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8A SPORTS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2009
FOOTBALL (CONTINUED FROM 10A)
"We talk about who they've played and whether they won or lost," Stuckey said. "And that's about it. We don't get too much
into who's playing what. I mean, I couldn't tell you anybody's record now"
With the Big 12 season freshly under way, the importance of wins and losses is magnified even more. A loss now
not only affects a team's record, but can also alter a team's chances of capturing a conference title.
"it's going to be a competitive race. I can tell you that."
MARK MANGINO Coach
The layhawks have said all season that's one of their goals, like other teams. With that in mind, Thornton uses opponents' games to track personnel or tendencies
in the same manner as a scout.
"You get to see the things they do, the things they do against other opponents," Thornton said. "You get the overall feel of how they play the
It will also be an
sumably full and chaotic house, Mangino said he'll at least attempt to capture portions of the Missouri-Nebraska game.
game and the different schemes they're going to try and do?"
"I'll watch 20 plays and I'll be like this trying to hear the television." Mangino said, cupping one hand around his ear. "But I'll just wait until I get the copy from the conference. I'll try to watch it. It will be a great game."
important game
"Of course we're going to watch the Missouri-Nebraska game to see what happens."
Today, Mangino will welcome family members visiting from the east. He'll be surrounded by relatives and little nieces and nephews he affectionately referred to as "rugrats."
Before the season, many national pundits seemed split on the winner of the Big 12 North. Some had Kansas, others'had Nebraska. And while nothing has even remotely been decided yet, Missouri has proven early that this could very
DAYMOND PATTerson
Sophomore cornerback
Even with what will be a pre-
well be a three-team race.
But as Mangino and his players have uttered before, none of that, at least outwardly, matters to the lavhawks.
"I'm not looking at the big picture of the race right
now," Mangino said. "The way we handle things is we have to take care of the business at hand. A by-product of having a great season in the North for us is paying attention to each opponent as they come."
Edited by Jonathan Hermes
VOLLEYBALL (CONTINUED FROM 10A)
early in the second set, but Kansas scored four in a row and took the lead at 15-14.
Nebraska regrouped taking the lead right back and held it to the end as Kansas lost the set 20-25.
Nebraska used a 7-1 run to take an early lead, but Kansas scored five points in a row itself and tied the set up 11-11.
Kansas then took its biggest lead
of the match at 18-15, but Nebraska came back with three points in a row and ultimately Kansas lost the set 21-25.
Kansas will return to the court at home at 6:30 p.m. this Saturday to face No. 14 Iowa State.
Edited by Tim Burgess
FOOTBALL
Bye week allows for football via couch
BY CLARK GOBLE
cgoble@kansan.com
With no game last Saturday, senior wide receiver Kerry Meier had an opportunity to get away from football for at least a few days. He went home to Pittsburg, to hang out with his brother Dylan.
However, he still ended up watching the game he plays nearly every other day of the season.
"I try to get away from it, but it seems I found the controller in my hand turning football games on," Meier said. "It's just something you don't get away from."
Even though they spend the majority of their time on the field; players spent their break still
Follow Ransan writer Clark Goble at twitter. com/cgoble89.
focused on the game. The difference: watching playmakers from a couch instead of the sidelines.
Junior linebacker Justin Springer watched a lot of games Saturday, including Notre Dame vs. Washington, Oklahoma vs. Miami (Fla.) and UTEP vs. Houston. Justin's brother Jeremy 'plays for UTEP.
However, Springer said that the light weekend was a good reward for the team's hard work in practice. He said the team had "tough"
practices last week with a lot of conditioning, but it wasn't all bad.
"We made a lot of progress in all areas," Springer said.
Springer and Meier said while that the bye week was nice, it's not what they love to do.
"I enjoy a little time home," Springer said. "But at the same time, you need to get back on the field and start the Big 12 off."
Sophomore cornerback Daymond Patterson had a similar day to Meier and Springer.
"I just took advantage of my Saturday, sat back, watched the games and enjoyed myself," Patterson said.
But the question arises: are these Division I student athletes still able to watch the game as fans.
or do they find themselves analyzing every single snap?
"It's coming to a conclusion that I'm not just watching for the fun of it," Meier said. "It's more figuring out what the defense is doing and what coverages they are playing."
But for senior safety Darrrell Stuckey, the television angles don't allow anyone to analyze too much. He likes to watch other team's games just for fun.
"But you're naturally going to analyze stuff and do different things," Stuckey said.
"At the same time, you want to minimize that."
MLB
— Edited by Alicia Banister
Kemp's homer helps Dodgers lead
Los Angeles Dodgers' Ronnie Bellard misses a flyball by St. Louis Cardinal's Ryan Ludwick in the first inning of Game 1 of the National League division baseball series in Los Angeles, Wednesday.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
LOS ANGELES — Matt Kemp hit a two-run homer off Chris Carpenter and middle reliever Jeff Weaver escaped a bases-loaded jam, helping the Los Angeles Dodgers take a 5-2 lead over the St. Louis Cardinals through six innings Wednesday night in Game 1 of their NL playoff opener.
Dodgers starter Randy Wolf, pitching in the playoffs for the first time in his 11-year career and facing a lineup that batted .234 against lefties this year, lasted only 3 2-3 innings after his teammates staked him to a 3-1 lead.
ASSOCIATED PRESS National
Skip Schumaker hit an RBI double in the fourth that trimmed the Dodgers lead to 3-2. After Wolf hit Matt Holliday with a pitch to load the bases, manager Joe Torre made a change.
Weaver relieved and Ryan Ludwick pulled a drive into the right-field corner that barely landed foul. Ludwick then hit a bouncer back to Weaver, who threw to first
to end the inning $ \alpha $
Carpenter, the NL ERA leader while going 17-4. went five innings and allowed four runs and nine hits. He escaped a bases-loaded situation in the fourth when he got Casey Blake to line out to right field.
Rafael Furcal extended Los Angeles' lead to 4-2 in the fifth
Los Angeles loaded the bases again, in the sixth, and Kyle McClellan hit Russell Martin in the ribs to force in Andre Ethier with the Dodgers' fifth run. Pinch-hitter Jim Thome struck out with the bases loaded, ending the inning.
The Dodgers and Cardinals combined to strand 23 runners
over the first six innings, setting a division series record.
St. Louis loaded the bases with no outs in the first. But Wolf managed to allow only one run, and Kemp quickly put Los Angeles ahead.
The Dodgers needed only three pitches, in fact, to take the lead. Furcal led off with a single and Kemp drove Carpenter's next offering to right center for his first career postseason homer.
Carpenter allowed a pair of two-out singles before striking out Ronnie Belliard. The Cardinals ace was 2-0 against the NL. West champions this season.
St. Louis went 5-2 against the Dodgers this season and outscored them 31-19. The Cardinals were back in the playoffs for the first time since winning the 2006 World Series.
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