The Kansas soccer team was left out of the NCAA tournament last year despite defeating Texas. The teams meet tonight.
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After getting swept by Missouri on Wednesday, the volleyball team faces Oklahoma this weekend.
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2006
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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
SPORTS
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FOOTBALL
Washington admitted to ICU
BY RYAN SCHNEIDER
Kansas senior
Washington
jinebacker Eric Washington has been admitted to a Kansas City, Mo., hospital, an individual close to the team has confirmed.
St. Luke's Hospital staff said Washington
RYAN SCHNEIDER'S
was in the intensive care unit.
The source, who asked not to be named, said that Washington was fine but had been taken to the hospital for "precautionary reasons."
"Eric is fine," the source said. "He's talking, laughing, walking. Eric is doing real good."
At his weekly press conference Tuesday, Kansas football coach Mark Mangino said Washington had complained of weakness in his left leg earlier in the week. Mangino said at the time that he was told by doctors that it was nothing to be concerned about.
The source said he was unsure when Washington would be released.
SEE WASHINGTON ON PAGE 3B
BY C.J. MOORE
HOMECOMING
Committee fans dislike kickoff time
Put Jennifer Denny in the group of those against the early homecoming kickoff Saturday against Texas A&M.
The 11 a.m. start, which was determined by Fox Sports Net, has created obstacles for tailgaters and Denny, the co-director of the Homecoming Steering Committee.
"It sucks," Denny said. "Wed rather it be later in the evening."
The Homecoming parade had to be moved from 10 a.m. to 9 a.m., which will cause Denny and her committee to be in a rush Saturday because of the early kickoff. They learned last year when the homecoming game against Missouri was at 3 p.m. that early kickoffs put a cramp in their style.
FRIDAY FIVE
"It was just very, very rushed," Denny said. "Because after the parade is over, we calculate all the scores for the homecoming points throughout the week and we have to have that ready for halftime."
The burning questions surrounding Saturday's game.
SEE NOMECOMING ON PAGE 3B
Who will start at quarterback?
It appears it will be the third-straight game-time decision for coach Mark Mangino on his starting quarterback. He said throughout the week that freshman Kerry Meier continued to improve, but was still listed as "day-to-day". If Meier is ready to go this weekend, he'll have to show that he has no lingering side effects of the injury he suffered nearly a month ago.
Can Kansas' defense stop Texas A&M's rushing attack?
The Aggies boast the Big 12 Conference's best rushing offense, averaging nearly 215 yards a game. Kansas has had one of the league's most dominating rushing defenses in the conference over the last two years, giving up less than 90 yards a game. Something has to give Saturday. Playing at home, the edge goes to Kansas' front seven shutting down A&M's run game.
Jared Gab/KANSAN
Paul Como (98), senior defensive end, and the Kansas defense expect to slow down Texas A&M's strong rushing offense Saturday.
Blake Bueltel (23), junior cornerback, is not expected to start Saturday against Texas A&M, despite replacing freshman Anthony Webb during last week's loss at Nebraska.
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Jared Gab/KANSAN
Who will replace Eric Washington at linebacker?
After suffering a serious concussion against Nebraska, Washington will be out for at least a few weeks. Until he returns, it appears Mangino will split playing time at one of the outside linebacker spots between sophomore James Holt and freshman Arist Wright. Both saw playing time in Lincoln after Washington's injury.
Who will start in the secondary?
In his first start of the season, freshman Anthony Webb was burned early and often by Nebraska's passing attack. He was replaced before the end of the first quarter by junior Blake Bueltel, who didn't fare much better. Mangino said following the game that Webb would keep his starting spot, but that could still change before kickoff.
Is this a must-win for Kansas?
Kansas seemed to gain respect throughout the conference for its near-comeback victory against Nebraska. If the Jayhawks come out flat against a talented Aggies squad, they can kiss that momentum, and their home-game winning streak, goodbye. Anything short of a performance like
moment, and the game home winning steal, goodbye. A rhyting short or a pen the team put together in the second half last week may not be enough to get the victory.
FOOTBALL
Texas A&M capitalizes on rushing offense, red zone defense to crush foes
BY SHAWN SHROYER
Texas A&M hasn't done anything fancy to get to 4-1 this season. Instead, the Aggies have used their bulk to overpower opponents.
Their game plan looks like this: run the ball, complement the run with the pass, keep teams from scoring in the red zone, defend the pass and run the ball some more.
Behind 6-foot, 274-pound sophomore running back Jorvorskie Lane, the Aggies are leading the Big 12 Conference in rushing offense. Through five games, Texas A&M's 206 carries, 1,074 rushing yards, 5.2 yards per carry, 17 touchdowns and 214 rushing yards per game are all
tops in the conference.
Lane has accounted for nearly 30 percent of those yards and 11 of those touchdowns, having scored in half of Texas A&M's 20 quarters this season. Kansas sophomore cornerback Ajib Talib, who is nearly 100 pounds lighter than Lane, said he wouldn't be intimidated by Lane's size.
"I'm going to tackle him," Talib said. "I'm going to do what I do with any other running back – I'm going to tackle him."
The Aggies have another running quarterback in sophomore Stephen McGee. He's second on the team with 261 rushing yards. However, McGee has given Texas A&M consistency in its passing game that it didn't always have with Reggie McNeal.
This season, McGee's completion percentage is at nearly 65 percent, and he has six touchdown passes to just one interception. Last season, McNeal's completion percentage hovered around 50 percent, and he threw 16 touchdowns to nine interceptions.
As a team, Texas A&M is averaging more than 200 passing yards per game, making it one of eight schools in the nation to average more than 200 rushing and passing yards per game.
Junior defensive tackle Red Bryant anchors the Texas A&M defensive
line, weighing about 325 pounds. However, he's looking to improve upon his 13 tackles and one sack on the season.
Senior linebacker Justin Warren leads the Aggies with 38 tackles, but only six are solo and he has yet to force a turnover.
Texas A&M excels on defense by preventing offenses from scoring in the red zone. This season, the Aggies have kept offenses off the board on five of 11 red zone visits, which is best in the Big 12.
Conversely, Kansas is next-to-last in the conference in red zone scoring, doing so only 66.7 percent of the time. Nevertheless, Kansas junior receiver Marcus Henry didn't
Freshman cornereback Jordan Peterson had the coverage on the crucial play, but Texas A&M coach Dennis Franchione said he still had faith in Peterson.
expect the Kansas offense to adjust for Texas A&M's strong red zone defense.
"Of all of our corners I still have no hesitation that he was the best
"Right now we're not changing anything going into the game," Henry said.
Texas A&M might be vulnerable from outside the red zone. With less than 30 seconds to play last week, Texas Tech connected on a 37-yard touchdown pass to steal the victory from Texas A&M.
one to be in that situation, and gosh, looking at yall's pictures and the film, he covered it pretty darn well," Franchione said.
Before giving up 392 passing yards to the Red Raiders, the Aggies had the sixth-best pass defense in the nation. if the Jayhawks' offense can't handle the Aggies' roadbacks up front, the Jayhawks may find it hard to move the ball and keep up with the Aggies' scoring machine, Jorvorske Lane.
Kansan sportswriter Shawn Shroyer can be contacted at sshroyer@ kansan.com.
Edited by Shanxi Upsdell
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