THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN SPORTS
Both teams battle in Wisconsin
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MONDAY,OCTOBER 4,2010
The men's team finished 16th in the Wisconsin Adidas Invitational and the women's team finished 11th
WW .KANSAN.COM
PAGE 1B
BAD NEWS BEAR-ERS
Griffin, Baylor roll Jayhawks 55-7
Baylor running back Jay Finley leaps over Kansas' defensive line during the first half. Baylor put up 678 yards of total offense, a new school record.
BY MATT GALLOWAY
mgalloway@kansan.com
twitter.com/themattgalloway
SEE MORE COVERAGE IN THE FOOTBALL REWIND ON PAGES 4-5B
Before coach Turner Gill's first season began, many Kansas football fans rejoiced that Big 12 powerhouses Texas and Oklahoma were absent from the Jayhawks' schedule. They saw the softer schedule as an opportunity to get to a bowl game in the new staff's first season.
It turns out there was another team in Texas the jayhawks should have been more concerned about: perennial conference bottom-feeder Baylor.
Highly-touted quarterback Robert Griffin III passed for 380 yards and three touchdowns, both new career highs, and the Baylor Bears obliterated the Jayhawks 55-7 on Saturday at Floyd Casey Stadium. The Bears broke team records for total yardage — 678 — and points scored in a Big 12 game.
"I am disappointed." Gill said. "Obviously, not a very good job by us as a coaching staff. Great job by Baylor, their staff and their players. They played an outstanding football game and we could never get anything going."
Ryan Waggoner/KANSAN
The Bears (4-1, 1-0) scored early and often, recording at least one touchdown in every quarter. In addition to his passing yardage, Griffin ran for 64 yards, including a one-yard touchdown run early in the second quarter that put the Bears up 17-0. Baylor would go on to score 55, the most ever for a Bears team in Big 12 play.
The 678 yards surrendered were the most by a Kansas (2-3, 0-1)
defense since it allowed 680 to Auburn in 1988. The secondary, ranked sixth-best in the country in pass yardage allowed coming into the game, allowed a 94-yard screen pass for a touchdown to wide receiver Josh Gordon with 4:09 left in the second quarter. Gordon's longest career reception and Griffin's longest career completion made the score 24-7.
"Overall, it was an embarrassing game," said senior safety Olaitan Oguntodu. "It was just embarrassing all the way around. We have to watch film and figure out where we are lacking, but we played a good team today."
In the film room, junior linebacker Steven Johnson was impressed with what he saw from the Bears' previous four games. What impressed him even more was the size of some of Baylor's starters.
"We knew they were a good team," Johnson said. "But when I went out there, they were bigger
than I thought.
All of them
were big. I was
like, 'What do
they eat? How
are they that
big?'
Freshman quarterback Jordan Webb
Webb
was sacked three times and threw
two interceptions, the second a 14-yard pick-six to safety Tim Atchinson that came only 12 seconds after Baylor's previous touchdown.
Webb and the offense moved the ball well in the first quarter but had nothing to show for it. The team picked up 85 yards in the quarter but were outscored 10-0.
"It is definitely frustrating."
Webb said. "You want to be able to finish a drive and that is something we just have to work at."
Webb's first quarter fumble was the team's first turnover on offense since the second game of the season against Georgia Tech. Webb would finish the game 16-for-28 passing with one touchdown and two interceptions. Baylor dominated the Jawhaws, but Webb said
it should not be looked at as a sign to come in Big 12 play.
"It was the same, we just didn't execute," Webb said. "We beat ourselves, but you have to credit the other team. They made big plays when they needed to and we just didn't."
Edited by Clark Goble
SOCCER
Team tops Longhorns, falls to Aggies
Jayhawks regain their consistency in weekends' games
Junior forward Emily Cressy passes the ball to a teammate Sunday at the Jayhawk Soccer Complex. Cressy scored in the 65th minute in the 1-0 Victory over Texas." I just wanted to win. Everyone did well today. They did whatever they could do to win. When I scored it was just a feeling of relief, but we still didn't let up," Cressy said. The team sported pink warmups before the game for the annual "Jayhawk for a Cure" in support of breast cancer awareness and research.
BY MIKE LAVIERI
mlavieri@kansan.com
Mike Gunnoe/KANSAN
The soccer team played its most consistent soccer this weekend as it went 1-1.
Kansas (5-7 overall, 1-3 Big 12) defeated Texas (7-3-2 overall, 0-2-1) for the first time since 2005 and for only the second time in the last 15 years on Sunday.
With strong defense, the Jayhawks were able to shut out the Longhorns 1-0. Coach Mark Francis told his players that the season has been up and down, and they haven't put together two performances in one weekend where they have been consistently good.
"This was the first weekend that we did," Francis said. "We didn't get the result on Friday against A&M, but I thought that we played very well. We played very well today and we got the result today."
He was pleased that the team played a consistent 90 minutes and that it competed really hard.
"The kids did a really good job staying disciplined and sticking
plan," Francis said.
hit a shot off the post. Berry nearly had a goal on Friday, but it too went off the post.
Kansas was able to limit Texas to 12 shots, with only four having any chance of going in. The Jayhawks had a chance in the
"We're unlucky with the post, but we're going to get goals," Berry
"We need to build off this game into the next ones and keep doing what we are doing."
said.
first half Sunday, when sophomore midfielder Whitney Berry
SHELBY WILLIAMSON Sophomore defender
T he Jay hawks did find a little luck when junior forward Emily Cressy knocked in a rebound from a shot by senior
midfieider Erin Ellefson in the 65th minute.
The Jayhawks were able to hold freshman forward Leah Fortune to one shot. Texas coaches kept telling their players to look to get the ball to Fortune.
The defense's only blunder this weekend was a goal given up to No. 10 Texas A&M's (8-3 overall, 1-1 Big 12) Alyssa Mautz.
The senior midfielder tallied her ninth goal of the season on Friday in A&M's 1-0 win over Kansas.
Mautz shot the ball from the top of the box into the upper right corner of the goal in the 21st
"The defenders are playing well, but they have been pretty consistent all year," Francis said. "Kat in goal has been solid too."
Kansas had an opportunity with 17 minutes left to tie the game when Emily Cressy hit a shot toward goal, but Texas A&M senior goalkeeper Kelly Dyer punched the ball away.
Kansas will try to keep its momentum going as it continues its home stand on Friday as it hosts No. 8 Oklahoma State (11-1-1 overall, 4-0 Big 12).
minute.
"We need to build off this game into the next ones and keep doing what we are doing," said sophomore defender Shelby Williamson.
Edited by Abby Davenport
COMMENTARY
The sturdy layhawk running game that exploded against New Mexico State was held to 99 yards on 37 carries. That's a 2.7 average. Nothing doing for the layhawks on any side of the ball.
During the Big 12 Football Media Days this summer, Baylor didn't bring along quarterback Robert Griffin III.
And what can you say about Baylor's defense? It dismantled any momentum Kansas had coming into that game, picking off freshman quarterback Jordan Webb twice and sacking him three times. Freshman defensive end Tevin Elliot had two of the sacks, broke up two passes and forced a fumble.
It would have been nice to do a feature on one of the most talented players in the Big 12 coming off an injury. Instead, Baylor coach Art Briles wanted the attention spread out among his players.
The Bears showed them off Saturday, shellacking the Jayhawks 55-7. Sophomore receiver Josh Gordon will haunt Jayhawks fans for a while with his four-catch, 161-yard performance. One of his two touchdowns came off a short pass that turned into a 94-yard burst.
"There's a lot of really good football players at Baylor University," Baylor coach Art Briles said. "Everybody knows Robert Griffin."
Still, no one was as impressive as RG3.
Well, Robert, you had four three in the air, one on the ground. The 380 passing yards was a career high and the 94 yard pass to Gordon was a Baylor record.
"I don't know how many players had a touchdown or a big play today, but it was a lot," Griffin said.
BY COREY THIBODEAUX
cthibodeaux@kansan.com
There's more.
Not to mention, the team had 678 offensive yards in the game, also a Bavlor record.
The Bears have never won a Big 12 game by more than 28 points. The 48-point margin of victory was the largest in school history.
What were the Jayhawks going to do? What was any team going to do? Sometimes the opposing team is just destined to win. Baylor was that team on Saturday.
Griffin added 64 rushing yards, etching his name in the school record books with 444 offensive yards, the most by any individual. He came out after the third quarter, so his day could have been more breathtaking.
Everyone knows Big 12 competition is a different animal. But these Bears were ridiculous in this one.
"It was just one of those days where everything fell into place," Griffin said, "and I'm glad it was for us."
The Jayhawks fell to 2-3 on the season, though it seems worse than it is. The wins have been good while the losses have been gut-wrenching.
Kansas senior safety Olaitan Oguntodu put this game into perspective for everyone: "It is embarrassing."
Edited by Clark Goble