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TUESDAY, OCTOBER 6,2009
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PAGE 10A
CONFERENCE PLAY AHEAD
Big dangers in the Big 12
Graphic by Nick Gerik/KANSAN
KANSAN FILE PHOTO
Senior running back Jake Sharp runs a guantet of Iowa State defenders during last year's Big 12 opener in Ames, Kansas narrowly escaped the game with a victory after it fell behind 20-0 at halftime.
Jayhawks get ready for upcoming tests against familiar foes
jjenks@kansan.com
BY JAYSON JENKS
jionks@konson.com
Follow Jayson
Jenks at twitter
com/JaysonJenks
The callous reality of conference play unfolded at one of the Big 12's smaller stages, far from the tradition, packed crowds and winning-seasons of programs such as Oklahoma and Nebraska.
On a windy Saturday afternoon last year, Kansas traveled to Ames, Iowa to face a flailing Iowa State team that would finish last season submerged in the Big 12. The Jayhawks expected to handle the Cyclones. Instead, they were punched in the mouth.
Kansas fell behind 20-0 at halftime, escaping
"There's always that mentality that people are gunning for you."
with a razer-thin victory thanks to the third-largest comeback in school history, winning 35-33.
TYLER LAWRENCE Former quarterback
More than a lackadaisical pregame attitude, last season's game against Iowa State shows the sharp teeth of a conference whose bottom teams can easily clamp down on any Saturday.
"The message to our players is
this. You can't take anybody lightly. You can't just show up when you're playing in the Big 12", coach Mark Mangino said. "Any team can beat anybody and I think we learned a valuable lesson in Ames last year."
With Kansas' non-conference games in the rearview mirror, the grind of Big 12 play sits on the horizon. The conference currently has six teams ranked in the top 25, which ties the SEC for most ranked teams in a conference.
And it's that depth that wears on teams during the eight-game conference season.
Two years ago, an unranked Colorado team shocked perennial Big 12 contender Oklahoma, and Kansas State defeated
Texas in 2006 and 2007.
"Since KU has really become a good program, everyone wants to come watch you play and everyone wants to see an upset," former quarterback Tyler Lawrence said. "There's always that mentality that people are gunning for you. It changes everything. You're going to get every team's best shot every week."
Added former running back Jon Cornish: "It's serious business in conference play. You can't mess around anymore."
From British Columbia, Canada Cornish watched during his youth as the Big 12 routinely placed teams in national championships and major bowl games.
With that in mind — and with the desire to play in front of capacity crowds — Cornish decided to join the jayhawks and test his hand in the Big 12.
Cornish, who currently plays in the Canadian Football League, said the Big 12's total package — from top-level coaches and athletes to
intense fans — created a unique playing situation few, even in major college sports, get to experience.
"It's the greatest thing and it's the reason why I wanted to play in the Big 12," Cornish said. "I wanted to play in the big leagues. For me, for people in Canada that watch college football, that's what the Big 12 was."
With the added exposure comes added pressures. Look at Oklahoma, a preseason favorite to appear in the national championship game that now is all but eliminated from the title race entering conference play.
In Division I football, there's little margin for error, regardless of the opponent. That margin hips even
more once the Big 12 season rolls around.
"With my time there, I had a nice, easy preseason schedule and I didn't really get too worked up," Cornish said. "But the Big 12 has some big boys. It's difficult to really stay at 100 percent the entire season. You're having big people that are just as fast as you continuously hitting as hard as they can."
Sure, the athletes are physically more gifted and simply better football players in conferences such as the Big 12. After all, the stars of Northern Colorado and UTEP
SEE BIG 12 ON PAGE 8A
INTRAMURALS
Flag football players to play for championship
BY PAT ELAND peland@kansan.com
The flag football playoff brackets were set in a team captains meeting Wednesday. Captains from the 115 teams in five联赛 met with intramurals coordinator Matt Beck, who went over the structure of the playoffs and selected seeds for the brackets. Beck said that the teams were seeded based on the records from their three regular season games. Because many teams had the same records, Beck also factored in sportsmanship ratings, which are points subtracted by referees for fouls and penalties during games.
Kansas intramural flag, football players will finish their season with something that Mark Mangino's student athletes won't - plavioffs.
Each league is separated into its own bracket for the playoffs. The games will be played in a single-elimination format and will end with the league championships at Memorial Stadium on a date to be determined.
Follow Pat Eland
at twitter.com/
peland_udk.
Wichita junior James Kellerman said the format of the playoffs made
the atmosphere more competitive than the regular season.
Intramural playoffs also hold a special significance for fraternities and sororities, which compete for points toward a Greek championship.
"It's a lot more fun," Krenner said. "The intensity is a lot higher and everybody takes it a lot more seriously."
"It's about bragging rights," Salina junior Alex Krajicek said. "The whole house gets into it during the playoffs."
No matter how his season ends, Kraijek said he thought one of the biggest rewards would be the opportunity to play on Kivisto Field at Memorial Stadium.
"You dream about that kind of thing as a kid" Kraicek said.
Edited by Nick Gerik
Kyle Kimura, Overland Park junior, looks to pass in an intramural flag football game Monday. The championship game will be played at Memorial Stadium this year.
COMMENTARY
Dramatic possibilities in store for Big 12 North
Thirteen days between football games is ample time to think about the next team Kansas plays. But it also allows for speculation from people looking at the Big 12 North and those wanting predictions for this collection of bewildering teams.
4
Atter getting blocked out of a victory on Saturday against Kansas State in Arrowhead Stadium, Iowa State comes to Memorial Stadium this Saturday looking for a rebound win and revenge for the comeback victory Kansas stole last year at Iowa State. Iowa State is a team at the bottom of the Big 12 North with a record of 3-2 that has not, and really was not expected to make any waves this season. However, for the three teams that were projected to hold up the little legitimacy that the Big 12 North still has, the next weeks will prove how the conference will stack up nationally.
Ultimately, it is nearly impossible to make predictions for this identity lost conference. Kansas has steadily climbed national rankings, but has yet to play another ranked or nationally respected team. Nebraska played a nationally ranked team and proved that it could actually compete. Missouri, on the other hand, has impressed the nation with its young players, yet has played a schedule similar to Kansas in that none of its opponents will be talked about come December.
Nebraska and Kansas look like they should both be sitting pretty with only two losses going into the last week of the season, both most likely losing to Oklahoma, but with Nebraska falling to Kansas in Lawrence Nov. 14. Kansas' other likely loss to Texas would still have them competing for the Big 12 title, once again most likely against Texas, because Missouri seems to have the toughest schedule and could end the season with its third loss coming at Arrowhead Stadium against the Jayhawks.
This bye week has given all the anxious fans out there a few too many days to look into the future. Although beneficial for the team, as any good coach would say, we must all just go one week at a time. Because in this conference, that's all a fan can do.
For Nebraska, Missouri and Kansas, Big 12 conference play is starting on several different pitches of confidence. Nebraska, probably the biggest competition for Kansas in the North, has suffered only one loss to the very talented Virginia Tech Hokies in which it only lost 16-15. This week Nebraska plays the undefeated Missouri Tigers in Columbia, Mo. and the loser of this game could be out of competition for the Big 12 North title by Sunday
The ever-improving Nebraska defense should allow them to handle Missouri and stay on top of the standings for another couple of weeks because after Missouri they play Texas Tech, Iowa State, and Baylor. They would be on top of the Big 12 rankings with Kansas, who shouldn't be challenged until the Oklahoma game on Oct. 24.
Edited by Abby Okese
Follow Nicolas
Roesler at twitter
com/nroserle8
!