THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN SPORTS ROWING | 3B Races count unofficially The rowing team raced against Kansas State on Saturday, but windy weather conditions caused imprecise starting points MONDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2010 WWW.KANSAN.COM SIMPLY OFFENSIVE PAGE 1B Jerry Wang/KANSAN Texas A&M running back Christine Michael breaks through the Kansas defense during the second quarter. The Kansas defense gave up 521 yards in the 45-10 loss at Memorial Stadium on Saturday night. Quarterbacks struggle in another loss BY KORY CARPENTER kcarpenter@kansan.com Things have officially gotten worse for the Kansas offense. one of the few sustained Kansas drives of the night. KU was down 24-10 but on the verge of getting back within seven points. A collision on a six-yard scramble on the following play injured Webb's shoulder, but he decided to stay quiet and remain in the game. in the middle of their 45-10 loss to Texas A&M on Saturday, quarterbacks Jordan Webb and Kale Pick had their night ended by injuries. Midway through the second quarter, Webb marched the offense down to the A&M 13-yard line, The decision was ill-advised, as SEE FOOTBALL ON PAGE 5B Rvan Wannnner/KANCAN Freshman quarterback Jordan Webb is tackled by two Texas A&M defenders on Saturday evening at Memorial Stadium. The Jayhawks never led in the game, as they lost their third-straight game, 45-10. VOLLEYBALL Cyclones beat Jayhawks in three sets Team outmatched despite previous win BY IAN CUMMINGS icummings@kansan.com Kansas fell in three sets to the No. 12 Iowa State Cyclones on Saturday, outmatched offensively and defensively by the team it upset on Oct. 9. The Cyclones were ranked No. 10 in the earlier meeting, making them the first top-10 opponent the Jayhawks had defeated in program history. Middle blocker freshman Caroline Jarmoc said that the team knew the Cyclones would be tough to beat and went into the match aggressively, but struggled with errors and had trouble with defense on both the front and back rows. "In some areas of the game, we weren't as fully polished as we needed to beat a No. 12-ranked team," Jarmoc said. "It was just the little details that held us back." Iowa State (15-4 overall, 8-3 Big 12) advanced to its fourth-straight win, taking all three sets with scores of 25-20, 25-23 and 25-20. The Jayhawks kept the games close for much of the contest, but couldn't sustain a lead over a Cyclones offense with three players posting double-digit kills and a defense that stacked up 55 digs Jarmoc helped the Jayhawks come close to tying the score early in the first set with three kills on a 6-1 run. She went on to record eight kills with a team best .438 hitting efficiency and four blocks. But, once having fallen behind, Kansas could not catch up. Kansas brought the deficit back to a single point again later in set with kills by junior outside hitter Allison Mayfield and senior outside hitters Karina Garlington and Jenna Kaiser, together with a Cyclones error. Iowa State answered back with three consecutive points and led by five in a defense that tacked up 35 tig- 17 more than the Jayhawks did. iowa State took an early lead in the opening set and never allowed Kansas to get more than two points ahead. the end. As a team, the Jayhawks hit for only .081 β€” against the Cyclones' .231 β€” in the first set and went on to improve their offense in the second set. But so did the Cyclones. Kaiser said the 0-3 loss wasn't the way the team hoped to go into the second half of conference play "I feel like we were having some problems defensively," Kaiser said. "We weren't really running down balls well. We knew the game plan, but I guess they played really well and we didn't. We play. efficiency and four service aces. Junior Carly Jenson and sophomore Jamie Straube followed with 10 and 11 kills, respectively. The Jayhawk offense was led by Garlington, who contributed 14 kills with a .229 hitting efficiency. Iowa State followed a Kansas error with a service ace to close the match 25-23, which mirrored just didn't follow through with the information that we had" "We knew the game plan, but I guess they played really well and we didn't." The second set was a much closer contest that saw Kansas and Iowa State exchanging one-point leads almost from start to finish. Iowa State senior7 Victoria Henson led the Cyclones with 16 kills in the match, with a .222 hitting JENNA KAISER Senior outside hitter in reverse β€”the end of the second set that Kansas won in the Oct. 9 match. β€” in reverse T h e Cyclones led set three from the beginning, allowing only one tie score at 8-8. Both teams saw less success on offense, but Kansas remained behind in the numbers with a hitting efficiency of .163 against the Cyclones' .303. Iowa State outblocked Kansas 7-6 in the contest as a whole and ended the set and match with back-to-back kills by Straube and one more from sophomore Alison Landwehr. Coach Ray Bechard said the Jayhawks would look to create more defensive opportunities in the upcoming match with Missouri and turn close sets into wins. "We know we've got to do a better job in endgame," Bechard said. "When it's 20-20, 22-all, stepping up and making good volleyball plays." "We're going to get right back on there," Bechard said of the upcoming match at Missouri. "And I know we'll have a focused group ready and the team will be hungry to break through on the road, so that's what we'll be looking for." The Jayhawks hit the road Wednesday for a Border Showdown at Missouri. In their last meeting, the Jayhawks topped the Tigers in four sets to improve the series record to 33-49 with Missouri holding the advantage. The match will be televised on Metro Sports in Lawrence. Edited by Anna Nordling COMMENTARY Team lacks talent, fails to improve once again BYMAX VOSBURGH mvosburgh@kansan.com The only thing that is getting beaten worse than the lavhawks than the jayhawks in conference play is coach Turner Gill's perception among the fans. Another blowout loss, this time to Texas A&M 45-10, is just fuel for the fire that is putting heat on the head coach who is only seven games into his career at Kansas. As if there was ever any doubt before this week, Kansas has become the worst team in the Big 12. They've become that team opponents look forward to playing because it's fun to win by five touchdowns. They've become that team who can help opponents on three game losing streaks leave on the right track. The Jayhawks are only three seasons removed from winning the Orange Bowl and it was only last year Kansas had expected to compete for the Big 12 North title. At the center of this disaster is Gill, who is dealing with mounting criticism. What is there to say about him? He has been outscored 159-24 in three Big 12 games. He won against New Mexico State, who is 1-6 and against Georgia Tech who hasn't been ranked since it lost to Kansas and already has lost three times this year. Still, they are defending ACC champions but the reality is that sometimes, you just get lucky. The worst part is that minimal, if any, improvements are being made from week to week. So despite the clear lack of talent on this team, a good coach would still take a group of players and make them better as the season progresses. You definitely could not say that happened between the Baylor and Kansas State games. And although the Kansas offense seemed as if they may be able to compete with Texas A&M early in the game, devastating mistakes killed any hope the Jayhawks might have had. It doesn't help that both quarterbacks Kale Pick and Jordan Webb left the game against A&M with injuries, but it wasn't as if Kansas was competitive until they left the game. The Jayhawks never led. "I can't really put a finger on what exactly happened," tight end Tim Biere said. "Something just always happens." The end result was a stadium which is seeing dwindling attendance and an increasing number of fans leaving early. "We just try to get to better, Gill said. "That's all we can do is try and get better as a football team and obviously we have injuries." What makes Gill's situation at Kansas even messier is the fact that his contract makes it very difficult and expensive SEEVOSBURGH ON PAGE 4B ---