THE UNIVERSITY HAIRY KANSAN
TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 19, 2027
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2007
SPORTS
3B
》 FOOTBALL NOTEBOOK
Defensive takeaways seal Saturday's victory
Webb gives solid kicking performance
OFFENSIVE TACKLE IN THE CLEAR
Junior offensive tackle Anthony Collins will not face any further disciplinary action, Kansas coach Mark Mangino said. Mangino left
Collins on the sideline for the Jayhawks' first offensive series on Saturday against Toledo for disciplinary reasons. Mangino did not specify
Collins
the reason for the punishment but said Collins should start this week against Florida International. Freshman Ian Wolfe started in Collins' place on Saturday, marking his first career start.
FORCING TURNOVERS
In a Monday teleconference, Mangino said the Jayhawks' ability to create turnovers was one of the major positives he took away from the Toledo game. After failing to record a takeaway in the first two games, Kansas defenders made three interceptions and recovered one fumble last Saturday.
Sophomore safety Darrell Stuckey.
junior cornerback Aqib Talib and junior defensive end John Larson each intercepted a Toledo pass attempt, and sophomore defenses. end
Larson
Jeff Wheeler fell on a fumble late in the fourth quarter.
CONSISTENT KICKER
Senior kicker Scott Webb enjoyed a third consecutive strong effort against Toledo. Webb booted three of
his seven kickoffs into or through the end zone for touchbacks, made one of his two field goal attempts and converted all six of his extra point attempts. On the season, Webb has
Webb
sent seven of his 27 kickoffs into the end zone for touchbacks, made three of his four field goal attempts and made all of his extra point kicks.
Asher Fusco
Friday night showdown pits college versus high school
ASSOCIATED PRESS
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — For years and years, an unwritten rule in college football said you never schedule games on Friday nights.
Friday night belonged exclusively to high schools. It was sort of a gentleman's agreement between universities and secondary schools because colleges did not want to cut into high school game attendance.
And they still don't, Bob Stoops said as he prepared to send his fourth-ranked Oklahoma Sooners against Tulsa in a made-for TV affair this Friday night.
"And it isn't something you'll see us doing again for a long, long time."
"I think this is the only Friday night game we have had," said the Oklahoma coach Monday, apparently forgetting his season opener at Tulsa in 2002 also fell on a Friday.
Oklahoma State played at Troy on Friday night, so Oklahoma's three biggest schools will all have broken the unwritten rule this year and apparently incurred the wrath of quite a few high school officials around the state.
"It's an absolute travesty for high school football," Butch Peters, head coach at Norman, Okla., High School told the Daily Oklahoman. "It's going to kill a lot of gates, a lot of crowds. I'm very upset about it. ... I can't believe the NCAA would allow any network to broadcast games on Friday nights."
Apparently, there are two main reasons universities have begun
scheduling on Friday night television money and television exposure.
"It's sad that money causes shifts in decades-old traditions," said Gary Savely, athletics director at Oklahoma's McGuinness High School. "But it is a fact of life that cannot be ignored."
Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy also said it's something the Cowboys do not do lightly.
"If we play a game on a Friday night, our thought is to play it out of state, not in-state," said Gundy. "Nobody wants to affect high school football. But then again, do you want to play on national TV? It's kind of a double-edged sword."
Stoops said Oklahoma consulted with high school officials about their plans.
"Our athletics director, Joe Castiglione, did go to the high school coaches association and check with them before we agreed to do it," he said.
"They were OK with it because it isn't something we're going to make a habit of. You probably won't see us do it again. It's not that we need to be on TV. We're on TV every week. This won't be something you see us making a habit of, for sure."
And who knows? Maybe Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Tulsa have unwittingly helped rival recruiters get their foot in the door at Oklahoma high schools — at least those who do not play on Friday night.
That may be little comfort to high school officials dealing with diminished crowds and shrunken ticket sales this weekend.
TOWEL POWER
Jayhawks' faults hardly alarming Depth problems pale in comparison to OSU's mess
Fusco: Another week and another win for Kansas, as the Todd Reesing show rolled on for the third consecutive week without any big hitches. Reesing was great, the defense was stout and Jake Sharp ran all over Toledo's defense. A lot of things stood out to me as definite positives on Saturday night, namely the Kansas defense's allowing just 77 passing yards and forcing four turnovers.
BY ASHER FUSCO AND CASE KEEFER
KANSAN SPORTS COLUMNISTS
AFUSCO@KANSAN.COM
CKEEFER@KANSAN.COM
Keefer: Searching for Kansas' deficiencies through the lens of its first three games is like mining for gold on Mount Oread. You can try, but you're not going to find anything. But that's not to say it's time to pencil the Jayhawks in for a New Year's Day bowl game. Depth could be a concern for this team, compared with the Big 12 conference's best. Kansas hasn't encountered any problems in that area yet, but imagine an injury to a starting
offensive lineman, for example. It could be fatal.
Fusco: Depth is certainly an issue for Kansas at some spots, most notably up front. The Jayhawks got quite a scare early in Saturday's game when junior guard Chet Hartley left with a leg injury. Thankfully for Kansas, he was back a few plays later, because the team's depth on the offensive and defensive lines is certainly short of ideal. But hey, at least the Jayhawks didn't lose to a team from the Sun Belt Conference.
Oklahoma State, I'm looking at you.
Keefer: To put it lightly, the Cowboys have been an embarrassment. They received national attention because everyone thought their offense would be as golden as King Tut's tomb. Instead, it's been rusty enough to make me feel as if I would need a tetanus shot if I touched it. Now Stillwater, Okla., $ in the midst of a quarterback controversy between Zac Robinson and Bobby Reid, star running back Dantrell Savage is banged up, and the defense looks like that of a middle school team.
Fusco: Overall, it was a pretty underwhelming weekend for the Big 12. Nebraska, one of the supposed powers of the Big 12 North division, was completely destroyed by USC at home, and Texas barely escaped the University of Central Florida's famed Bright House
Networks Stadium with a win. If we learned anything this weekend, it is that the SEC and the Pac-10, sans Auburn and UCLA, are head and shoulders above any of the other conferences.
Keefer: Those two conferences are home to nine of the nation's 30 unbeaten teams. Kansas' road to an undefeated start may have been easier than the majority of those 30 teams, but the important thing is that the Jayhawks have looked perfect doing it. For the Jayhawk fans who need something to be skeptical about, consider this: Reesing has thrown for more than 200 yards in his first three games. Who was the last KU quarterback to accomplish this? Old friend Adam Barmann accomplished the feat three years ago. Yikes! Similarities between Reesing and Barmann? Say it ain't so.
》PGA
- Edited by Matt Erickson
Tiger caps historic year with another victory Despite dominating Tour, his best years may be ahead of him
BY DOUG FERGUSON ASSOCIATED PRESS
ATLANTA — Four victories in his last five starts is proof enough that Tiger Woods is more dominant than ever, especially considering he won those four tournaments by a combined 20 shots and shattered tournament scoring records in consecutive weeks.
More evidence came from his caddie as he waited for Woods to arrive for the final round of the Tour Championship.
No practice? Not quite.
"He hasn't hit a practice ball since the British Open," Steve Williams said. "I've been with him nearly 10 years now, and this is the best I've ever seen him hit the ball."
Tiger Woods holds up the FedEx Cup trophy after winning both the Tour Championship golf tournament and the cup points standing at East Lake Golf Club on Sunday in Atlanta. Woods' recent performances will be near the quality of his 2000 season, when he won three major tournaments.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
What he meant was that Woods has such command over his game that he stopped going to the practice range after his rounds since returning home from Carnoustie.
Woods confirmed as much when he left East Lake with his two trophies — one for the Tour Championship, one for the FedEx Cup.
"Hey, there was no need to go"
he said with a shrug and a smile.
Whether this is the best he has ever played is up for debate, but don't expect Woods to participate. He is always looking forward, always trying to figure out a way to get better. That's what makes it so daunting for the guys trying to reach his level. They know they have to get better, and that's assuming Woods doesn't continue to improve himself.
So far, that hasn't happened.
Since his latest round of swing changes took root at the end of 2004, Woods has won 21 times on the PGA Tour. That's more than Phil Mickelson, Vijay Singh and Jim Furyk combined over the last three years.
And the truly scary part is that Woods, at age 31, might still be years away from his prime.
"I don't know when it's going to be," Woods said. "The whole idea is to try and keep improving. When all is said and done, when you rack the cue and go home and retire, you can honestly say, 'These were my best years, when I was at my peak.' But when you're in it, you're always trying to improve that a little bit to get to the next level."
As the trophies keep piling up, the numbers are simply staggering.
Woods now has won 61 times in just more than 11 full years on the PGA Tour, Jack Nicklaus was 36 when he captured his 61st tour victory. He has won 28 percent of the time since turning pro, and that if that number is hard to fathom alone, consider that Mickelson has won 9 percent of his tournaments, Singh is at 8 percent and Ernie Els at 6 percent.
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In Woods' eyes, his turning point came at the Western Open last July. He had just missed the cut in a major for the first time, opened with a 72 at Cog Hill, then spent hours that Thursday afternoon on the practice range.
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No one thought Woods' 2000 season could ever be topped, and it probably remains the benchmark. Woods won nine times in 20 starts, including three straight majors, and three victories of at least eight shots. But his highest winning percentage was last year (8-of-15), and his adjusted scoring average is the same as it was in 2000.
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Woods' final putt for par at East Lake put him at 23-under 257 for the lowest 72-hole score of his career, and six shots better than the previous record at the Tour Championship. A week earlier at Cog Hill, he broke the tournament record by five shots at 22-under 262, winning by two over Aaron Baddeyle.
With his 2007 season in the books all he has left is the Presidents Cup and his Target World Challenge in December Woods finished with a 67.79 adjusted scoring average, equaling his record from the 2000 season.
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