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NORTHERN
COLORADO
GAME DAY
13
Northern Colorado (0-0)
OFFENSE
Northern Colorado's offensive strength lies in its quarterback Bryan Waggener. Last season
Waggener threw for the sixth-most yards in school history, passing for 2,546 yards. His 2,716 yards of total offense ranked fifth. On the flip side, he threw 15 interceptions and was sacked 26 times. The offense also returns five other starters, including wide receiver Alex Thompson, who
Waggener
had 511 yards receiving. Despite their experience level, the Bears can't match the Jayhawks in numbers on the offensive side of the ball.
DEFENSE
Northern Colorado's defense returns seven of its defensive players from last
year, but with several of them out with injuries, particularly the linebackers, they have lost that depth. Defensive tackles Martin Anachie and Dominique Ceja are the two guys who will be leading the defense this season.Both have size
and strength but they will be up against an experienced offense that know how to move the ball.
Awachie
SPECIAL TEAMS
Punter Cameron Kaman will return for the Bears this
season after kicking 63 punts for 2543 yards last season. Kaman averaged 40.4 yards per kick and had only one blocked. Senior Quincy Wofford also returns as the starting kickoff and punt returner for Northern Colorado. Wofford averaged 24.7 yards per return last season and returned one kickoff for a touchdown. This is one area the Bears have experience and consistency.
Kaman
COACHING
This will be coach Scott Downing's fourth
season leading Northern Colorado, but his win-loss record has been less than stellar the last two seasons. Downing will lean on the experience of returning players as the Bears make their way through another season in the Big Sky Conference.
Downing
MOMENTUM
The Bears return from a 1-10 season in the Big Sky Conference, so there is only room for improvement, right? But against Division I teams on the road, Northern Colorado has had some brutal losses in recently: 63-6 against Hawaii 2007 and 42-10 against Purdue in 2008.
Hallie Mann
will cheer if...
ive line creates pressure. The Jayhawks strug-gast season, often allowing teams to continue down. Creating disruptive pressure is always a way to generate excitement, and Kansas' defense it can do that early this season.
y will weep if...
ies to run the ball. The Jayhawks never really running game during non-conference play last regina shuffled between running backs. Now he undisputed featured back. In the first game, for him to have a solid performance with a new
Prediction:sas 49, Northern Colorado 14
Offense
BEARS STARTING LINEUP
Pos. Name Number Year
QB Bryan Waggener 5 Sr.
RB Andre Harris 21 Jr.
WR Alex Thompson 18 Sr.
WR Dominic Gunn 10 So.
WR Brandon Smith 12 Jr.
TE Andrew Emmerling 89 Sr.
T Ryan Kemp 62 Sr.
G James Zapp 63 Sr.
C Alex Shapiro 65 So.
G Tim McGraw 57 Jr.
T Lee Barbiasz 76 So.
P Cameron Kaman 37 So.
Defense
| Pos. | Name | Number | Year |
| :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- |
| DE | Ethan Davis | 92 | Jr. |
| DT | Dominique Ceja | 54 | So. |
| DT | Martin Awachie | 94 | Sr. |
| DE | VJ Holmes | 95 | So. |
| OLB | James Schrenk | 7 | Jr. |
| ILB | Cameron Friend | 51 | Fr. |
| OLB | Matt King | 55 | Jr. |
| CB | Kory Askew | 2 | Jr. |
| SS | Max Hewitt | 4 | Jr. |
| FS | Stephen Michon | 39 | Sr. |
| CB | Colby Riggins | 23 | So. |
| K | Michael York | 24 | Sr. |
AT A GLANCE
Northern Colorado comes to Kansas for its big "payday" game of the season after coming off of several close and disappointing losses last season. With nowhere to go but up, the Bears have a chance to get some experience against a Division I team for the start of their season.
PLAYER TO WATCH
Senior kick returner Quincy Wofford
Wofford has made
some game chang ing performances for the Bears (like a 100-yard touchdown return against Northern Arizona last season) and will see a lot of playing time on Saturday.
Wofford
time on Saturday. Look for him to be a leader on the field and the scoreboard for Northern Colorado.
QUESTION MARKS
Can Northern Colorado's defense stop Kansas?
The Bears allowed nearly 400 yards and 30 points on average per game last season. Northern Colorado allowed 256.1 ypg passing last season and Kansas will take advantage of that with its receivers.
Will Waggener move up another school record this Saturday?
Waggener needs 454 passing yards to reach his 3,000-yard career mark.
If he can make 460, he will be 10th in the Northern Colorado record book.
BY THE NUMBERS
Number of games Northern Colorado won last season
Number of games Northern Colorado has played against Big 12 Opponents (2-9 record)
Number of returning starters from last season
20. 5 Average points per game for Northern Colorado
Number of penalties for Northern Colorado last season (least in Big Sky Conference)
2,546
Number of yards quarterback Bryan Waggener passed for last season
ISAN
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THE WAVE SEPTEMBER 4,2009