Sports THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
A rough weekend for Big 12 Oklahoma State, Iowa State among those that lost CONFERENCE | 5B
MONDAY, SEPTMEBER 14,2009
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HOLD THAT LINE
PAGE 1B
Senior defensive end Maxwell Onyegbule sacks UTEP quarterback Trevor Vittatoe during the first half Saturday evening. Onyegbule finished with two sacks in Kansas' 34-7 victory, helping the team continue its undefeated season.
Defense carries Kansas to victory
BY JAYSON JENKS
jjenks@kansan.com
In a tunnel separating the locker rooms — in the moments after Kansas' 34-7 Victory at UTEP — two UTEP defensive backs huddled over the box score from the night's game.
They looked at it for a minute, shook their heads in frustration and quickly crumpled the sheet of paper into a ball.
He wasn't lying.
"This is shit." one of the defensive backs said.
At the bottom of the Franklin Mountains in UTEP's Sun Bowl Stadium, Kansas' defense demonstrated how, exactly, to contain the spread offense.
In the week leading up to Saturday's game, a popular question floated around Kansas' football team: How would the once heavily-criticized secondary fare against UTEP's offense? If statistics are any indication, Kansas didn't struggle much.
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The Miners totaled just 204 yards and were held scoreless for three quarters.
"Anytime someone talks bad about you, you want to get things fixed and turned around," senior cornerback Justin Thornton said. "That's one thing we're working on."
The most appetizing matchup
before the game featured UTEP's pass-heavy, potent offense vs. Kansas' secondary. It figured to be a high-scoring game. Instead, it wasn't much of a contest.
The Jayhawks not only contained the Miners' offense, they never even let it get going.
Perhaps most impressive, though, is the manner in which Kansas played defensively. The defensive line had six sacks and constantly created enough pressure to disrupt UTEPs offense.
"It's a good feeling when you're out there, covering guys and you look back and the quarterback is on his back," Thornton said.
It was a welcomed relief for a secondary that was often forced to hold coverages for extended periods of time last season.
Facing a team capable of scoring
plenty of points, Kansas' defense made UTEP's offense look bland. The first-half numbers alone are staggering.
Kansas held UTEP to just 32 total yards. Quarterback Trevor Vittatoe, who tossed a schoolrecord 33 touchdowns last season, passed for 52 yards. He was intercepted once by cornerback Justin Thornton.
And, somehow, it gets worse. The Miners ran 12 times for 20 yards on the way to accomplishing a rare feat: totaling more penalty yards than total yards in the first half.
UTEP finished the game with four rushing yards.
"Our defense is very strong here and it usually is," senior running back Jake Sharp said. "We have hard-nosed guys and they had a
great game today. I think they really came together and really showed everybody how they can play"
To completely attribute the defensive success to UTEP's offensive ineptitude would simply be inaccurate. After all, penalties surely had something to do with it. UTEP totaled 137 penalty yards in the game.
But the Jayhawks never allowed Vittato to settle in the pocket, something that had to happen to slow UTEP's pass attack. In return, the secondary shut down — and smacked around — UTEP's talented receiving corps.
Kansas' only slip-up occurred in the fourth quarter, when the secondary blew its assignment and then missed tackles, allow-
SEE RECAP ON PAGE 6B
COMMENTARY
Sharp is still our MVP
BY STEPHEN
MONTEMAYOR
the story.
Saturday night in El Paso, Texas, defense was the story. Well, it was part of the story.
There was also the return from suspension of junior wide receiver Dezmon Briscoe, who finished with eight receptions for 154 yards.
There was this group of Jayhawks winning their first road non-conference game.
And then there was Jake Sharp, Kansas' senior starting running back.
This season it's not a matter of if, but when Sharp will reach quadruple digits on the ground. As for what he adds to Kansas' passing attack, the sky's the limit.
It really is that simple after Kansas' 34-7 victory, a game that offered just enough storylines for one to overlook Sharp again. Playing for an offense that has been pass-heavy more times than it wasn't during his career, Sharp has been the force behind Kansas' 2-0 start. Sprinting and twisting to extend 30-yard gains or convert a short pass into a score, Sharp is this team's most valuable player thus far.
Sharp eclipsed 100 yards for the second straight time to open the year and for just the fifth time in his career Saturday. One gets the sense that that list will grow far longer before his No.1 jersey meets its next recipient.
His 104 rushing yards off
SEE COLUMN ON PAGE 7B
Follow Kansan sports editor Stephen Montemayor at twitter.com/smontemayor.
SOCCER
Jayhawks finish the Colorado College Invitational without victory
BY CLARK GOBLE
cgoble@kansan.com
It was an up-and-down weekend for the Kansas soccer team, with two closely-contested games and a single, scoreless draw against Colorado College Sunday to show for it.
Coach Mark Francis said he was glad the team was able to bounce back from a bad effort on Friday against Denver, which it lost 2-1. He said it had four or five good opportunities to score but that the Colorado College goalkeeper Caitlin Hulyo made a few good saves.
But Francis did not think the team deserved to beat Denver, Both Francis and junior defender Lauren Jackson said they thought the team didn't show up against Denver Friday even though they started with the lead.
"We fought really hard," Francis said. "We deserved to win the game, to be honest with you."
Kansas scored first after sophomore forward Emily Cressy lofted a shot over Denver goalkeeper Lara Campbell. Junior midfielder Rachel Morris found Cressy open near the
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writer Clark Goble
at twitter.com/
cgoble89x.
top of the box, and she turned and put the layhaws ahead 1-0.
But less than three minutes later, Denver scored on a header from Kaitlin Bast to knot the score at one going into halftime.
Senior goalie Julie Hanley had six saves in her first two starts of the weekend with three in each gae. Hanley sat out the first four games of the season behind freshman Kat Liebetrau before coming in for the second half of Kansas' 3-1 victory against Rhode Island. Hanley allowed two goals against Denver, but earned the shutout on Sunday against Colorado College
GAME NOTES FROM FRIDAY AT DENVER AND SUNDAY AT COLORADO COLLEGE
Both teams had their chances in the second half, but it was a Denver free kick from 25 yards out that sealed Kansas' fate. It skipped just to the right of senior goalkeeper Julie Hanley and put Kansas behind for the first time all season.
shoot its opponents in both games over the weekend. The team tallied 16 shots to Denver's 13 on Friday and put up 22 to Colorado College's 13 on Sunday. The Jayhawks have only been outshot once this season, in a 2-1 victory against Pepperdine. Freshman Whitney Berry led the team on Sunday with six shots, including one off the post late in the second half.
Kansas continued to out-
On Sunday, neither Kansas nor Colorado College could find the net, coming to a scoreless draw after 110 minutes of play. However, Francis said he couldn't fault his team's effort.
"We just misjudged it," Francis said.
Joel Petterson
The Jayhawks furiously tried to even the score, but couldn't avoid their first loss of the season.
Freshman forward Whitney Berry dribbles the ball upfield last weekend at the Jayhawk Soccer Complex. Over the weekend, the team lost to Denver and tied Colorado College 0-0.
"After we played so poorly on Friday, I was sort of curious how
they would bounce back today," Francis said afterward. "I was proud of them because I thought they really handled it well."
Kansas' 22 shots reflected the number of opportunities they had to come out of the weekend with a victory. Freshman forward Whitney Berry led the barrage with six shots.
Berry nearly scored twice after breaking free on the far side of the
field in the second half. Her first attempt was saved, but the rebound came back to her feet. Her second attempt glanced off the near post.
The Jayhawks had chances until the very end. Francis said he thought Jackson scored with around five seconds left to play. He said Jackson's attempt was about "an inch wide."
Jackson said she thought the team didn't need to get better
in any way, but they needed to improve mentally.
"I just think we need to show up for every game" Jackson said.
Their record drops to 5-1-1 with
the kansas Invitational looming this weekend. They take on San Diego at 5 p.m. Friday.
Edited by Amanda Thompson