Sports THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN 14
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First game reveals issues After winning. team is looking to improve.WOMEN'S BASKETBALL|6B
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2009
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CONQUERING THE CRUNCH
Weston White/KANSAN
Senior linebacker Arist Wright forces a fumble on Colorado quarterback Tyler Hansen before being recovered by sophomore nickel back Ryan Murphy. The Javahawks recovered two fumbles against the Buffaloes, converting both for field goals.
Football faces last chance at North title
Despite 3-game losing streak, team could win
BY JAYSON JENKS ijenks@kansan.com
Defensive coordinator Clint Bowen certainly understands the quick-changing nature of college football.
Four weeks ago, after a disappointing performance in a 41-36 victory against Iowa State, Bowen was relegated to answering questions about Kansas' defensive problems. Not much was positive.
But in the last two weeks the
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questions tossed Bowen's way were far more optimistic as Kansas' defense has steadily progressed since the Iowa State game.
If there is one lesson Bowen has fully grazed this season, it's that life in the Big 12 North can change as quickly as the Kansas weather.
"It's kind of proven to be a wacky year in the Big 12," Bowen said. "It's week to week, play to play right now. That's what we tell our kids. There's no time to relax in this conference right now."
He continued with his
explanation of Kansas' current situation before adding this;
"We have to play it like it's the last play of the Super Bowl."
As Kansas prepares to travel to Kansas State this Saturday, the Jayhawks find themselves in a three-way tie for last place in the Big 12 North. Yet with three of their last four games against North opponents, including the first-place Wildcats, the Jayhawks still possess a legitimate chance for the North title.
Still, Mangino and his players ignored that possibility, insisting that the Jayhawks weren't straining to glance that far down the road.
"We can't sit around talking about winning the North," Mangino said. "We have to talk about winning a game."
With Kansas carrying a three-game losing streak into Saturday's game, it's a point well taken.
Kansas rolled through and
Kansas toled won its first four games in the nonconference season before sneaking past Iowa State with a win in the conference opener.
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Then, the offense started committing
turnovers, the defense couldn't quite hold after halftime and suddenly this week's game against K-State presents Kansas with its final chance to capture the North.
A loss to K-State — or to
any Big 12 opponent for that
matter — would end any chance of Kansas playing in the Big 12 championship game on Dec. 5.
"We can still win the North if we take care of business from here on out."
"With what's happened the
KERRY MEIER Wide receiver
last three weeks, to still be able to say that — we can still win the North if we take care of business from here on out — it's definitely something that pushes us," senior wide receiver Kerry Meier said. "It's been our guiding tool and something that has pushed us all summer long, all winter long and all throughout the offseason."
The chaos in the North started early as Colorado knocked off
SEE BIG 12 ON PAGE 3B
SOCCER
Loss to Missouri could end postseason hopes
BY JOEL PETTERSON jpetterson@kansan.com
San Antonio, Texas — Kansas fell to the No. 1 seed Missouri 3-2 in overtime in the Big 12 Quarterfinals Wednesday night, ending the Jayhawks' conference tournament run and most likely their season.
Missouri (13-5-3) put Kansas (12-8-2), the tournament's eighth seed, under pressure early on, but it was sophomore forward Emily Cressy who scored the game's first goal to give the Jayhawks a 1-0 advantage in the 29th minute. The goal gave Cressy 12 on the season, which ties her for second-most in a season by a Jayhawk.
The Big 12 regular season champions earned revenge for a 3-2 loss to the Jayhawks last Friday in Lawrence which ended their unbeaten conference season.
In the second half, Missouri equalized right away in the 47th minute with a volley into the upper part of the net by Jessie Crabtree.
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The Kansas defense withstood constant pressure from Missouri in the second half until the 57th minute. Missouri forward Kristin Andrighetto drilled a near-perfect volley from the 18-yard line into the upper right-hand corner of the net.
But Kansas took the lead right back a minute later when senior forward Kim Boyer headed senior Monica Dolinsky's corner kick into the bottom corner of the net.
For the rest of the half, it was all Kansas could do to fend off Missouri's unrelenting offense. Boyer headed a ball away from her own goal line and freshman goalkeeper Kat Liebetrau blocked a shot into the post to keep Kansas alive.
"The first half was pretty even,
SEE SOCCER ON PAGE 3B
Senior defender Kim Boyer clears the ball off of a goal kick by Missouri Fridav. Kansas lost to Missouri in overtime Wednesday.
COMMENTARY
Laying the blame for football's rough season
The season hasn't been good, and everyone knows it. The harder question to answer is why the season hasn't been good.
Why has Kansas played such underwhelming football thus far, and who is to blame? It is tricky to answer the questions of how and why with any degree of certainty. This makes these questions uncertain.
Perhaps Todd Reesing, injury or no, is to blame. One would expect better play from a third-year starting quarterback—especially as many consider Reesing to be the most productive player in that position in the school's history. But then again, maybe it's too easy to lay the blame at the star quarterback's feet.
Perhaps the buck shouldn't stop until it reaches the desk of Mark Mangino. The head coach has ultimate control, and thus ultimate responsibility. Yet it seems unlikely that he just forgot how to coach. This is the same man, after all, who resurrected the corpse that was Kansas football.
Maybe Reesing and Kansas barely there running game would have performed better were they functioning behind a more experienced offensive line. However, the offense has still enjoyed a certain measure of success this year. This success makes them hard to blame.
So where should the blame lie?
So perhaps we ought to look to the other side of the ball at the secondary or the linebacking corps. There, one will find no shortage of scapegoats. Any member of the secondary not named Darrell Stuckey has moved — either up or down on the depth chart, or into a different position altogether. The linebacking corps is a similar hodgepodge, constructed of players who are either too young, too new to the position or lacking some vital physical trait.
Perhaps the only reasonable conclusions are "who cares?" and "why bother?" What is done is done, after all. No amount of finger pointing or demonizing will lift Kansas past Colorado, Oklahoma, or Texas Tech.
Yet is this the fault of the players? The jumble in the ranks might lead one to blame the assistant coaches. After all, isn't it the job of the coaches to formulate a coherent strategy, and to recruit players with whom that strategy can be successfully executed? If players are constantly jumbled about, how can they be expected to play well?
No, the only real question right now is how Kansas will react to this taste of adversity. Will the team fold? Will the team cap a disappointing three-game stretch with more losses? Or, alternatively, will Kansas rebound and make a push for the Big 12 North Title? Whatever the case may be, the answer to those questions — and thus, the only answer of consequence — will begin to take
— and thus, the only answer of consequence — will begin to take shape this Saturday.
— Edited by Brenna M. T. Daldorph
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