THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
TUESDAY OCTOBER 27, 2008
SPORTS
9A
QUOTE OF THE DAY
"Now on Monday it says bad stuff, serious storms. Well, you're going to be dead in a hundred years anyway. Live dangerously."
-Mike Leach, Texas Tech football coach,
delivering a local weather forecast
FACT OF THE DAY
Kansas Athletics
Kansas is 1-10 all-time against Texas Tech, including 1-4 in Lubbock, Texas.
Q: When was the last time Kansas defeated Texas Tech?
A: 2001 in a 34-31 double overtime victory at Lubbock
TRIVIA OF THE DAY
BIG 12 FOOTBALL
Pinkel claims Gabbert
will start this week
COLUMBIA, Mo. — Missouri coach Gary Pinkel says quarterback Blaine Gabbert merely "tweaked" his sprained right ankle Saturday and will start this week at Colorado.
Gabbert suffered the sprain Oct. 8 and was wearing a walking cast Monday. On Saturday, he was helped off the field after being sacked in the third quarter of a 41-7 loss to Texas
Pinkel says Gabbert could have returned to the game, but that it seemed like a good time to pull him.
Missouri (4-3, 0-3 Big 12) will be without starting middle linebacker Luke Lambert for Saturday's game at Colorado (2-5, 1-2). Lambert separated his shoulder against Texas, and the Tigers were waiting for results of an MRI to determine if he'll need season-ending surgery.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL Injured Demps expected to play against Georgia
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Florida running back Jeff Demps is wearing a neck brace, but coach Urban Meyer expects him to play Saturday against Georgia.
Demps, second on the team with 457 yards rushing and five touchdowns this season, injured his neck during a tackle in Saturday's 29-19 win at Mississippi State. Demps ran five times for 13 yards against the Bulldogs.
Meyer says Demps won't have any contact in practice for at least a couple of days. But the coach believes he will be ready when the top-ranked Gators face the Bulldogs in Jacksonville.
Denver takes bye-week break, ready for return
ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Broncos coach Josh McDaniels took his kids to the zoo, while rookie Robert Ayers made a quick journey back to South Carolina to visit his mom and squeeze in some bowling.
NFL
Linebacker Andra Davis kept things simple, hanging out at his house with his family and watching a glut of football.
All made for fine distractions over Denver's brief bye-week break, but now it's back to business.
And business is booming for the Broncos, who remain one of three undefeated teams in the league after Minnesota tumbled in Pittsburgh on Sunday.
NHL
Tucker goes on injured list after concussion
DENVER — The Colorado Avalanche have placed Darcy Tucker on the injured list three days after he suffered a concussion on a check from Carolina's Tuomo Ruutu.
The team announced the move on Monday, when it also recalled forward Chris Duron from the Lake Erie Monsters of the AHL to fill Tucker's place on the roster.
Associated Press
Big 12 North title up in the air
MORNING BREW
before the season began, a lot of jokes were told in which Bill Snider figured
when his anger figured prominently in the punch-line. The only thing saving Iowa State from similar disrespect was the fact that, frankly, no one cared enough to bother.
Now, however impossibly, Kansas State and Iowa State sit one and two, respectively, atop the Big 12 North standings. Even still, conventional wisdom dictates that this anomaly cannot and will not persist.
Bill Snyder couldn't possibly resurrect Kansas State football again, this time in only one year. The Wildcats just aren't talented enough. Sure, they've improved. But the bubble will burst when they head to Norman this week
And Iowa State is, well, Iowa
State. Iowa State does not play
for conference titles; the sun
will rise in the morning; the sky
is blue. All three trees seem
equally self-evident.
So no, the Cyclones and the Wildcats will not figure prominently in the Big 12 North title hunt. It just can't happen.
But if not them, then who?
All possible, certainly if preseason predictions are taken to mean anything. After all, it was supposed to be the layhawks and Cornhuskers battling for dominance in the Big 12's lesser half. Maybe, if Blaine Gabbert performed superlatively and Missouri received a few breaks, the Tigers could sneak in a challenge. But we're well past the point of pretending that anything
Missouri? Kansas? Nebraska?
Even granting that, the beginning of the college football season seemed well in line with how things were supposed to go. Nebraska's offense looked good enough, and its defense appeared dominant. The inverse could have been said of Kansas, owners of an iffy defense and explosive offense. And it even looked as if Missouri might get that superlative play from Gabbert that would enable it to mount a challenge.
said about college football in August has any relevance left
Then conference play began, and things got weird.
Kansas beat Iowa State, which beat Nebraska, which beat Missouri. Kansas State destroyed Texas A&M, which did the same to Texas Tech, which embarrassed Kansas State by 52 points.
And so, using the transitive property of sports, we can clearly see that none of this makes any
sense. Which is precisely why Kansas State and Iowa State could, easily enough, remain on top of the Big 12 North. Not because either team is particularly good, but because none of their competitors are either. With this degree of parity, the old cliche about everyone being capable of beating everyone else actually rings true. And so the question shouldn't be "Why Kansas State and Iowa State?" but rather, "Why not?"
Edited by Jonathan Hermes
The establishment of an American Airlines direct flight from Dallas/Ft. Worth to Manhattan this August will be beneficial for Kansas State in recruiting, coach Bill Snyder said Monday.
"In the past, it's been difficult to get youngsters in here without a great deal of travel time," Snyder said. "It's a major plus for us. Hope we hang onto it."
There's nobody who's hidden," Snyder said. "There are really no secrets in regards to who's a viable, recruitable young individual."
Snyder also said he had seen lots of changes in general recruiting since his return from retirement. The effect of the Internet and recruiting services started coming into play more. He said he received 300 messages on his BlackBerry every day about potential recruits.
"Everybody is out there.
It also allows coaches to view a player's highlight tape at their own leisure instead of having to wait a couple of weeks for the tape to be delivered.
"Schools have made the offers of thousands of scholarships to these young guys at very,very early ages before they've even gotten to their senior or junior years of high school," Snyder said.
Snyder said he thought that at least half of the colleges in the nation were probably approaching their 25-scholarship limit for next year's recruiting class, a change from the past. The Wildcats are also close to filling their recruiting class.
Texas Tech coach Mike Leach said in Monday's weekly Big 12 teleconference that he hasn't decided who will start at quarterback; junior Steven Sheffield, junior Taylor Potts or freshman Seth Doege.
"I've never been in that
Tech coach undecided on quarterback after loss
position in my life," Snyder said.
It will be a game-time decision based off what each player does in practice this week.
Sheffield has thrown for 12 touchdowns and just two interceptions and hasn't lost a game he has played. He was sidelined with a foot injury in Texas Tech's 52-30 loss to Texas A&M Saturday, but may be ready to return
All three quarterbacks have seen playing time in the last two weeks.
Potts has thrown more than 400 yards three times this season and has also tossed 15 touchdowns, but was yanked from Saturday's loss after tossing two key interceptions. "No More Potts." chants rained down on the field.
for the Red Raiders' game against Kansas.
"I ignore that," Leach said. "I'm going to play whoever I think is the best guy. I guess that's free speech."
Leach put in Doege, who was steady in finishing out the loss. He is likely the long shot to see the field, but Leach has already shown his willingness to stir things up if he finds that necessary.
— Clark Goble
WOMEN'S GOLF Jayhawks competing in South Carolina this week
East Tennessee is in the lead after the first two rounds with a total of 583 strokes.
Two rounds are completed and the Kansas women's golf team is in seventh place going into the final 18 holes of the Palmetto Intercollegiate in Kiawah Island, S.C.
For Powers, this is the second tournament in a row where she has shot a 70 or below and the fourth time in her Kansas career.
The Jayhawks have combined for 601 strokes thus far, but they are ahead of the only other Big 12 team in the tournament. Kansas State, which is sitting in a 10th place tie with 608 strokes.
Grace Thiry, Victoria, Australia, junior, is just five strokes behind Powers for the Kansas lead with
place individually with a great chance to move up. Just one shot ahead is Sinead O'Sullivan from East Tennessee State and in first place is Jessie Holland-sworth from Maryland with a total of 137 strokes.
Emily Powers, Quincy, Ill. senior, got off to a hot start Monday afternoon with a 74 in the morning followed by a 70 in the afternoon for a combined 144 strokes.
Powers is currently in third
a 149, Jennifer Clark, Kansas City, Kan., junior, and Meghan Bal, New Delhi, India, junior, are just one stroke apart at 154 and 155 strokes.
Just behind Bal and Clark is Meghan Gockel, Dallas senior, with a 159.
The third and final round begins on Tuesday morning with a 18 hole shotgun.
— Andrew Wituszyski
MEN'S GOLF
Team hopes to even out its game
BY ANDREW WITUSZYNSKI
awituszynski@kansan.com
When Nate Barbee, Dakota Dunes, S.D., junior, shot a 73 in the first round Monday at the Herb Wimberly Intercollegiate, it wasn't a surprise to anyone. His best score in his career here at Kansas was a 67, so when he shot a 64 in the second round Monday, even he said it was a surprise.
That he did. Barbee chalked up six birdies and an eagle in the second round alone, earning an eight place tie individually. Barbee is sitting at five under par and just three strokes off of the first place lead.
"I struggled in the morning a little, but came out strong in the afternoon." Barbee said.
His score of 64 is tied for the third lowest score since Kansas began competing in Big 12 golf.
"A 64 is tough to shoot on any day, but I would love to come out and shoot something low tomorrow." Barbee said. "Hopefully I can make a run at first place."
for minn place overall. In typical Kansas golf fashion this year, the Jayhawks shot a high score in the morning, a 291, and a low score in the afternoon, a 279.
Kit Grove said. "I was talking about it with Coach Handrigan earlier, and we were trying to figure out why we start off so slow. There were perfect scoring conditions this morning, but we came out flat."
As a team, Kansas is in a tie
Kansas is in a similar position to the one it was in last week, when the Jayhawks were one stroke behind Nebraska and Grove said the team had to beat Nebraska for Big 12 standings. They didn't. This
"We have to play the golf course as always and we can't worry about what other teams are doing."
"I don't know what it is." Coach
KIT GROVE Coach
"We have to play the golf course as always and we can't worry about what other teams are doing," Grove said. "But we really want to beat them tomorrow."
time around, they are in a tie with Nebraska at 570 total strokes.
"You always want to get wins against other teams in the Big 12." Barbee said. "It would be really nice to beat Nebraska."
agreed that it would be a good thing to beat Nebraska.
strokes, all the other Kansas golfers are within two strokes of each other, Chris Gilbert, Simi Valley, Calif., freshman is at 145. Bryan Hackenberg, Denver, Colo., senior is one stroke behind Gilbert with a two round total of 146. Jeff Bell, Wichita, freshman and Alex Gutesha, Greenwood Village, Colo., freshman both totaled 147 strokes.
The Jayhawks can reasonably jump up several spots tomorrow to as high as fourth place tomorrow.
Though Barbee is sitting at 137
"We always seem to play well on holes 4-16." Grove said. "We gotta get engaged tomorrow and play well on the first holes and finish strong on the last holes."
Edited by Abby Olcese
Women's Golf:
Edwin Watts/
Palmetto
Intercollegiate, all
day, Kaiwah
Island, S.C.
TODAY
THIS WEEK IN KANSAS ATHLETICS
Men's Golf:
Herb Wimberly
Intercollegiate, all day,
Las Cruces,
N.M.
Volleyball:
vs. UMKC, 6:30
p.m.
WEDNESDAY
No Events Scheduled
THURSDAY
No Events Scheduled
FRIDAY
Soccer:
vs. Missouri,
3 p.m.
Swimming:
vs. Missouri,
6 p.m.
SATURDAY
Cross Country:
Big 12
Championships,
10 a.m.
Columbia, Mo.
Swimming:
vs. Nebraska-
Omaha, 12 p.m
Volleyball:
vs. Texas A&M,
6:30 p.m.
Football:
at Texas Tech,
2:30 p.m.
SUNDAY
Women's Basketball:
vs. Pittsburg St.
7 p.m.
Women's Rowing:
Frostbite Regatta all day, Wichita
NFL
Rams quarterback to miss remainder of the season
ST. LOUISE — St. Louis Rams rookie cornerback Bradley Fletcher will miss the rest of the season with two torn ligaments in his right knee.
Fletcher, a third-round pick, started for the third straight and was injured in the second half of Sunday's 42-6 loss to the Colts. He'll require a pair of operations and coach Steve Spagnuolo said Monday he might not be ready for the start of next season.
Long snapper Chris Massey also is set for knee surgery that will sideline him the remainder of the season. The team was auditioning potential replacements on Monday.
Offensive guard Richie Incognito will be out this week with a ligament injury to his right foot. Tackle Adam Goldberg is likely to move to Incognito's spot with rookie Jason Smith starting at right tackle.
Associated Press
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