KANSAN.COM / THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN / THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2010 / **SPORTS** / 3B
FOOTBALL
Boisterous Cornhusker fanbase doesn't scare players
Mecham knows he must keep mind off the crowd
BY NICOLAS ROESLER
nroesler@kansan.com
Come Saturday, the Colorado game will be a distant memory.
Coach Turner Gill said he has been telling his players this week that they shouldn't have any doubts.
However, the aim for the Kansas football team this week is to somehow transfer the energy from the 28-point comeback against Colorado to the first quarter of the Nebraska game.
He said that he is reaffirming their belief in themselves by doing so. They have seen themselves perform at a high level, and not only play with intensity, but execute with intensity play after play. Now they have to continue that in a hostile environment.
Freshman cornerback Tyler Patmon recovers a Colorado fumble before returning for a 28-yard touchdown. Kansas scored 35 points in the fourth quarter, the most scored in a quarter in school history.
Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Nebraska, holds a deafening 86,000 fans. That is more than every city in Nebraska except Omaha and Lincoln. Despite the thunderous reputation of Memorial Stadium, starting quarterback Quinn Mecham's mind is focused on other things.
"You can't get going and psych yourself out because then you're done from the start." Mecham said.
Mecham, a junior college transfer, hasn't played in many environments like the "Sea of Red" in Lincoln. Mecham said the loudest stadium he had played in before coming to
Kansas was the Rice-Eccles Stadium at the University of Utah, which holds a whopping 44,500 people, basically half of Memorial Stadium in Lincoln.
But Mecham has kept his mind off that. And that level head is one reason why Gill has named Mecham the starting quarterback for the rest of the year.
Jerry Wang/KANSAN
"His poise has been very high," Gill said. "He has been able to execute our offense. He has made one or two mistakes in that aspect, but I really like the way that our players have responded (to him)."
It might be more difficult to execute the offense this week against a defense that only allows 19 points per game. On the other side of the ball, Kansas has allowed almost 15 more points per game by opponents. Players are confident in the game plan the coaches have implemented this week to slow down a potential Heisman candidate, quarterback Taylor Martinez.
Acting as Martinez on the practice squad this week is junior wide receiver Rod Harris Jr. Put there because of his speed, not because of his arm, he has noticed how quick the starting defense has been able to understand the Nebraska offense.
"It's like they just picked up on it," Harris said, "I don't think I broke past the line of scrimmage too many times."
Defending against the sixth-best
running team in the country will be a challenge. A key to the game for Gill is to protect the ball in order to keep it away from the Nebraska offense.
Excluding the offense's explosion of the fourth quarter against Colorado, Kansas football ranks 102 in scoring offense. Mecham said part of the low scoring average is
due to the slow starts Kansas has had, but he hopes the powerful ending of the Colorado game will lead to a powerful start this Saturday.
"I think it is energy that we can
use to go out and start fast for once." Mecham said.
Edited by Clark Goble
SPORTS LAW
Wanting to uphold Title IX, Law Center files complaints
ASSOCIATED PRESS
athletes
NEW YORK — The National Women's Law Center filed complaints against 12 school districts Wednesday alleging they failed to offer equal opportunities for female
Education's Office for Civil Rights will investigate the complaints.
Ky; Sioux Falls, S.D.; Wake County,
N.C.; and Worcester, Mass.
The school districts are Chicago;
Clark County, Nev.; Columbus,
Ohio; Deer Valley, Ariz.; Henry
County, Ga.; Houston; Irvine, Calif;
New York City; Oldham County.
Determining whether Title IX violations exist is more complicated than looking at raw numbers because the statute can be satisfied in one of three ways: if the percentage of athletes who are girls is about the same as the student body; if the school has continually expanded opportunities for girls; or if the school meets its female students' interest in participating in sports.
NWLC officials say they believe statistics from 2006 indicate the districts violated Title IX, the federal law prohibiting gender discrimination in federally funded education programs. The U.S.Department of
"There are equal opportunities for girls to participate in our school district and it is something that is really important to us," said Irvine's Cassie Parham, assistant superintendent and a former athlete.