SPORTS
THE UNIVERSITY OF JALYA KANSAN
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2009
9A
QUOTE OF THE DAY
"Adversity causes some men to break; others to break records."
William A. Ward
FACT OF THE DAY
NCAA.ora
Just two volleyball head coaches have 1,000 career NCAA victories.
Q: What has been the volleyball's best finish under Bechard?
TRIVIA OF THE DAY
A: In 2003, the team finished 22-11 for a .667 winning percentage and tied for third in the Big 12 at 13-7.
Kansas Athletics
Texas &M coach Mike Sherman said his team had a great week of practice going into last Saturday's game against Kansas State.
FOOTBALL NOTES Aggies' practices belie their performance
So the 66-14 lashing they took at the hands of the Wildcats was very surprising. He said his opinions of the game didn't change after he watched the tape Sunday.
"We just didn't block and tackle or throw and catch real well," Sherman said in the conference's weekly teleconference Monday.
"The fundamentals of football were not demonstrated on a consistent basis that would allow us an opportunity to win that football name"
Sherman said that they addressed the issue in Monday morning's practice and would address it again later in the afternoon.
"This week is going to be a hard week for them as far as getting them on track," Sherman said.
Sherman also said that the margin of defeat did play a factor in his opinions of the loss.
"The score of the game weighs heavily on them, as it does me, as it does all Aggies," Sherman said.
He also suggested that he would likely make some personnel changes this week, but noted that it wasn't one or two players who caused the Aggie problems.
"All of us had a hand in it," Sherman said.
Clark Goble
BIG 12 FOOTBALL McCoy will play Missouri despite injured thumb
AUSTIN, Texas — Texas quarterback Colt McCoy says he plans to play Saturday against Missouri, despite a bruised right thumb that will likely lose its nail.
McCoy hurt his throwing hand in the second quarter of the 16-13 victory Saturday over No. 25 Oklahoma. He struggled through one of the worst passing games of his career, completing 21 of 40 for 127 yards with one touchdown and one interception
Team trainers checked out the thumb to make sure there wasn't more significant damage.
"It's sore but it's not going to keep me out," McCoy said. "It's football."
McCoy had limited range of movement with the thumb Monday. No. 3 Texas (6-0, 2-0 Big 12) didn't practice, giving him an extra day's rest before he needed to throw again.
Although the nail didn't look discolored, McCoy says he's been told it will fall out.
McCoy had a few passes look wobbly and misfired on others in the second quarter against Oklahoma. The thumb didn't seem to bother him on a third-quarter touchdown pass to Marquise Goodwin.
Associated Press
Silver lining seen in loss to Colorado
MORNING BREW
It's hard to find solace in Kansas' loss to Colorado. The offense stagnated at inopportune times, and the defense remained far too porous. And again, this was against Colorado. Even with three losses and — definitely — a backup quarterback, Oklahoma is still Oklahoma. The rest of Kansas' conference schedule is hardly any easier. By all initial appearances, Saturday's game in Boulder looks to be the type of cloud with no silver lining.
But that's just the game itself. The postgame is a different matter altogether.
After Todd Reesing's lob to Dezmon Briscoe hit the turf and the clock showed all zeroes, Colorado fans poured out of the stands. They swarmed their players, leaping and shouting and celebrating like they had just beaten someone important someone good.
And that's your silver lining. Colorado fans were positively elated to have beaten Kansas. Now stop and think about that for a moment. Really reflect on how utterly ridiculous this
scenario would have seemed just 10 years ago.
Colorado won a national championship in 1990. It has a Heisman trophy winner -- yeah, it's Rashaan Salaam, but it's a big deal nonetheless. It's won the Big 12 North four times, and the conference outright once.
No, Colorado doesn't have the football history of, say, Nebraska or Oklahoma. And granted, Colorado football has fallen pretty far from the heights it once occupied. But the fact is, Colorado football has its fair share of gridiron tradition. It also has a passionate and proud fan base, which is decidedly aware of said tradition. And that fan base thought that Colorado beating Kansas was a field-storming occasion.
and the program in general. Climbing further in the rankings grants increased levels of notoriety, credibility, better television exposure, etc. A win also would have given Kansas sole possession of first place in the Big 12 North — a title currently held by Kansas State, to everyone's surprise.
Sure, a Kansas victory would have been better for the team.
But Kansas didn't win. So, backhanded though it may be, the Jayhawks will have to temporarily settle for the compliment paid them by Colorado fans.
Even in defeat, Kerry Meier found a way to put up his usually gaudy numbers against Colorado. Eleven catches for 103 yards and a score? Yeah, that sounds about normal.
Of course, the numbers Meier is putting up — especially over the last three weeks — are anything but normal. On the year, Meier has 54 catches, 580 yards and six touchdowns. All spectacular.
EAT YOUR HEART OUT,
KERRY MEIER
Freddie Barnes. Barnes, a 6-foot-2, 210-pound senior from Chicago, grabbed 10 balls for 160 yard and three touchdowns last week. Kind of an off day, by his standards. The previous week, Barnes caught 22 passes for 278 yards. His season totals, frankly, look impossible: 85 catches, 882 yards, eight touchdowns.
Unless, of course, you're Bowling Green wide receiver
Impossible, unless you're Riverside-Brookfield High senior Mark McDonagh. McDonagh, eight games into his final high school campaign, has 143 catches (already a single-season high school record), 1,373 yards, and eight touchdowns. But perhaps the most shocking stat of all? He has zero scholarship offers.
Edited by Amanda Thompson
Shark attack
New York Rangers defenseman Marc Staal and teammate Daniel Girardi defend San Jose Sharks' Dany Heatley during the first period of a game Monday in New York. Heatley scored on the play and the Sharks won 7-3.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
BIG 12 FOOTBALL Bradford not playing in game against Kansas
NORMAN, Okla. — Heisman Trophy winner Sam Bradford has been ruled out of No. 25 Oklahoma's game this week at 24th-ranked Kansas, but coach Bob Stoops says any decision that is yet to come
Bradford re-injured his right shoulder on Oklahoma's second possession during a 16-13 loss to No. 3 Texas on Saturday. He had previously been out a month with a sprain of the AC joint in his right, throwing shoulder.
Stoops also says that starting left guard Brian Simmons will be "out for several weeks" with a right knee injury.
Associated Press
THIS WEEK IN KANSAS ATHLETICS
TUESDAY
Men's golf
Bill Ross
Intercollegiate,
all day,
Kansas City
WEDNESDAY
THURSDAY
WEDNESDAY Volleyball at Texas Tech, 6:30 p.m.
Tennis
ITA Regionals,
all day, Norman,
Okla.
FRIDAY
MLB
NFL
Soccer vs. Nebraska, 3 p.m.
Tennis
KU Tournament,
all day
It didn't help matters that Torry Holt was one of the players helping beat them. The Rams released
SATURDAY
Volleyball vs. Missouri time TBA
Swimming Arkansas/
Florida, 2 p.m.
Fayetteville, Ark.
Angels defeat Yankees in 11th-inning thriller
Tennis KU Tournament, all day
Football vs. Oklahoma, 2:30 p.m.
SUNDAY
Soccer vs. Iowa State
ANAHEIM, Calif. — Jeff Mathis hit a two-out double in the 11th inning to drive home the winning run and the Los Angeles Angels survived a thriller for a 5-4 victory
Tennis KU Tournament, all day
Rams lose game in overtime
over the Yankees on Monday,
trimming New York's lead in the
AL championship series to 2-1
BY R.B. FALLSTROM
Associated Press
Howie Kendrick homered, tripled and then singled with two outs in the 11th. Mathis followed with his drive up against the left-field wall, and Kendrick slid home.
ST. LOUIS — The St. Louis Rams got good news on wide receiver Donnie Avery, who underwent an MRI exam on his hip that revealed a bruise. They can't afford to lose any more players at a position that's been thin since training camp.
Avery's injury early in Sundays 23-20 overtime loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars deprived the winless Rams of their only player able to stretch the field. Without him, the running game got shut down, especially in the second half, and the untested wide receivers the Rams had left weren't able to make enough plays.
"Every week is tough," quarterback Marc Bulger said. "I'd be lying to you if I didn't say that this one is a little bit tougher. It'll be even tougher when you watch the film and see the opportunities we left on the field."
The Jaguars eventually wore down the Rams' defense, which protected a slim lead until the fourth quarter. Jacksonville had the ball for 22:45 in the second half, and ran 84 plays to only 53 for St Louis.
Associated Press
"Even though they were fighting their butts off the whole time it's hard to play that many plays and hold up at the end of the game," Spagnuolo said Monday.
That overwhelming advantage in ball control was just enough to saddle the Rams with their 16th straight loss, the longest in the NFL. They almost ended the slump. Almost.
Holt, a seven-time Pro Bowl wide receiver in 10 seasons, in the offseason and he had five catches for 101 yards against his old team while also drawing two pass interference calls against Ron Bartell.
The 100-yard game was Holt's first since Dec. 2, 2007.
The decision to release Holt left the Rams lean at wide receiver entering training camp, with Avery coming off a nice rookie season and others with plenty to prove. Laurent Robinson was the team leader early in the season before a broken leg and ankle injuries landed him on injured reserve after three games.
After Avery was hurt in the first quarter, among Bulger's targets were Tim Carter and Danny Amendola — the former re-signed only last Monday and the latter with the team only three weeks.
"That's absolutely terrible," Holt said. "That's not all my fault. You can't say that all my fault."
hed structure the roster the same way, with emphasis on the defensive line and fewer wide receivers. The Rams have dressed four wideouts all season, and if they have to go without Avery against the unbeaten Colts on Sunday, the coach said the next player on the list would simply have to step up.
Given a do-over, Spagnuolo said
"There are teams that are deeper than others," Bulger said. "We're a young team and ask a lot out of our younger guys."
Spagnuolo refused to second guess his decision to go for a tying field goal with 7 seconds left instead of taking one more shot from the Jacksonville 9, leaning on research from the other NFL teams he's coached for. He had a good feeling about the offense after the tying drive, if only the Rams could win the coin flip.
Bartell called tails, it came up heads and the Rams never got the ball back as the Jaguars drove for the winning field goal.