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Football
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Meni Childs breaks away from the rest of the Field, returning a 46yard California State Northridge punt 72 yards for a touchdown. This was the second punt return for a touchdown in Childs' career and the 11th-longest return in Jayhawk history. Photo by Jay Shepard/KANSAN
Defensive and Dion Rayford socks Cal State Northridge quarterback Marcus Brady for a loss of 11 yards in the first quarter. Rayford also intercepted a third-quarter pass. Photo by Jav Sheererd/KANSAN
Rayford leads defense with hard hits, big plays
By Michael T. Rigg sports@kansan.com Kansan sportswriter
Defensive end Dion Rayford didn't take long on Saturday to make his big-screen debut.
On the last play of the first half in Kansas' 71-14 rout of California State Northridge, Northridge's Terrence Jones caught a pass and ran down the middle of the field to the Kansas 38-yard line.
There, Rayford put a hit on Jones that jarred the ball loose and left the crowd of 33,300 to watch the replay in awe on Memorial Stadium's new MegaVision board.
"That hit at the end of the first half really got the crowd in it," Kansas coach Terry Allen said. "It looked great on the video board."
While Allen was pleased with Rayford's Saturday night performance, he said that Rayford must learn not to let up during certain times of the game.
"Dion did a good job," Allen said. "He obviously had some big plays out there. We knew they were going to make some plays, and we had to make some big hits to set the tone."
While the hit and the ensuing replay energized the crowd going into halftime, Rayford's all-around strong performance on Saturday impressed Allen.
"Dion has to play every snap, but he can make a difference out there," Allen said
Rayford said the Jayhawk defense's dominating performance on Saturday gave the defense much-needed confidence following the 48-13 loss at Notre Dame.
"Now the guys are a little
more confident about their skills," Rayford said. "The second half is where we usually start to let up, but I don't see that happening this year."
Rayford's hit on Jones topped off a dominating performance by Rayford on Saturday night. Rayford also intercepted a pass, made two tackles for losses and delivered one quarterback sack.
"I was able to do some pretty nice things," Rayford said. "I would have liked to do more, but you can only do so much. We knew that Northridge was going to try to come out and run up on us, but we held our ground."
Holding their ground is exactly what Rayford said the defense must do next week when the Jayhawks travel to
Boulder, Colo., to take on the Colorado Buffaloes. Colorado features the reigning Big 12 Newcomer of the Year in quarterback Mike Moschetti, and Rayford knows he must come up with more big plays to keep Moschetti and the Buffaloes grounded.
"The guys are a little more confident about our skills. Now they're looking out for us, since we beat them last year," Rayford said. "They're not happy about the way they played last year, so I'm sure they have a grudge against us."
—Edited by Katrina Hull
Rayford also said Colorado would be looking for revenge after last season's 33-17 loss to Kansas in Lawrence.
Childs shines in Kansas victory
By Mike Miller sports@kansan.com Kansan sportwriter
The third time was the charm for Henri Childs.
Childs, a sophomore running back, had returned two punts in the first quarter. One was for 15 yards, and he caught the other after one bounce and was soon buried by California State Northridge players.
But the third time, late in the first quarter, everything happened just right. Instead of being tackled, Childs sprinted down the Kansas sideline for a 72-yard touchdown.
The high, 46-yard punt backed up Childs to the Kansas 14-yard line. He darted back two yards and sprinted to the sideline. A crack-back block by senior Chad Coellner wiped two Northridge defenders out of the picture — two defenders that probably had the best opportunity to tackle Childs.
"Chad's a guy that's instrumental for us on all of our special teams,"
said coach Terry Allen.
It was Coellner's block that probably sprung Childs, but it wasn't the only block that was needed.
During his sprint to the sideline, two more Matataders missed, and Childs cut to the sideline at full speed.
"I was going to a hole," Childs said. "That's all punnt returning is."
Blocks by senior Tim Bowers and junior Carl NeSmith allowed Childs to sprint down the Jayhawks' sideline untouched.
And just like that, Kansas led 17.0. Childs said it was probably the most cleanly executed punt return he'd ever had.
But, it wasn't the longest return of his career. A 79-yard return against Missouri last year was his other career punt return for a touchdown.
Child's return on Saturday was the 11th longest in school history.
After his punt return, the Jayhawks had no trouble scoring, effectively putting the game out of
reach.
Oddly enough, it was Childs who scored the next touchdown. Usually used in late-game situations when the game's outcome has been decided, Childs came out of the backfield and caught a 27-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Dylan Smith. It was the first career touchdown catch for Childs.
"Any opportunity I get to play, I try to make something happen," Childs said. "I just want to play football."
If Childs plays the rest of the season like he did Saturday, he could become a major factor in the Jayhawks' offensive scheme. He rushed for 46 yards on five carries and added three catches for 46 vards.
His 181 yards of total offense impressed Allen so much that he got the same ball.
"He did a nice job with pumt returning, and he'll be valuable to us in short-yardage situations," Allen said.
—Edited by Brad Hallier
A little late
The Jayhawks receive a penalty after Algie Atkinson, sophomore outside linebacker, put a late hit on California State Northridge quarterback Marcus Brady after Brady scored a touchdown and Kareem High, junior defensive back, tackled Brady. The Jayhawks had 14 penalties for 121 yards. Photo by Roger Nomer/KANSAN
Offense scores third highest total in Jayhawk history
Continued from page 1B
didn't stop Northridge from talking themselves up.
"They couldn't have gotten too worm down because they kept talking a lot," David Winbush, Kansas running back, said.
Regardless, the Jayhawks dominated from start to finish except for one aspect penalties.
"Even their coaches were talking a lot of noise."
penalties.
"We have to eliminate the penalties. We had way too many," Kansas coach Terry Allen said. "The holding penalties really frustrated me, but you've got to expect that when you play 75-80 guys."
Playing that many people was one of the benefits of playing Northridge. But the biggest benefit was smoothing out the offense.
"We were pretty efficient tonight," Zac Wegner, quarterback, said.
It was the established running game that allowed Smith to shine. Not only did he complete his first six passes, but his ability to scramble and elude rushers gave the Jayhawks an element they never had before.
"We ran the ball well and got the kinks out in the running game."
"He has an aspect I can't add. He can run," Wegner said.
Winbush was more vocal about Smith's abilities.
"He's unbelievable. The pocket breaks down, he scrambles, manages to stay behind the line of scrimmage and make plays," he said.
When Smith didn't stay behind the line on scrimmage to pass, he took off to run. He scrambled for one first down and picked up eight yards on another carry. The only thing he needed to work on was clock management.
"I think we had one drive that covered 60 yards and three time out," Allen said.
"But the fortunate thing was he was in it enough to look up at the clock and get the timeout."
Although the offense can't take a time-out every time it's needed in the future, Smith felt that Saturday was a preview of things to
come
The 353 rushing yards were not only a season high, but more than Kansas gained in any game last season. The rushing game also allowed the Jayhawks to balance their offense, passing the ball for 284 yards. It was the third highest total of total yards in school history, the most since 1991 against Missouri.
"If the offense gets clicking like it did tonight, we're going to be tough to stop."
"I think it's an indication of how good we are," Smith said.
Wide receiver Termaine Fulton had three catches for 74 yards Saturday, but left early in the second quarter with a high ankle sprain. Allen said he could miss anywhere from one to five weeks.
Winbush had the third 100-yard rushing game of his career Saturday, with 153 yards on 14 carries. He also had the first touchdown catch of his career with a 29 yard reception in the second quarter.
■ Wegner moved into seventh place on the school career passing yards list, eighth place on the career passing attempts list and tenth on the career passing completions list.
■ The safety in the third quarter by linebacker Tim Bowers was the first by a Kansas player since 1995.
The 71 points Saturday were the most since 1994 when Kansas beat Alabama-Birmingham 72-0. It was the third most points in school history.
--Edited by Katrina Hull
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