4B
KU 21 - ULM 19
THE UNIVERSITY DAIRY KANSAN
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 11,2006
football quotes
Louisiana-Monroe coach Charlie Weatherbie on what cost his team the game:
"We had three missed kicks - two field goals and a missed extra point. We make that extra point and it's a tie ballgame with three minutes left in the game and we're right where we want to be in the fourth quarter."
Weatherbie on where he thinks both teams will be
by the end of the season:
"They're a physical, Big 12 team.
They'll win a lot of games. I told our players today that that's a bowl team. I really believe that,
and I believe we will be too."
Senior defensive end Paul Como on what success the Kansas defense had against ULM sophomore quarterback Kinsmon Lancaster: "He was pretty fast, so it was a big challenge, but I thought
we contained him pretty well. He threw for a lot against, us, but he didn't run the ball too much."
Kansas coach Mark Mangino on what positives came from allowing Lancaster to pass for 377 yards:
"You never like to give up 377 yards passing, but when you take into account some of the kids who were back there, this was a good learning experience. Watching themselves on
tape with the coaches critiquing them will be a good learning experience. I think we will be a better secondary for having played this game."
Mangino on ULM's pressure against
quarterbackKerry Meier:
"They had a blitz fest out there for a while. We saw everything out there."
Mangino: "We told the kids, you've got to toughen up, get in there and keep sawing wood."
Lisa Lipovac/KANSAM
(right) Dexton Fields, sophomore wide receiver, celebrates after scoring the first touchdown during the first quarter of Saturday night's 21-19 victory against Louisiana-Monroe. Fields had six catches for 39 yards. The 11-yard pass from Kerry Meier, freshman quarterback, was the first of Meier's two touchdown passes.
Fans bring out their keys for the kickoff of Saturday night's game against Louisiana-Monroe. The Jayhawks defeated the Warhawks 21-19.
Lisa Lipovac/KANSAN
FOOTBALL
ULM quarterback shows capability against Kansas
Living by the "bend, but don't break" philosophy, the Kansas secondary was stretched to its breaking point by Louisiana-Monroe quarterback Kinsmon Lancaster.
For the game, Lancaster completed 24-for-41 passes for 377 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions. His performance was one of the 15 best all-time by an opposing quarterback against Kansas.
Two plays into the second half, the Kansas secondary had already surrendered more passing yards than it did during the entire northwestern State game.
"The Alcorn game was not a good game to measure Monroe," Mangino said. "It wasn't a tough
Unable to find an answer for Lancaster during the game, Kansas had even fewer answers after the game to explain why it couldn't stop Lancaster.
Although the Jayhawks watched film this week to get an idea of what the Warhawks' strengths were, Kansas coach Mangino said the film didn't do justice to what Lancaster and ULM were capable of.
game for them at all."
As a result, Lancaster looked like a man among boys for most of the game, excelling in high-pressure situations.
On nine occasions, Lancaster was faced with third-down and at least seven yards, and four times he converted — one time hitting tight end Zeek Zacharie for a 59-yard touchdown.
Other times, needing eight yards, he passed for 16 and needing seven yards, he passed for 28. Even facing a third and 16, Lancaster completed a 17-yard pass.
However, the statistics showed that Kansas' adjustments in the secondary weren't enough. Lancaster completed 67 percent of his passes in the second half, compared to 52 percent in the first half.
"Our defensive schemes, I think are perfect for any offense that we go against; it's just getting the right call" Kemp said.
Senior strong safety Jerome Kemp said the secondary made adjustments throughout the game in an effort to stop the plays Lancaster was having success with. He said faults in the defensive schemes were the cause of Lancaster's success.
And despite having less space to work with in the red zone, Lancaster found holes in the Kansas defense. Lancaster connected with Zacharie once again for a three-yard touchdown that put ULM in a position to tie the game in the fourth quarter.
Instead of focusing on what the secondary did wrong against the Warhawks, Mangino said the game would be a great learning experience for his inexperienced secondary.
Kemp said he was still comfortable with the players around him in the secondary, but gave a short list of what the secondary needs to improve on to avoid making the same mistakes against pass-happy Toledo this week.
"We definitely need to pay more attention to our packages, our coverages and to our opponents," Kemp said. "We didn't necessarily overlook them, but we were caught off guard."
Kansan sportswriter Shawn Shroyer can be contacted at sshroyer@kansan.com.
— Edited by Kristen Jarboe
football notebook
Kansas extended its home winning streak to eight games, tying the longest streak in school history. The Jayhawks own the Big 12's second-longest home winning streak, trailing only Texas Tech, who has 10 straight home wins. Texas, the previous leader, had its 16-game streak ended Saturday by Ohio State.
HOMEWINNINGSTREAKEXTENDED
KANSAS STREAKING
The Jayhawks have now won four straight games dating back to last season, tying its longest show under Manning. The team has won four straight on three different occasions.
Kansas Athletics Inc. celebrated Heroes Night at Saturday's game, recognizing many veterans armed services divisions. Amounts those recognized were several Kansas students, including home from duty in Afghanistan and Iraq. Students recognized were Sergeants David Warren, Jason Neal, Jennifer Jones, Adrian Motta and Specialist Susan Massey.
SOLDIERS RECOGNIZED
Ups, downs of Meier's second performance
The offense as a whole looked sluggish and did not produce when it had to. There
were key third downs late in the game that if the Jayhawks converted, they would have put the Warhawks away. Someone needs to step up and be a vocal leader for everyone else to feed off of, and this needs to be Meier — no matter his age or year in school. The offense cannot look sluggish again at Toledo on Friday or the Jayhawks will be 2-1.
Freshman quarterback Kerry Meier finished the night 16-for-27 for 185 yards, with two passing touchdowns and two interceptions. How was his performance compared to last week?
--- Daniel C. Webeldorfar
Kerry Meter locked a lot better on Saturday, especially with his abit.
in his second game. He failed to make good reads and find secondary receivers. Instead, he chose to force the ball to receivers who were not open. This resulted in easy interceptions for Louisiana-Monroe. Meier will have to improve as the team moves into Big 12 Conference play.
Asher Fusco
itty to scramble and run when he was presetied. He weeled to stay
Meier's final stats looked decent on paper, but he looked every bit a freshman
B. J. Rains
in the pocket and give his receivers time to get open downfield, but more impressively, he was able to pick up the first down with his legs when no one was open. His comfort level will continue to rise as he gets more experience under his belt, but his seven touchdowns in two games proves that he's the real deal.
Meier looked more comfortable this week despite
— Kayvon Sarraf
Last week, most of the jayhawks touchdowns were set up by defense
and special teams, which led to short fields for the offense to work with. This week, the three touchdowns came on 80-yard drives, all of which were capped by Kerry Meter touchdowns.
constantly being under pressure and playing with a limited playbook. He threw two beautiful touchdown passes and made plays with his feet that Jayhawk fans have not seen since the days of Bill Whittemore. He still tends to telegraph his passes but will improve with more experience. We will learn a lot more about Meier under the bright lights Friday night at Toledo, where offensive coordinator Nick Quartaro should give Meier more chances to throw the ball down the field.
Jack Connor
Edited by Catherine Odson