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THE UNIVERSITY DIARY KANSAN MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2009
SPORTS 3B
NFL
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Oakland Raiders running back Daron McFadden beats Kansas City Chiefs defenders for a touchdown during the second half of an NFL football game Sunday.
Raiders struggle early, win late against Chiefs
ASSOCIATED PRESS
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — On one of the most miserable days of his career, JaMarcus Russell got more than a win. He also put his name in the Oakland Raiders history book.
Missing high, low and everywhere in-between, the 2007 NFL draft's No. 1 draft choice completed only 7 of 24 passes for 109 yards. But Russell came into focus when he had to, engineering a 69-yard scoring march in the final 2 minutes for a wildly improbable 13-10 victory over mistake-prone Kansas City.
The Chiefs out-gained the Raiders (1-1) 409-166, while Russell became just the second quarterback since the start of the 1997 season to throw 20 or more
passes, complete less than 30 percent of them but still win.
And it's the first time in the Raiders' 50-year history that they've emerged with a victory after giving up more than 400 vards and gainin
fewer than 200 themselves.
Russell's teammates knew it was a fight from start to finish.
"I felt really good. The ball was just coming out different for me," Russell said. "Other than that, I felt good."
"From the first quarter all the way to the fourth quarter it was a struggle for us, until the last 2 or 3 minutes left in the game," said running back Darren McFadden, whose 5-yard touchdown run around with 1:07 left made the difference.
"It's probably one of the strangest wins. But a win is a win."
Oakland's victory may not have seemed so improbable to coach Todd Haley.
Cassel, making his long-awaited Kansas City debut after being out a month with a knee injury, had given the Chiefs (0-2) the lead with a 29-yard touchdown strike to Dwayne Bowe with 2:38 to go. Cassel wound up throwing for 241 yards.
"When you have nine penalties, two turnovers and a couple other lapses, you're not going
to win most of the time," he said. "We didn't get the result we wanted. We're going to have a smart team here. Nine penalties and a couple of those things don't reflect a smart team. We're going to get back to work because we're going to have a smart team here."
But Tom Cable agreed it was about as strange as they come.
"It's as poor as I think you can play offensively and still find a way at the end there to win a football game," said the Oakland coach.
"Every loss hurts. This loss kills you."
While Cassel clearly outplayed his Oakland counterpart, he did make one mistake that Russell did not. Russell avoided interceptions while two of Cassel's passes wound up in the arms of Oakland defensive back Michael
Huff.
BRANDON FLOWERS Chiefs cornerback
"We had things that happened throughout the day that we hurt ourselves with, whether it was offense or defense or special teams," Cassel said. "The Raiders did a good job and made the plays when it counted. Therefore, they're going home with the victory."
"I knew that we left plays out there on previous drives before, so we had to come up with something," Russell said.
Russell hit Louis Murphy for 19 yards and connected with Todd Watkins for 28 on the nine-play touchdown drive. McFadden took a pitch and sped untouched around the right side of the Chiefs defense.
Brandon Flowers, the Chiefs' No.1 cornerback, returned after being out almost a month with a shoulder injury. But he was guilty of one of the many mistakes by Kansas City when late in the first half he let an interception sail right through his hands.
With nothing but open field in front of him, Flowers would probably have waltzed into the end zone.
"Every loss hurts. This loss kills you," he said.
BY HALLIE MANN
hmann@kansan.com
TEXAS 34,
TEXAS TECH 24
The Cornhuskers (2-1) scored all their points on field goals by kicker Alex Henery, who had a career-high five field goals in the loss to the Hokies. Running back Roy Helu Jr. and quarterback Zac Lee fell short, as Helu ran for 169 yards and Lee completed only 11 of 30 passing attempts. Nebraska was leading until Virginia Tech (2-1) scored a touchdown with 21 seconds left in the game.
NEBRASKA 15,
VIRGINIA TECH 16
Nebraska falls, Texas vindicated
BIG 12 ROUND-UP
It all came down to the fourth quarter for Texas (3-0) and Texas Tech (2-1) in the Big 12's first intraconference game of the season. Texas sealed its victory against Tech when Texas quarterback Colt McCoy threw a touchdown pass to Dan Buckner, putting Texas up by two touchdowns. Texas Tech answered back when quarterback Taylor Potts threw a 22-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Tramain Swindall to bring the score to 24-31. The Texas defense preserved its offense's lead as it forced two Texas Tech fumbles in the fourth quarter.
Missouri's quarterback Blaine Gabbert threw for three touchdowns and ran for another in Missouri's victory against Furman (2-1) on Saturday. Gabbert completed 17 of 25 passes for 256 yards in the game. Missouri (3-0) scored six consecutive touchdowns, including one interception return for a touchdown by Jacquies Smith who ran for 43 yards.
MISSOURI 52
FURMAN 12
Follow Kansan writer Hallie Mann at twitter.com/ halliemann11.
COLORADO 24,
WYOMING 0
Iowa State quarterback Austen Arnaud showed a vast improvement compared with last week's performance, where he threw four interceptions and was taken out of the game. Arnaud ran for two touchdowns and threw for another. Iowa State (2-1) managed two touchdowns in just over two minutes during the first quarter and didn't let up from there. Iowa State running back Alexander Robinson ran in a 15-yard touchdown and rushed for 143 yards in his fifth career 100-yard rushing game.
KANSAS STATE 9,
UCLA 23
After hearing criticism from fans and media for two weeks, Colorado (1-2) silenced its critics with a shutout of Wyoming. Quarterback Cody Hawkins completed 17 of 31 passes for 175 yards but no touchdowns. Running back Rodney Stewart returned after a hamstring injury and scored two touchdowns on 127 yards rushing. The Cowboys helped Colorado to victory when they missed a 37-yard field goal and failed to convert on a fake punt.
OKLAHOMA 45, TULSA 0
TEXAS A&M 38,
UTAH STATE 30
Zac Robinson's two touchdown passes and his one rushing touchdown kept the Oklahoma State Cowboys (2-1) from falling to the Rice Owls (0-3) this week. Robinson didn't have the most impressive performance of his career, but his 227 yards on 14 of 20 passes were enough to win. Robinson threw two touchdown passes to wide receiver Dez Bryant, who had 161 yards on nine catches. Oklahoma State played this week without its star running back, Kendall Hunter, who was out with a sprained right ankle.
OKLAHOMA STATE 41,
RICE 24
IOWA STATE 34
KENT STATE 14
fibula. Texas A&M quarterback Jerrod Johnson threw for 322 yards and four touchdown passes.
After a victory against Wake Forest and a week off, Baylor (1-1) fell at home to Connecticut (2-1) this week. Connecticut's run game was too hard for Baylor to stop as the Huskies rushed for 235 yards. The Bears gave up two fumbles that led to touchdowns for the Huskies. Baylor quarterback Robert Griffin led a futile 78-yard drive that ended in a two-point conversion, bringing the Bears within eight points, but it wasn't enough to stop Connecticut from winning.
Kansas State (1-2) couldn't stop the UCLA Bruins (3-0) on Saturday, and the Wildcats lost for the second straight week. Kansas State lost on the road last week to Louisiana Lafayette. Wildcat quarterback Carson Coffman passed for 192 yards but was intercepted two times and sacked six times. With only one field goal in the first half, the Wildcats kicked only one field goal in the first half but moved 80 yards in 14 plays from their first possession of the third quarter, scoring on a seven-yard run by Daniel Thomas. Thomas' run was the only Wildcat touchdown of the game.
Stand-in quarterback Landry Jones and wide receiver Ryan Broyles combined for the second straight week to lead Oklahoma (2-1) to a victory against Tulsa (2-1). Jones threw for 336 yards, six touchdown passes and two interceptions, one of which bounced off the top of Broyles' hands. Broyles had 11 catches for 128 yards and three touchdowns. Jones and Broyles may not combine for another three touchdowns if injured Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford returns next week.
BAYLOR 22,
CONNECTICUT 30
Freshman receiver Uzomn Nwachukwu was the standout player for Texas A&M (2-0) in its road victory against Utah State (0-2). Nwachukwu scored four touchdowns and had 101 yards receiving. Nwachukwu did most of his damage after teammate Jeff Fuller was injured in the first half. Fuller will be out for the season with a cracked
Ryan Waggoner/KANSAN
Note: Reports compiled from The Associated Press.
Edited by Nick Gerik
Spray-on spirit
Dustin True, Eudora sophomore, gets his hair painted red and blue by Jonathan Collins, Highland sophomore, before the start of Saturday's football game against Duke at Memorial Stadium. The Jayhawks won the game 44-16 in front of a large home crowd.