Inside Sports
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Friday November 10, 1998
Sports
On rivalry weekend, the Kansas rowing team has the best chance of any Kansas team to beat Kansas State.
Section:
Major League Baseball
Randy Johnson and Albert Belle are now free agents, and they're attracting some attention.
SEE PAGE 5B
SEE PAGE 3B
B
Kansas Volleyball
Page 1
The volleyball team plays rival Kansas State tonight. The Jayhawks have lost once to the Wildcats.
SEE PAGE 3B
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'Hawks to stand in'Cats' path
Kansas linebacker Patrick Brown tries to tackle Kansas State quarterback Michael Bishop, Kansas State defeated Kansas 48-16 last year in Manhattan. The two teams will meet tomorrow at 11:37 a.m. in Memorial Stadium. Kansas file photo.
Kansas wants to spook in-state rivals tomorrow
By Jodi M. Smith
Kansan sportswriter
Terry Allen has the perfect birthday present lined up for his wife — a victory against Kansas State.
Lynn Allen, Terry's wife, shares her birthday this year with two major events — Halloween and Kansas vs. K-State football game.
And Allen wants to give her a victory, wrapped up with a big, fat bow.
"There's nothing more I'd like to give her for her birthday present than a win." Allen said.
Plus, believe it or not, the facts are stacked in Kansas' favor.
Last season, when the Wildcats defeated the 'Hawks, the Kansas offense, then ranked dead-last in the country, still managed to score 16 points on the Wildcats.
"Every year it seems like we're in the mix for beating K-State," offensive lineman Justin Glasgow said. "For instance, last year, we were in the game, in the mix for competing with them and maybe even beating them. I think that's cooked up more and more emotions that we can beat them."
And now that sputtering offense isn't struggling as much anymore.
Last year, the Jayhawks averaged only 199 yards offense and scored a mere 96 points on the season. With three games still left to play this season, the 'Hawks are averaging 352 yards offense and already have put 231 points on the scoreboard.
Kansas State has outscored its opponents 353-48 this season in games played in Manhattan. In their only road game so far this year, they barely edged Colorado, 16-9.
Kansas State quarterback Michael Bishop is expected to play against Kansas. Glasgow was taken out of the Iowa State game last weekend because of a hip injury.
Glasgow said that game wasn't the typical, powerful game the Wildcats play at home.
"Obviously, at home they have great fan support and come to play, and, hopefully, we can do the same thing at home this week." he said.
All this adds up to a not-so-big edge for the Wildcats.
Plus, Kansas is coming off the biggest win of the sea
In that upset, Kansas had the kind of game they've been honing for all year.
They didn't turn over the ball, and with five starters injured, reserves made big plays when they were needed.
The most surprising showing came from back-up quarterback Jay Alexander, who proved in one game that he could play.
looming?
Does this mean there is a quarterback controversy
"A lot can be made from the 'controversy,'" Allen said. "But, I sure like this controversy vs. a week ago when I didn't think we had a backup quarterback."
All of is coupled with another cold, hard fact—it's Kansas State.
"This is something that I've been looking forward to for awhile," Glasgow said.
White, Oakland said. Well, now is the Jayhawks' big chance.
Well, how is the Jayhawks big in the Network? As they kickoff tomorrow at 11:37 a.m. on Fox Sports Network, it's a must-win for the Jayhawks if they want to keep their bowl hopes alive.
1.
Conference wide open, say players and coaches
By Brandon Krisztal
Kansan sportswriter
Kansas City, MO - Yesterday's Big 12 men's basketball media day proved one thing — most of the players and coaches think this should be the young conference's most competitive season.
For the Big 12's first three seasons, Kansas was perched firmly atop the hill. However, the loss of All Americans Raef LaFrentz and Paul Pierce opened the door for a number of other teams to share the spotlight with the Jayhaws.
Missouri shooting guard John Woods, whose team is one of the few in the conference to have beaten Kansas, said that the Jayhawks would have more competition this year.
"In the past, they have had dominant players, but this year you can't say that," Woods said. "There are great players on every team. Anybody can win it this year. It is going to be very competitive."
The preseason Big 12 coaches poll is one big sign that Kansas is not necessarily the only team to be reckoned with this season. The poll picked Oklahoma State to finish ahead of the Jayhawks. The Cowboys return four starters from a team that upset George Washington in the first round of the NCAA Tournament last season and lost a close game to a talented Duke team.
In addition to the experience that the Cowboys have, they also have the preseason conference player of the year, shooting guard Adrian Peterson.
Peterson downplayed his billing as the top player in the Big 12, and said that preseason polls can be misleading.
"Preseason predictions don't mean
See BIG 12 on page 4B
Commentary
Lost luster of rivalry with'Cats no reason for fans to stay home
To some fans, the Kansas vs. Kansas State rivalry has lost its luster.
After all, the Wildcats have won every game since 1993. Five straight losses by the Jayhawks have left many of my K-State friends with an indifferent attitude.
The Sunflower Showdown deserves only a side glance as the Wildcats roll to their first win in years against Nebraska, a Big 12 title and a spot in the Fiesta Bowl, they say.
"There's more attention than I thought there would be," he said.
However, any recognition of the Kansas football team is tempered by an overwhelming confidence.
It's attention Kansas drew by beating Colorado on Saturday.
But before Kansas State fans check into their hotel rooms in Tempe, Ariz., they should pay attention to Saturday's grudge match.
Craig Harries, a Kansas State student majoring in agricultural education and animal science, summed up the attitude in Manhattan
"We're going to come in there and blow you raws away," Harries said.
The outcome is not a foregone conclusion, and the rivalry is not dead.
Since the teams first played in 1902, Kansas leads the series 61-29,and the teams have tied five times.
In the '80s, when both teams were doormats of the Big Eight Conference, the games might have been bad Doug Flutie famous.
ence, the games might have been bad did someone say toilet bowl?— but they were often close.
And it should be no different as Kansas State rates in the rankings.
Given the right breaks —I don't mean lightning hitting the Kansas State buses as they travel down 1-70 —Kansas will win Saturday.
The Jayhawks are 3-5 but danger-
ons.
Coach Terry Allen has upgraded the offense vastly. Quarterback Zac Wegner.
Fredrichs
mattt@ukans.edu
running back David Winbush and the rest of the team are capable of moving the ball and scoring.
Players such as linebacker Steve Bratten, who steps on the field never knowing which play will be his last because of a recoccurring knee injury, have driven the team this season.
The Jayhawks also have heart. Despite injuries to important starters and close losses to conference opponents, the team continues to battle.
All the ingredients are there for a classic upset in the vein of the Boston College vs. Miami game that made
Kansas fans, this is about ardor, fan fervor, outlandish antics and screaming.
Kansas State, however, has everything to lose. A win is expected. A loss ends all national title aspirations.
Kansas has nothing to lose. A win means the team still has a chance to become bowl eligible. A loss is only one more in a difficult season.
Now that we've warmed up, there's only one place to be Saturday — Memorial Stadium.
The crowd support during the Colorado game was outstanding.
Don't allow the purple-clad visitors to sit in our seats.
Release the energy of the rivalry.
Memorial Stadium will be packed with emotion at kickoff.
The team will be underdogs, but this is our town, our field, our team and our chance to destroy Kansas State by ending their national title hopes.
G vocal. It should be louder than Arrowhead stadium on third down every time Kansas State touches the ball.
The Kansas football team has the heart and arms to win this contest.
In a scrappy game, decided in the final moments, Kansas will win 31-28.
Fredrichs is a Bremen graduate student in journalism.
Commentary
Considering the Wildcats only beat the Buffaloes by seven when the teams played Oct. 10, Jayhawks fans can spend all week dreaming up ways their team can upset Kansas State. This false sense of worth will make it even sweeter when the Wildcats whoop Kansas.
Jayhawks' Colorado victory will make K-State win sweeter
As much as the sight of Kansas winning a game makes me want to vomit, I did smile a little watching the Jayhawks beat Colorado on Saturday.
The 16-point win against the Buffaloes gives Kansas fans — all three of them — hope when their team plays Kansas State tomorrow.
The situations unfolding are turning into a repeat of 1995. Then, Kansas State was on a roll and the Jayhawks, having scored an upset victory against the Buffaloes, thought they could hang with the Wildcats.
The Jayhawks' chance tomorrow is about equal to my chance of getting a date with Mariah Carey. Actually, I think my date with Mariah will come sooner than a Kansas victory against Kansas State in football.
Kansas State 41. Lawrence State 7.
But go ahead, Kansas fans. Tell me the Jayhawks have a competitive team. After all, they have been really close in some of their five losses. And that quadruple-overtime thriller of a victory at Alabama-Birmingham ranks right up there among the greatest games in NCAA history.
The only reason there is any hope
Sam Feisenfeld
self5701@ksu.edu
Keep this in mind, though, Jayhawks fans: Kansas didn't beat Colorado. Rick Neuweilé beat Colorado. Neuweilé made the mortal sin of let
for the Chickenhawks is Kansas' win against the Buffers.
ting his players knock Kansas quarterback Zac Wegner out of the game.
Wegner probably couldn't start for a decent high school team with his 48 per cent completion percentage and seven touchdowns to six interceptions ratio. But then
Whether Wegner plays, though,
doesn't really matter.
again, the Jayhawks couldn't beat a decent high school team.
When Wegner came out of the game, he was outperformed by a walk-on. When it was time for Wegner to throw his game-losing interception, Jay Alexander was in instead. Too bad for the Buffaloes.
Throw any 11 gues in front of the Kansas State Lynch Mob defense, and they'll put the stop on. Kansas, Colo
As long as he is in the game, oppos ing secondaries and defensive ends will pad their stats.
rado, Texas — it doesn't matter. You can't score on these guys. They have given up 57 points during seven games.
Also, don't think about throwing the ball on the Wildcats. Opponents are completing only 40 percent of their passes for an average of 5.6 yards an attempt. Throwing incomplete against the Lynch Mob is a moral victory, though — 10 different Wildcats have interceptions this season.
Flying high on David Winbush's 285 yards, birdbackers? Enjoy it now because he won't even gain 50 yards when he faces the Lynch Mob.
Just ask Ricky Williams, the all-world running back at Texas who gained only 43 yards on 25 carries against the Mob.
When Kansas State has the ball, which will be the case most of the afternoon, watch the scoreboard light up like the Las Vegas strip.
It's too bad Kansas is only the fifth best team in the state, behind Kansas State, Emporia State, Pittsburg State and Wichita Southeast High School.
Offensively, the Cats have more weapons than a street gang in Chicago, Kansas, giving up more than 31 points a game, won't be able to hold Kansas State to less than its season average of 53.
Final score: Kansas State 59, Kansas 10.
Felsenfeld is a Los Angeles senior in journalism at K-State.