THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN SPORTS
CROSS COUNTRY | 8B Jayhawks outrun competition
For the fifth consecutive year, KU cross country earns top marks in their season opener.
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2010
WWW.KANSAN.COM
GUT-WRENCHING
Jerry Wang/KANSAN
Junior linebacker Steven Johnson and senior defensive end Jake Laptad wrap up North Dakota State quarterback Jose Mohler. Johnson led the team with nine tackles including five solo tackles
Jayhawks lack offensive drive
Special teams defense outwork offensive game
BY MEGAN RUPP mrupp@kansan.com
Dreams of victory. Forty-eight thousand elated fans. A widespread feeling of pure magic. The expectations of a season opener were soon replaced by the nightmare of a heart-breaking loss, disillusioned audience and echoing sighs of desperation. What the 2010 Jayhawks needed was a spark, a pace-changing shift of momentum.
Though unable to find that relief from the line, wide receiver D.J. Beshears provided the
speed KU needed right on queue. Providing momentary glimmers of hope, Beshears answered the fans' calls through his special teams contributions.
Starting the game with noticeable energy, Beshears contributed a 35-yard kickoff return in the second and 49-yard punt return in the third. His teammate and, the night's leading rusher wide receiver Daymond Patterson, urged football enthusiasts not to underestimate this impact.
"Special teams is one-third of the game, even though a lot of people don't realize that," Patterson said. "They play big parts in games and that's why we practice them so much."
Head coach Turner Gill acknowledged strong punt returns as one of the more significant positive aspects of his team's first game, despite the fact that he said special teams was below
average overall. He said having a punt blocked and failing to finish two field goal opportunities gave special teams room for further improvement.
"There were some positives that happened on the returns," Gill said. "But you want to get all phases. They won those phases."
The outcome would have looked worse if it weren't for the defense. Though unable to find a rhythm offensively, the defensive team successfully held the Bisons' total offensive gain to 186 vards.
One of the clearest examples of the defense out-performing the offense was after a punt block in the second quarter that the Bison quickly recovered. Junior cornerback Isiah Barfield later intercepted a pass in the end zone that momentarily kept North Dakota State off their first score.
"We fought around out there," Barfield said. "For the most part,
we did a good job tonight holding them to six points."
Despite the strong defensive and special teams effort, the Jayhawks couldn't develop enough offensive momentum to win. Senior
defensive end Jake Laptad didn't place blame on any specific side of the ball, but said his side could have done better.
"On defense we played alright, but we've got to force some turnovers," Laptad said. "We lack in that area."
Though the honeymoon may be over in the marriage between new coach Gill and the widely accepting Jayhawk fan base, Gill maintains a positive outlook for games to follow in the upcoming season.
"The defense played well enough to where we should win the football game," Gill said. "I
SEE MORE COVERAGE OF THE GAME ON PAGES 4-5B
think holding a team to under 200 yards of total offense - you'd take that any day."
Edited by Leslie Kinsman
VOLLEYBALL
Volleyball strikes its best starting streak in 6 years
PAGE 1B
BY IAN CUMMINGS icummings@kansan.com
Kansas defeated all three opponents at the Jayhawk Classic this weekend, pushing the team's winning streak to 7-0, a feat that hasn't been achieved since 2004, when it opened 8-0. In two games on Friday, the Jayhawks swept the Akron Zips and beat the Arkansas Razorbacks 3-1. On Saturday, the Jayhawks won again with a sweep of the University of Tennessee Chattanooga Mocs.
Freshman redshirt Caroline Jarmoc took MVP honors with 26 kills, an attack percentage of .512 and four service aces in the tournament. Wehrs and junior outside hitter Allison Mayfield were also picked for the all-tournament team. Wehrs put up 18 kills for an attack
"It's an amazing feeling, We haven't started 7-0 - even 4-0 - since 2005," freshman setter Kara Wehrs said.
percentage of .548, together with 6 blocks, 18 digs and three service aces. Mayfield contributed another 26 kills to the effort, together with five blocks, 21 digs and a service ace.
THE tournament frequently seemed closer than the statistics imply. In the first game, against the Zips on Friday, the Jayhawks got off to a slow start and were down 7-11 before
ates problems. And that's kind of what happened. They weren't hitting the ball, they were just tipping it and when we made that adjustment defensively I thought we were pretty good ... But I thought it was an adjustment more defensively than anything."
AKRON
Mayfield, with clutch battling at the net and a couple of kills, led a rally that set the tone for the rest of the match. The Jayhawks ended up sweeping the match 25-15, 25-16 and 25-13.
"If your not stopped defensively before they touch the ball, then it creates some problems."
Coach Ray Bechard said, "If your not stopped defensively before they touch the ball, then it cre-
RAY BECHARD Coach
Bechard said about "Weir' efforts, "I liked her attack opportunities, too. She had five kills, no errors and she shed bein strug
gling a little bit with that concept of it, so I thought she was pretty well rounded, today"
ARKANSAS
Later on Friday, Kansas went
SEE UNDEFEATED ON PAGE 3B
Ben Pirotte/KANSAN
Redshirt freshman Caroline Jarmoc spikes the ball against Chattanooga at the Korejsi Family Athletic Center, Sept. 3. Jarmoc earned MVP honors with a .512 attack percentage during the Jayhawk Classic tournament, where the team went 3-0. Kansas swept Chattanooga to win the tournament.
COMMENTARY
Team needs a good Pick for leader
BY COREY THIBODEAUX
cthibodeaux@kansan.com
Bad move, Coach. OK, Kale Pick wasn't stellar. Then again, not many players were.
But how is Jordan Webb supposed to help the receivers dropping passes? How can he help a porous offensive line? How does this help the future of building a cohesive unit?
"It was an opportunity to maybe give us a spark and we thought he'd be able to get that to us," coach Turner Gill said after the game.
Webb did hit a long pass to Bradley McDougal, but it was more like static than a snail
Even Webb was surprised when the coaches called him up to orchestrate a game-winning or tying drive.
There were many issues Saturday night, but swapping quarterbacks wasn't enough to combat them. It might have made the Jayhawks' situation even worse.
Part of being a quarterback is being the team leader. It was Pick's first start. There will be growing pains, but the coaches stunted the growth by not giving Pick the entire game to work it out. Sometimes, failure can teach more lessons than success.
But maybe Webb would have blown the game wide open with four touchdowns in the first half, we don't know. But neither guy is proven and the Jayhawks want immediate results. On Sunday, Gill announced the quarterback position is still up for grabs. Apparently, he made the decision after watching tape.
"They told me I was going to get a shot," he said, "I didn't know it would come in that situation."
Before the game, the match-up with North Dakota State was a certain Kansas victory. Some say that's why the game was scheduled. But even if the team didn't have trouble its first "easy" game, a Big 12 title was still unlikely.
The Jayhawks should be building for the future. And you do that by keeping Kale Pick in the game. Let him iron out the offensive wrinkles and summon the necessary intensity to rile his teammates into a game-winning drive.
That's the last thing they need ed with all the offensive adjustments they need to make.
After the game, Kale Pick sounded flat and monotonous. It was a man who looked defeated but not sure enough of the future to be devastated.
"I'll be fine," he said, "I'm not worried about my confidence."
Confidence should be the least of his worries. This team needs stability.
By the way, the layhawks have some external factors working against them already. Buffalo, Gill's former team, beat Rhode Island, 31-0 in its first game. And every other Big 12 team won its first game.
Edited by Sean Tokarz
Just pick a quarterback for now.
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