Volume 125 Issue 34
Monday, October 22, 2012
kansan.com
KSU ready for BCS
FOOTBALL
Kansas State continues to shock the world. An ordinary team that doesn't do anything flashy flies under the radar. After the dominating victory against West Virginia, the Wildcats are seen as the real deal with a gritty defense. Heisman-caliber quarterback and genius coach.
All three add up to a lethal combination for a team that can find its way to the BCS National Championship.
For the past six seasons, the Southeastern Conference has dominated the BCS championship, winning six straight titles. It has been two seasons since a team represented the Big 12 conference. The last non-SEC team to win the BCS championship was Texas before the six straight SEC victories.
However, that could all change with the newest edition of the Kansas State Wildcats.
Edited by Christy Khamphilay
The only thing stopping Kansas State is undefeated teams. Between Alabama and Florida, one of those teams will lose. If Oregon loses, then the road becomes less stressful, giving Kansas State an edge.
Kansas State didn't disappoint in Morgantown, WVa. on Saturday. The Wildcats clobbered the West Virginia Mountainers 55-14, and showed that they are primed for a BCS bowl game.
Last year, the Wildcats made it to the Cotton Bowl, but fell short, losing 29-16 to Arkansas. Kansas State hasn't won a bowl game since its 2002 season, winning against Arizona State in the Holiday Bowl.
In the program's 15 bowl game appearances, Kansas State only made one appearance in a BCS bowl. That game was against Ohio State in the 2004 Fiesta Bowl.
Now, the Wildcats have the best chance to get to their second BCS bowl, and this time, it will be for the national championship.
The team will continue to rely on its star quarterback Collin Klein.
And after the victory against West Virginia, the schedule is rather easy for the Wildcats. Kansas State plays ranked teams down the stretch, but the only game that could end in a loss would be against Texas. However, that game is in Manhattan.
In their victory, Klein completed 19 of his 21 passes and threw for 323 yards and three touchdowns. Klein also rushed for 41 yards and scored four times on the ground.
Klein is the Heisman favorite, throwing for 1,397 yards, 10 touchdowns and scoring 14 rushing touchdowns. He has only thrown two interceptions and been sacked five times. Klein was sacked 42 times last season
Though the offense has been superb, the Wildcat's defense might be better. Against West Virginia, the defense held the sixth-best passing attack to just 155 yards. Also, the defense is 17th in average points against at 16.5.
The three-time Big Eight coach of the year and 1998 National Coach of the Year knows how to win. Snyder pounds the football and runs the clock to limit opponents' possessions. He stresses the importance of turnovers, and his team has only four turnovers while causing 16 turnovers this season. Most importantly, Snyder takes an "ordinary" team and turns the players into a powerful team.
Then, the team has coach Bill Snyder, the most important piece to the puzzle.
OUTPLAYED IN OKLAHOMA
ASHLEIGH LEE/KANSAN
Sophomore halfback Tony Pierson moves around his opponent's tackle during Saturday's game against Oklahoma at the Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in Norman, Okla. where the Jayhawks lost 52-7.
Kansas defense fails in first half, giving Oklahoma a huge lead
FARZIN VOUSOUGHIAN
fvousoughian@kansan.com
NORMAN, OKLA. — Kansas traveled to Oklahoma on Saturday looking to build off its fourth quarter performance last week. Instead, the Jayhawks were blown out of Norman, and the Sooners had complete control throughout the game, winning 52-7.
The Jayhawks defense came into the game allowing 28 points per game, and had held high-scoring offenses Texas Christian and Oklahoma State to just 20 points. Despite the momentum the Jayhawks have had defensively this season, the Sooners moved the ball and found the end zone with relative ease. Oklahoma scored 28 points alone in the second quarter and went into half-time with a 38-0 lead. It was the largest halftime deficit Kansas had faced all season.
"It was all big plays in the passing game," Kansas coach Charlie Weis said. "I think Dave [Campo] all year long has done a pretty good job of mixing and matching to try to make the quarterback uncomfortable. Tonight it didn't work so well."
Oklahoma senior quarterback Landry Jones threw for 291 yards and a season-high three touchdown passes. Even when Kansas tried to apply pressure on Jones, he was given the protection he needed from his offensive line, and Jones executed by finding three different players for touch-downs.
"He's definitely one of the best quarterbacks we're going to face this year," senior safety Bradley McDougald said. "Some of the passes that he makes, you don't see those in the college level. He's definitely a pro quarterback and he showed it today."
As a team, Oklahoma's offense gained 397 total yards, and the Sooners special teams unit returned both a punt and kickoff
for touchdowns.
"The first half was unacceptable," junior linebacker Huldon Tharp said. "In the second half, we played even with them, which is a positive note. It was just frustrating for everybody."
The most frustrating part about Saturday's blowout loss was that the defense struggled and let Oklahoma do whatever it wanted in the first half.
"They just outplayed us," sophomore linebacker Ben Heeney said. "It was a pretty ugly game."
Kansas learned more about its defense in this game and must make adjustments before it hits the field next week for the homecoming game against the Texas Longhorns.
Kansas now falls to 1-6 on the season and is still seeking its first conference victory. As painful as it is to ride a six-game losing streak, the Jayhawks know they have to make this game a distant memory.
"We have a 24-hour rule where you can celebrate or soak for 24 hours," Heeney said. "But after that, tomorrow you have to come to work and get ready for next week against Texas."
— Edited by Andrew Ruszczyk
VOLLEYBALL
Game-saving block gives Jayhawks a victory
GEOFFREY CALVERT
gcalvert@kansan.com
Getting her first start of the season, sophomore outside hitter Chelsea Albers blocked seven balls for Kansas, including one that changed the momentum of the match for good.
The Jayhawks led the TCU Horned Frogs 19-17 in the fourth set, but TCU wouldn't let Kansas go on any sort of run to effectively end the match. But off of a serve from junior libero Brianne Riley, an extended rally ensued that would either put Kansas on the brink of victory or give the Horned Frogs all the momentum.
Albers made sure she put Kansas on the brink of victory, blocking senior outside hitter Slane Sunstrum's attack and giving Kansas a 20-17 lead.
"I knew that our middler would be stuck with their middlees because they had been getting a lot of kills," Albers said. "I think that you could see the momentum definitely flip at that point because fighting through a minute-long rally is a lot of hard work."
Fueled by Albers' block,
Redshirt junior middle blocker Caroline jarmoc posted a career-high 23 kills, and sophomore outside hitter Sara McClinton contributed 17 kills, three days after recording 19 kills against Kansas State. Senior middle blocker Tayler Tolefree also recorded 12 kills, the first time since Oct. 6 that she reached the double-digit mark in that category.
Kansas won the fourth set 25-19 to win the match 3-1. The victory moved Kansas to 19-3 on the season and 7-1 in conference play.
Kansas was coming off an impressive 3-1 victory over No. 14 Kansas State on Wednesday, but there didn't seem to be the same urgency against TCU. Although Kansas won the first two sets, they committed 19 attack errors while TCU committed only nine. Eight of the Horned Frog's attack errors came in the first set, when they hit a paltry .057. Kansas wasn't much better, though, hitting .095 in the first set.
The Jayhawks hit a much better. 350 in the second set, and 20 of their points came from kills. However, they still committed
"Sometimes we were playing a little like 'Oh, we can't lose,' instead of 'Hey, let's go out and win.' Bechard said. "And what I thought you saw in the third set was 'Hey, we can't lose.' What I thought you saw at the end of the fourth set was 'Hey, we need to go win.' There's a big difference in those mentalities."
Statistically, the Jayhawks played much better in the third set, with 16 kills, five blocks, and a .324 hitting percentage. But TCU still won the set, 25-22.
The Horned Frogs never got a comfortable lead during the set, but Kansas coach Ray Bechard said the Jayhawks' mentality kept them from making TCU too uncomfortable.
In what's becoming a trademark of this Kansas team, the Jayhawks were able to keep one
"There were times in the match when we weren't fully engaged and that showed with errors," jarmoc said. "Also we were trying to find hands and sometimes hands aren't there so the ball goes out."
six errors, while TCU committed only one. As good as Kansas' hitting percentage was, TCU's was an even better. 440.
bad set from snowballing into a bad match. Behind jarmoc's eight kills, the Jayhawks hit .375 to win the fourth set 25-19. In this set, playing to win like Bechard described, they committed fewer attack errors than TCU for the first time all match.
Despite the Jayhawks' up-and-down hitting, blocking remained a strong point all match long. Kansas blocked 12 balls, including five in the third set. The Jayhawks' two blocks in the fourth set came at the most critical of times, including Albers' block at the end. She led the Jayhawks with three solo blocks and four block assists, and Tolefree added five block assists.
The jayhawks begin the second round of Big 12 play Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. on the road against Iowa State.
"They were definitely more of a spread-out block this time," Jarmoc said. "They were definitely worrying about our pins a lot so T (Tolefure) and I were able to go at their middles and they weren't moving laterally as well so we could just beat them with out speed."
Edited by Brittney Haynes
TRAVIS YOUNG/KANSAN
Sophomore outside hitter Chelsea Albers spikes the ball during the match against the Wyoming Cowgirls on Sept. 8. Albers' block last weekend pushed the Jayhawks to a 20-17 lead against the Horned Frogs.
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