw lane and a farther three-point line were added to the floor.
Darren Cook, facilities director, said the Bulls sent him the floor specifications and the adjustments were not difficult.
John Paxson, SportsChannel broadcaster and former Bull, said the preparations made the transition to Allen Field House easy.
"It's a great place where basketball should be played," he said. "It differs from the NBA arenas because they all are set up for other events, too. It's fun for the players to get back to the college atmosphere."
Sports information director Dean Buchan accepted media credential requests and gave them to the Bulls for consideration.
"It's not your typical KU game," he said. "The Bulls are the home team, and we have dealt with their media-relations people, and everything has been first-class and well organized."
Buchan said the Bulls decided when and how to sell the 16,300 tickets, which sold out in just more than 24 hours this summer. Kansas increased the number of security personnel and police officers by 20 percent.
"We've had few seating problems," Cook said. "All of the seats were reserved, and we're used to a large percentage of regular, open seating. It forced people to sit on the numbers."
Lynette Valencia, Lawrence graduate student, sang the national anthem, as she often does at Kansas basketball games.
"I was really nervous for this one — mainly because it was a cappella," she said. "I was afraid that without the band I wouldn't find my pitch or would forget the words. And if I messed up, then everyone would know — Michael Jordan would know. But it was fun, and I got good seats."
Chicago Bulls guard Michael Jordan drives by Sonics guard Hersey Hawkins in Allen Field House. Jordan played 27 minutes and scored 23 points Saturday night in the Bulls 101-92 victory. Photo by Steve Puppe/KANSAN