PAGE 60E AUGUST,1996
KUED·SPORTS
LAWRENCE JOURNAL-WORLD
Kansas State must fill holes to climb again
BY ANDREW HARTSOCK
JOURNAL-WORLD SPORTS WRITER
Kansas State could field a radically different football team this fall than the teams that turned K-State from the laughingstock of the college football world into a perennial bowl队.
The Wildcats' turnaround was built on a pro-style offense and a stingy defense.
This fall, KSU must find a quarterback, replace two of its top three receivers and find fill-ins for three departed defensive line starters.
What. Bill Snyder worry?
"I wouldn't say we'a better football team than we were
4
last year," said eighth- year coach
Snyder. "But I think the people in place make it a possibility."
FOOTBALL
FOE
K-State returns five offensive and six defensive starters from a team that went 10-2 last season and beat Colorado State in the Holiday Bowl.
"Brian played significant time in five ballgames last year, and he played well in each and every ballgame," Snyder said. "He's been in our program 5 1/2 years. Of all the quarterbacks we've had, Brian has as astute a knowledge of the program as any of our quarterbacks."
Senior Brian Kavanagh is heir apparent at quarterback.
V
He might have competition from Cody Lee Smith, a ballyhooed junior college transfer who missed all of last season sidelined by a debilitating intestinal virus.
Top pass-catcher Kevin Lockett returns, but gone are Mitch Running and Tyson Schwieger.
Also gone are the top two tight ends.
"We don't have quite the depth we've had," Snyder said.
Schedule
Aug. 31 — Texas Tech
Sept. 7 — Indiana State
Sept. 14 — Cincinnati
Sept. 21 — at Rice
Oct. 5 — Nebraska
Oct. 12 — at Missouri
Oct. 19 — at Texas A&M
Oct. 26 — Oklahoma
Nov. 9 — at Kansas
Nov. 16 — at Colorado
Nov. 23 — Iowa State
Both offensive tackles graduated,but both guards and the starting center return, as do the top three running backs.
"We have a chance to be a better rushing team than we were a year ago," Snyder said. "I'm not sure where we'll be in the passing game."
Three starters — Chris Canty, Joe Gordon and Mario Smith — return to KSU's outstanding defensive secondary. Three line starters graduated.
"We retain some, we lose some," said Snyder, who might play some linemen both ways because he's so thin on the defensive front. "The strength of our defense is our secondary. ... Our front seven is where we took most of our hits.
"Can we be as good a defensive team as we were last year? I don't have the answer. But we have that capacity."
KSU will travel to Lawrence to meet Kansas on Nov. 9. K-State beat KU, 41-7, last fall in Manhattan.
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The Jayhawks have won 17 of their last 24 games dating back to the final game of 1993.
KU football team on a roll
Kansas is enjoying one of its most successful football periods.
All seven of the defeats in that time came against teams that played in postseason games.
In addition, KU has won eight of its last nine nonconference encounters.
The Jayhawks' 10 wins last season were the most by a KU team since 1905 and the five conference wins last fall were the most by a KU team since 1968.
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Each day, over 100 donors need to pledge to donate to meet the needs of our area.
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Kansas Blood SERVICES
Community
After all, we must rely on donations from our community in order to meet the needs of the patients in the hospitals we serve in northeast Kansas
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