U N I V E R S I T Y D A I L Y K A N S A N
Jayhawk FOOTBALL
Kansas 22 Oklahoma State 17
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 20,1995
Bob Frederick,
Kansas athletic
director (left) and
Kansas football
coach Glen
Mason have a lot to
smile about
after the Jay-
hawks finished a
9-2 season with
a 22-17 victory
against Oklahoma.
State.
Matt Flickner/
KANSAN
RESULTS
SECTION B
Kansas 22
Oklahoma State 17
Colorado 27
Kansas State 17
Missouri 45
Iowa State 31
STANDINGS
Cont. Overall
Nebraska 6.0 10-0.0
Colorado 5.2 9-2.0
Kansas 5.2 9-2.0
Kansas St. 5.2 9-2.0
Oklahoma 2.4 5-4.1
Okla..St. 2.5 3-8.1
Iowa St. 1.6 3-8.0
Missouri 1.6 3-8.0
AP Top 25
Nebraska remains No. 1, but not play this week. The Cormuhakers play Oldhoma on Thursday. Kansas State fell to No. 10 after a score to Colorado while Kansas jumped to No. 10. Los Angeles by Southern California, Michigan by Indiana. Jackson helped pave the way for the Jailhouse.
rank team rec. pts. pp. 1
1. Nebraska (44) 10-0-0 129 1
2. Ohio St. (13) 11-0-0 1477 2
3. Florida (8) 10-0-0 1478 3
4. Northwestern 10-1-0 1326 5
5. Tennessee 9-1-0 1315 4
6. Florida St. 9-1-0 1262 5
7. Notre Dame 9-2-0 165 8
8. Colorado 9-2-0 1109 9
9. Texas 8-1-1 1043 10
10. Kansas SL 9-2-0 934 7
11. Kansas 9-2-0 847 15
12. Oregon 9-2-0 818 18
13. Virginia Tech 9-2-0 743 20
14. Penn SL 7-3-0 729 19
15. Texas A&M 7-2-0 684 18
16. Album 8-3-0 643 21
17. Southern Cal 8-2-1 928 11
18. Michigan 8-3-0 476 12
19. Virginia 8-4-0 390 13
20. Washington 7-3-1 358 22
21. Albama 8-3-0 288 17
22. Syracuse 8-2-0 288 23
23. Arkansas 8-3-0 243 14
24. Clemson 8-3-0 217 24
25. Miami 7-3-0 107 25
Othans receiving veterans; Toledo 69, Michigan 39, UCLA 40, Arizona 20, St. Louis 20, East Carolina 14, Tuskegee 9, Baylor 3, New Orleans 1, San Diego 1.
The Associated Press KANSAN
SWIMMING
The Kansas swimming and diving teams turned in their worst performances of the season as they faced several ranked opponents in Nebraska. Page 4B
Holiday plans still hazy for Kansas
Kansas junior running back June Henley lunges forward after being tripped up by Oklahoma State cornerback R.W. McQuarters. Henley gained 84 yards on 21 carries during Kansas' 21-27 victory on Saturday in Stillwater, Okla.
Jayhawk victory and Wildcat loss confuse bowl game picture
By Robert Sinclair Kansan sportswriter
STILLWATER, Oklah. — It was supposed to be so simple: No. 10 Kansas State defeats No. 8 Colorado to go to the Cotton Bowl, while No. 11 Kansas earns a Plymouth Holiday Bowl invitation by defeating Oklahoma State on Saturday.
The Jayhawks did their part by winning 22-17 against the Cowboys in front of several Holiday Bowl representatives, including its executive director, John K Reid.
Matt Flickner / KANSAN
The Buffaloes, however, had other plans for the holidays.
With its 27-17 victory in Manhattan, Colorado forced a three-way tie for second place in the Big Eight Conference, confusing the bowl game picture.
"As we stand here right now, I don't know where we're going, but we're going to go someplace," Kansas football coach Glen Mason told his team after the game. "Wherever we go, we're going to have a good time. I promise you that."
The Cotton Bowl is expected to make its announcement soon, and other bowls can't extend invitations until then. The most likely scenario has the Buffaloaws traveling to Dallas to play in the Cotton Bowl on New Year's Day, the Wildcats playing in the Holiday Bowl in San Diego on Dec. 27, while the Jayhawks head to Honolulu — for the second time in four years — to play in the Jeep-Eagle Aloha Bowl on Christmas Day.
Actually, the only team that knows its future for sure is Oklahoma State, which will be in Hawaii on Dec. 2 to take on the University of Hawaii Rainbins in its last regular season
The Jayhawks also might end up playing in the Weiser Lock Copper Bowl — which has expressed interest — on Dec. 27 in Tucson, Ariz.
game.
game.
"I told them (the players) we might know within minutes, it might be hours, it might be days or it might be weeks," Mason said. "I don't even know how this coalition, picking order and all that stuff works."
What Kansas does know is that it finished its season 9-2 overall and 5-2 in the conference with a young and exnexioned team.
"At the beginning of the season, everybody counted us out," Kansas senior outside linebacker Keith Rodgers said. "I believe the highest we were ranked in the Big Eight was fifth. I think that we were a pleasant surprise."
The Jayhawks defeated the Cowboys the way they had been defeating teams all year: with a balanced offensive attack, a big play defense and team unity.
Oklahoma State scored first as sophomore tight end Alonzo Mayes caught the first of two touchdown passes. The 6-foot-6, 252-pound Mayes ended up with 10 catches for 125 yards in the game, including a 1-yard score and a 22-yard score.
"Today was his day," Kansas junior defensive tackle Kevin Kopp said. "He's the biggest tight end we've ever faced. We knew he'd be a big player in their offense, but we didn't realize he'd be that big."
On the following possession, Kansas marched 71 yards on 11 plays before senior wide receiver Ashaounda Smith scored on an 11-yard touchdown pass from senior quarterback Mark Williams.
In addition to the fumble recovery, McQuarters later intercepted a Williams pass, had two receptions for 35 yards and returned a kickoff 20 yards.
Kansas drove down the field again on its next possession only to turn the ball over on the Oklahoma State 2-yard line. The fumble was recovered by Oklahoma State freshman cornerback R.W. McQuarters, who had quite an afternoon.
After the fumble recovery, however, the Kansas defense held and forced a punt. Oklahoma State
"We just snapped the ball and fumbled," Oklahoma State football coach Bob Simmons said. "The officials were totally right. That was critical, because at least you were going to get three points. We made those mistakes all game."
The Cowboys threatened to take the lead at the end of the half. They reached the Jayhawks 2-yard line, where they had a first and goal with 13 seconds left. Since Oklahoma State was out of timeouts, junior quarterback Tone Jones tried to spike the ball to stop the clock. It didn't work out the way he intended.
Although Jones recovered his fumble, the clock expired and the half ended.
The Jayhawks took a 16-7 lead on their first possession in the second half on a 10-play, 80-yard drive that was ended by Levine's 7-yard touchdown run.
Oklahoma State answered on its next possession, and the Cowboys took a 17-16 lead with 13:31 to play on a 25-ward field goal.
But as it has all year, Kansas got the job done when it had to.
Williams played a key role in Kansas' final scoring drive as he accumulated 27 yards on three rushes, including an 11-yard touchdown run with less than five minutes remaining in the game.
Oklahoma State got the ball back with 3:33 remaining although sophomore tailback Andre Richardson was stripped of the ball by Kansas sophomore cornerback Manolo Jones. Kansas senior outside linebacker Derek Fairchild recovered.
Rodgers, the defensive captain,
couldn't explain the team's knack
for coming up with big plays with
the game on the line.
"We want to make it exciting, I guess," Rodgers joked. "We find a way to do it. That's really the only thing that counts."
**STATISTICS:** The numbers from Kansas' 22-17 victory. Page 2B.
Matt Flicker/ KAMRAN
Kansas wide receiver Isaac Byrd drags his toes inbounds during a two-conversion, which was nullified by a penalty. Byrd also returns kickoffs for the Jayhawks, who had no return yards on Saturday.
Punters battle for Big Eight dominance
Mason predicted special teams would determine game's outcome
By Robert Sinclair Kansan sportswriter
STILLWATER, Okla. — Going into Saturday's game, Kansas senior punter Darrin Simmons and Oklahoma State senior punter Greg Ivy were averaging 43.54 and 43.89 vards a game respectively.
Ivy might have lost the battle, but he won the war.
"I told the players all week that it might come down to the last play of the game," Kansas football coach Glen Mason said. "I also told them the kicking game might be the difference. I think that turned out to be correct."
Simmons — who was the Big Eight Conference leader all season until last week — had three punts for an average of 47.7 yards. Ivy — last year's punting leader — only punted twice but totaled 114 yards, averaging 57.
As it turned out, however, the two punters made an impact with more than just their kicking game.
With the score tied 7-7 in the second quarter, the Jayhawks drove to the Cowboys' 5- yard line. After Kansas senior running back L.T. Levine ran up the middle for a gain of 3 yards, the ball popped out and was recovered by Oklahoma State freshman cornerback R.W. McQuarters on the 2-yard line.
"It was a tough ball game for us," Oklahoma State football coach Bob Simmons said. "I really thought we could come back and play better than we did."
After the Kansas defense held Oldahoma State junior tailback David Thompson to four yards on three rushes, Oklahoma State was forced to punt.
Later, with less than four minutes to play in the game, Simunns found himself in a position similar to his Cowboy counterpart's earlier dilemma as Kansas faced a fourth down and seven from its own 6.
Although the senior punter had the presence of mind to give up the safety instead of allowing Kansas to recover the ball for a touchdown, his mishandling of the snap gave Kansas a 9-7 lead with 6:30 remaining in the first half.
Ivy received the snap in his own end zone but never really had control of the ball. After failing to gain possession, Ivy knocked the ball out of the end zone as the Jawhawks were bearing down on him.
Simmons also received the snap in his own end zone but fielded it cleanly and launched a 46-yard punt that was caught by Oklahoma State sophomore tailback Andre Richardson on his own 48-yard line. Richardson returned the ball nine yards to the Kansas 43-yard line where he was met by Kansas sophomore cornerback Manolito Jones.
"He's smiling so hard in there (the locker room), his teeth might break," Mason said of Jones after the game. "He went down there and made the play of the game."
Jones stripped Richardson of the ball that was recovered by Kansas senior outside linebacker Derek Fairchild. The Jayhawks promptly marched 39 yards on eight plays, consuming the final 3:33 of the game and sealing the 22-17 victory.
---
What makes the Jayhawks' final punt of the game even more exciting for Mason was that Kansas freshman long snapper Sean McDermott had been having his problems all season.
"I'd like to have a dollar for every time someone asked me if we're going to change the long snapper," Mason joked. "A lot of times people fold under that pressure, and he didn't. He came through just fine."