THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
SPORTS
SOCCER | 3B
Team focuses, splits weekend series
After losing 1-0 in overtime to Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Kansas recovered to beat Mo. State 2-0 on Sunday
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2010
WWW.KANSAN.COM
PAGE 1B
SOUTHERN MESS
Disjointed offense struggles
Mike Gunnoe/KANSAN
MIKE GUNNOR/KRISA Freshman quarterback Jordan Webb is burgled by senior punter Alonso Rojas lated in the fourth quarter. The Jayhawks had a rough game losing 31-16 to Miami Miss and failing to 1-2 overall.
Slow playcalling kills momentum, 'Hawks lose 31-16
BY MATT GALLOWAY
mgalloway@kansan.com twitter.com/themattgalloway
HATTIESBURG, Miss. — The Southern Miss football team is known for their no-huddle, hurry-up offense.
With their hopes fading away in the fourth quarter Friday night, the Kansas offense seemed to be in no hurry at all.
Southern Miss scored on a blocked punt and a halfback pass, freshman quarterback
Jordan Webb was sacked on a rushed fourth down play early in the fourth quarter and the Jayhawks lost to the Golden Eagles 31-16 at M.M. Roberts Stadium
Golden Eagles junior quarterback Austin Davis resembled what Georgia Tech senior quarterback Joshua Nesbitt was supposed to look like last week, gashing the Jayhawk defense for 65 yards on nine carries. Davis also scored on a one-yard quarterback keeper late in the third quarter that put Southern Miss up 28-10.
Davis' speed and agility did not surprise the Kansas defense; they just could not stop him.
"We knew they had a mobile quarterback," said senior strong safety Olatian Oguntodu. "We knew what they were going to do. We were prepared."
"Some of it was probably us, and some of it was a little Jordan."
in. So some of that was we as coaches' fault as far as when the clock was running down."
Southern Miss (2-1) ran three
TURNER GILL Coach
The Kansas offense looked disjointed all evening, burning timeouts early and often to avoid delay of game penalties. With the score 28-10 early in the fourth quarter, the coaching staff abstained from taking their final timeout on fourth and two with their offense rushing to get a play off. That play quickly broke down and resulted in another sack, one of four on the evening, and a turnover on downs.
Coach Turner Gill puts at least some of the blame on the coaching staff for the delay of game calls and burned timeouts.
"Some of it was probably us, and some of it was a little jordan," Gill said. "We were making our calls from the sideline and from upstairs and sometimes we were waiting too long to get the plays
1) ran three trick plays in the first quarter. The first was a flea flicker that turned into a quarterback option from Davis who picked up a first down. The second
was the team's first touchdown, a halfback pass from senior running back VJ. Floyd that soared over the Kansas (1-2) defensive line into the arms of senior tight end Jonathan Massey on third down.
Southern Miss' eagerness to run so many trick plays shows they had respect for the Kansas defense, Oguntodu said.
The third trick play went the Jayhawks' way when senior strong safety Phillip Strozier made a one-armed interception on a floating wide receiver pass near the Kansas endzone.
"I know this from my experience in football: When a team runs trick plays, they know you
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COMMENTARY
Two ways to look at Jayhawks this year
BY COREY THIBODEAUX
cthibodeaux@kaosan.com
I don't get it either. If you focus on everything the Jayhawks have done well this season, they are a pretty good football team.
If you look at all the flaws, the best you could expect is two more wins this season.
Friday was just another example of why Kansas is still working out the changes with all the new faces. They were completely out of sync in Hattiesburg, Miss., with several play-calling miscommunications throughout the game.
Goodness, Southern Miss running back VJ. Floyd had a touchdown pass and the Golden Eagles managed to block a punt for a touchdown.
What's worse is this was the Jayhawks' perfect opportunity to show the nation what they could do Friday night. All eyes were on them and they gave everyone a first-hand account of why beating Georgia Tech may have been a fluke.
It's a simple concept: win on primetime and people think highly of you. Look at the Kansas City Chiefs from last Monday.
So Jayhawk fans are stuck. Who is this team? Well, you can look at them two ways.
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VOLLEYBALL
Jayhawks win in five-setter vs. Texas A&M
BY IAN CUMMINGS icummings@kansan.com
Freshman defensive specialist Brianne Riley celebrates with her teammates following Kansas' five set victory over Texas A&M
Volleyball coach Ray Bechard celebrated his 200th win with Kansas in a victory against Texas A&M Saturday night.
Senior outside hitter Karina Garlington led the team with 14 kills, and junior outside hitter Allison Mayfield stood out with three solo blocks in an all-around effort that pushed the match into a fifth set and stopped a four-match winning streak for the Aegies.
Bechard said that the Jayhawks tried several different combinations in the course of the match, using 14 different players.
"It was one of those nights where we were a little out of sync," Bechard said. "We didn't execute great until we extended to game five, and then we got a little fire, a little burst there at the end and played aggressive."
In the first set, the Jayhawks saw their first lead of the night at 10-9 with a solo block from Garlington. After the Aggies took back the advantage 13-16, the Jayhawks put together a well-rounded offensive attack, with four players scoring kills, plus two service aces from sophomore defensive specialist Morgan Boub contributing to a nine-point run. With the score at 24-20, the Aggies scored three points in succession to threaten the lead before committing their fourth service error of the game and giving Kansas the set 25-23.
Kansas fell behind immediately in the second set, as its offense struggled to hit the mark. The Jayhawks
Bechard
registered only eight kills in the set and their hitting efficiency dropped from .238 to 029. After stringing together eight points to take the lead 3-13, the Aggies stayed ahead
Garlington said the Kansas offense was put off at times by Texas A&M's ability to get out of difficult
to the end of
the match,
which they won
18-25.
Dalton Gomez/KANSAN
situations.
"They just are a never-say-die team," she said. "It's frustrating as hitters, because we feel like we're giving our all and they're making crazy plays. They worked really hard and made a lot of great plays."
Meanwhile, the Jayhawks defended against Aggie outside hitter Kelsey Black, who scored 15 kills in 41 attempts, the most of any player in the match. Black is a No. 1 ranked player in the Big 12 for aces and points per set.
Handling that offense partly falls to freshman libero Brianne Riley. Riley led the team with 15 digs and was knocked to the floor several times by hard shots from the Aggies. She said it was a lot of pressure, but that she benefited from the successful blocks put up by her teammates.
"That's my position and that's my job," she said. "And I know it all starts with me, so if I don't get those balls up, the play usually ends."
The tide turned in set three, with a Kansas rally that didn't save the
set but did continue into the next two games. Still struggling and down 13-24, the Jayhawks went on an offensive run, putting off the Aggie set point seven times in a row. Before it was over, the Aggies saw two kills from sophomore middle blocker Tayler Tolefree, who also put up a couple of blocks together with Garlington, and two service aces by junior setter Nicole Tate. The third set ended 20-25, but Kansas had found a momentum that would carry them to victory in the next two sets.
As has happened before, the entrance of Tate to the game was accompanied by a competitive boost in the jayhawk offense. Garlington said one advantage to this is she has worked with Tate for the past two years.
"There's not much adjustment that has to be done because I know how she sets and how she plays," she said.
"We talked in the locker room about things that we needed to do better, that we needed to get some setter-hitter connections going, and all of our hitters going. And that this was a great opportunity for us that we didn't want to let slip." Garlington said.
Carlington said the team found more confidence in the third set and knew that they could play better.
The Jayhawks continued to have success offensively in the fourth set, taking the lead early and keeping it until winning the set 25-22. Of 12 kills scored by the Jayhawks in this set, Karina Garlington scored five, Allison Mayfield scored three,
"We felt like 14 and 2 for them were their keys, so any time those two were on the front row we would commit block and send players to go in front of them, and Mayfield had three solo blocks, so that means she was in front of the
while Tolefree, Riley, junior outside hitter Lauren Hagan and freshman setter Kara Wehrs each contributed one.
The layhawks also put up five blocks in that set, and went on to rack up 16 for the night - more than they have, Bechard said, in any match of the season or in some time.
More than his own milestone victory, Bechard stressed the importance of winning against a quality team in conference play. The victory over Texas A&M improves Kansas' record to 10-3 overall and
players she was supposed to be in front of."
As in the match as a whole, the Jayhawks started out behind in the fifth set and came back with some successful offensive plays. Lauren Hagan started the run with a kill to tie the score 7-7, and the Jayhawks kept it going to take the set 15-10, with some clutch shooting by Garlington and Mayfield.
Kansas will go on the road next for a 7 p.m. match against Nebraska in Lincoln, Neb. The Cornhuskers are ranked No. 4 in the latest AVCA Division I poll.
"They had beaten Texas 3-0 on Thursday night," he said. "This is a quality win against a top-half team in our league and you know, everybody's fighting over that top-half."
1-1 in conference play. Bechard noted that the Aggies had come in on a four-match win streak.
Edited by Clark Goble