The Big 12 conference triumphed in the opening games of the football season last weekend. 3B A few baseball players spent the summer in Minnesota to compete in a seasonal league and gain more experience. 2B
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 6,2006 WWW.KANSAN.COM
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
SPORTS
PAGE 1B
NCAA
New rule changes compel faster play
BY C.J. MOORE
The NCAAs rule changes to shorten the length of football games appear to be working.
This Saturday marked the first time in two years that a KU football game lasted less than 3 hours.
To please a football-fan base with an ever-decreasing attention span, the NCAA wrote three rule changes this offseason to shorten the length of football games that consistently lasted more than 3.5 hours.
The clock starts on a change of possession when the official whistles the game into play. Previously, it started when the ball was snapped.
> On kickoffs, the clock now starts when the kicker's foot makes contact with the ball, instead of when the receiving team first touches the ball.
> Kicking tees have been shortened to one inch to try to reduce the number of touchbacks.
Saturday's game against Northwestern State ended in 2 hours, 57 minutes. The last time a KU football game ended in less than 3 hours occurred on Nov. 6, 2004, when Kansas played Colorado at Memorial Stadium in 2 hours, 55 minutes.
Last season, KU football games lasted an average of 3 hours and 20 minutes. When Kansas opened the season in 2005 against another Division 1-AA team, Florida Atlantic, the game was 23 minutes longer than Saturday's game.
Coaches across the country stand on opposite sides of the NCAA's decision. Some coaches, like KU Kansas' coach Mark Mangino, don't seem bothered, while others seem ready to demand that the NCAA negate the changes.
negate the changes.
Texas Tech coach Mike Leach is worried that the changes will hurt his team's prolific offense, which translates into more points the more plays the Red Raiders are able to run. Whether the rule changes affect the number of points scored remains unclear, but less time decreases the number of plays during a game.
SEE CLOCK ON PAGE 4B
"I think the new rule clock rules are stupid," Leach said. "We talk about football, football, football, and we do all we can to have less football."
ball.
Mangino addressed the issue last month at KU football's media day. Mangino is more worried about adjusting to rule changes than getting it back to the way it was.
"I want to take a wait-and-see attitude about these changes, but I am concerned that we have to make adjustments ourselves. We have to get our offensive and defensive units and our personnel on the sideline together very quickly," Mangino said. "As coaches, we have to think way ahead before the series starts, both offensively and defensively."
Other coaches in the Big 12, like Texas coach Mack Brown, have similar opinions to Mangino. Brown said the Longhorns had to make adjustments to speed up their two-minute offense before halftime against
》FOOTBALL
Rodney Allen, senior defensive end, tackles Northwestern State's Ricky Joe Meeks, junior quarterback, during Saturday's game.
Kansas defense performs well
Freshmen played key role in first defensive starts of season
BY RYAN SCHNEIDER
The Kansas defense was put to the test early in Saturday's game against Northwestern State — and fared surprisingly well.
On the first two defensive series of the game, Kansas took the field with Northwestern State inside its 30-yard line. Both times, the Demons came away with field goals — a good trend considering that more than half of the defense made their first career starts in the game.
Kansas coach Mark Mangino said he was encouraged to see the defense handle adversity well at the beginning of the season.
"We have some quality, battle-tested guys on that defense that have been in that position before," Mangino said. "There's a lot of kids
Considering the team's youth, keeping the Demons out of the end zone on those two possessions early in the first quarter was quite an accomplishment. In fact, many of those younger players, played a role in those first two defensive stands.
that have not been in that position before and they responded very well."
In their first defensive starts, both sophomore linebacker Mike Rivera and junior-transfer corner-back Blake Buelllet recorded a tackle in the first series.
On the second series, junior cornerback Saqid Muhmamed forced his first career fumble, stripping the ball from Northwestern State running back Byron Lawrence. The ball, however, bound out of bounds and bounced with the Demons.
Muhammed, a former walk-on who recently earned a scholarship, was described by Mangino as a "steady hand" in the secondary.
"He's a smart guy," Mangino said.
"He gets himself in position to make plays. He knows what he's doing, he's calm and cool."
In just three seasons, Muhammed has gone from the scout team to a starting position. Mangino said Muhammed, the starting free safety, has worked hard on improving his speed and is one of the most improved players in developing speed.
For players who saw their first action as a Jayhawk on Saturday, like redshirt-freshman defensive lineman Caleb Blakesley, the game was an opportunity to clear away any nervousness and focus on the game.
"Once you get those nerves out of the way the first time, you can just get in and really study opponents and understand who you're playing against, and how they play and play hard every time you go out there," Blakesley said.
The Jayhawks rushing defense looked reminiscent of last season's squad, holding the Demons to just 62 yards on 30 carries. It was the 10th time in the last 13 games that Kansas has held an opponent to less than 100 yards rushing. Last season, the Jayhawks were second in the nation in rushing defense, holding opponents to less than 85 yards a game.
One of the challenges facing this season's defense early in the year was identifying a leader to replace former Jayhawks Nick Reid, Banks
Floodman and Kevin Kane.
One of the leaders that has emerged thus far is senior linebacker Eric Washington. Freshman safety Olaitan Oguntodu said Washington had emerged as leader because he always offers advice and guidance to the younger players in practice.
“Our linebackers help the secondary, just like our front lineman helps the linebackers.” Oguntodu said. “I think we really gel together very well because we understand each other and the fact that we're young, but we do not use that as an excuse.”
Kansan senior sportswriter Ryan Schneider can be contacted at rschneider@kansan.com.
SERENITY NOW
—Edited by Brett Bolton
Manhattan's rotten apples
State of Kansas may soon have new football powerhouse
Was it just me, or did I detect a particularly funky smell around 9:10 p.m. Saturday, emanating from the west? And no, it wasn't cow patches I was smelling, but it did remind me of rotting "little apples."
Right around the time Kansas had finished slopping through its 49-18 beating of I-AA Northwestern State, our lavender-laden brethren to the west, K-State, eked out its own victory against a I-AA opponent, Illinois State, 24-23
Oh, I know what the smell was. It was the smell of change, my friends.
A one-point victory against a I-AA foe? Who does K-State think they are, Colorado? No wait,
BY FRED A. DAVIS III
KANSAN COLUMNIST
FDAVIS@KANSAN.COM
Colorado lost its I-AA match-up last weekend...
Here's the deal though. Kansas State, the Wildcats, the team that was resurrected from the depths of college football hell by Bill Snyder, the team that came an overtime-loss short of a national title in 1998, had a Heisman runner-up in Michael Bishop that same year and
K-State fans, I hate to be the one to tell you this, but your magical run as a football school is nearing its end, and instead of sprinting, you're stumbling toward the finish line. Those days of 9-, 10- or 11-win seasons are soon to be replaced by 4-, 5-, 6-, or 7-win seasons highlighted by trips to the Fort Worth Bowl.
But Fred, we just went to the Fort Worth Bowl. I know we did.
then shocked college football in 2003 when it destroyed Oklahoma for the Big 12 title..barely edges Illinois State in its home opener? Somewhere Chad May is wondering where it all went wrong.
SEE DAVIS ON PAGE 4B
Charlie Riedel/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Kansas State coach Ron Prince disputes a pass interference call during the second quarter of a football game against Illinois State on Saturday in Manhattan, Kan.
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