Inflection Point—(noun) a point on a curve at which the curvature changes from convex to concave (A.K.A. When things go from good to bad—instantly).
Example: Saturday, October 17th, 2009: the most critical day in Kansas Football history.
From the fall of 2007 to October 17th, 2009, the Kansas Jayhawks were 25-6, they had won a co-Big 12 North Championship, an Orange Bowl, an Insight Bowl, were 5-0 on the young season, ranked No. 17 in the country, and had a perennial Heisman trophy candidate, Todd Reesing, leading the charge. But from October 17th to date, Kansas has gone 5-21, has lost to the North Dakota State Bison, lost the last 5 meetings with their rivals, Missouri and Kansas State, and has returned to their place as Big 12 doormat.
Just a week before, Kansas had escaped their second close scare of the season, in defeating the Iowa State Cyclones at home on a frigid Saturday afternoon, 41-36. The game before that, the Jayhawks eked out a 35-28 win over the talented Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles from Conference USA. So, after surviving "upset alert" twice, I felt good heading up to Boulder for the second time; the first had gone as planned, after all (KU @ Colorado 2007).
In calculus, by using a theory called “limits”, you can zoom in on the “critical point”, the exact instance when things turn from positive to negative or vice versa. To find the actual play that defined the collapse of Kansas Football, look no further than yet another historic offensive pass interference (see Kerry Meier audio clip) called against the Jayhawks (the other one came in a 27-23 loss to the No. 7 Texas Longhorns back in 2004).
After a full day of hiking, tailgating, and watching football, my family and I packed into Folsom Field, expecting yet another Kansas victory. Kansas had crawled out to a 3-0 advantage on a Jacob Branstetter field goal, midway through the first quarter, on this beautiful fall Saturday in Boulder, Colorado (it was an especially beautiful Saturday because the Nebraska Cornhuskers, the Hawk's main challenger for the Big 12 North title, lost 31-10 to Texas Tech at home, leaving Kansas the odds-on favorite). Unfortunately, right before our eyes, the game would take a turn for the worst.
The lowly 1-4 Colorado Buffaloes would promptly stampede out to a 24-3 lead, scoring 24 unanswered. (Although they were awfully over-rated year in and year out by pundits in pres-season magazines, they were always tough at home with notable wins over Nebraska, No. 3 Oklahoma, and No. 21 West Virginia just to name a few) With just 11 seconds left in the first half, Reesing found old-reliable, Kerry Meier, for a clutch 11 yard touchdown pass. Thankfully, Kansas had some life heading into the locker room, trimming the deficit to 24-10.
Kansas made halftime adjustments (something that is foreign to current Head Coach Turner Gill; more on that later) After Buffalo kicker Aric Goodman banged a 39 yard field goal to extend the Colorado lead, 27-10, Kansas would score 20 straight points, to take a 30-27 lead. Colorado would answer (although they were held to just 10 second half points), when tailback Rodney Stewart rumbled into the end-zone for a 13 yard touchdown. The stage was set for Reesing and his Heisman campaign, the Jayhawks were going to drive the length of the field and escape Boulder with a W, but that was all for naught.
With just under 5 minutes left in the ballgame, Kansas was driving in Colorado territory. On 3rd and 29 from the Kansas 46, trailing by 4, Reesing worked his magic, escaping several Buffaloes, and heaved a miraculous 41 yard pass to Dezmon Briscoe for a first down. On the next play, Reesing would find RB Jake Sharp for 10 yards down to the Colorado 3. Sharp would then plunge forward for a tough yard down to the 2. The Hawks could smell the end zone and victory, and Reesing promptly hit Meier in the end-zone for a 2 yard touchdown pass, a game winner. But, while the Jayhawks celebrated, a yellow flag lay lifeless on the field. Offensive pass interference: 15 yard penalty. No touchdown. 3 plays later, Ralphie and all of Folsom Field would erupt with a red-zone stop. The Jayhawks were in panic mode.
The Buffaloes, led by Sophomore quarterback Tyler Hansen, in his first start of the season, would burn 3:25 on 6 plays, and leave Reesing just 59 seconds to work with. The Senior captain willed the Jayhawks down to the Colorado 45, but the Buffalo secondary made several plays, and on the final play from scrimmage, his pass into the endzone was batted from Dezmon Briscoe’s hands, and a mob of students charged the field.
It was the beginning of the end of the Mark Mangino era, while Turner Gill’s tenure (read: failure) began. Lew Perkins searched for dirt on his coach so he could fire him without picking up any of his contract. Why not ask a player in Mangino’s “doghouse”, Arist Wright, who wasn’t getting the playing time he wanted (maybe it was because Wright kinda stunk and not because Mangino played favorites!?)?
How has Mangino been better than Gill you ask? Let me count the ways…
Often times, a coach is judged by how well his team performs against its rival. Caution: read on if you dare…
To start off on the bright side, Mangino was 4-4 against KSU and 4-4 against Missouri in his time as Head Coach. For Kansas standards, that is a success. Granted, KSU whipped Kansas in his first 2 years, but Kansas would go on to win 4 out of the next 6. MU won the first Border War that Mangino was a part of, but Mangino would win the next 3. Even the ’07 and ’09 losses were Nationally Televised nail-biters.
Rivalry games under Mangino were always intriguing. Not to sound cliché, but you could always ‘throw out the record books.’ Upset victories over No. 25 Missouri in 2003 (35-14), K-State in ’04 (31-28), and the memorable 40-37 win for the ages against No. 13 Missouri in Arrowhead all come to mind. Josh Freeman, former Kansas State and current Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback, knows all about the 'Kansas rivalry'. He turned the ball over 13 times in three games: 9 INT and 4 fumbles.
Turner’s turn! Gill has gone 0-3 against his rivals thus far. But more importantly, the Jayhawks have lost by a combined score of 153-35. In games where you need not motivate your players, Gill has brought an unprepared, sheepish, sluggish team to the field.
Year-by-year improvement is another way to measure a coach's aptitude. Once he has some time to get his system in place he should be able to start making some heady progress.
In his debut, Mangino went 2-10 in 2002, with an average margin of defeat (we'll call AMD) of 28.9 points. In ’03 he led the team to the Tangerine Bowl and a 6-7 record, with an AMD of 19 points. In 2004, the team went 4-7, but lost by an AMD of only 8.6. Mangino led his squad to a 7-5 record in 2005 and a 29 point win in the Fort Worth Bowl vs. Houston; again, an impressive AMD of 10.4 points. And finally in 2006 he went 6-6 with and AMD of 8.7 points. So even in the seasons where wins were few and far between, the Jayhawks were quite competitive.
In his debut, Mangino went 2-10 in 2002, with an average margin of defeat (we'll call AMD) of 28.9 points. In ’03 he led the team to the Tangerine Bowl and a 6-7 record, with an AMD of 19 points. In 2004, the team went 4-7, but lost by an AMD of only 8.6. Mangino led his squad to a 7-5 record in 2005 and a 29 point win in the Fort Worth Bowl vs. Houston; again, an impressive AMD of 10.4 points. And finally in 2006 he went 6-6 with and AMD of 8.7 points. So even in the seasons where wins were few and far between, the Jayhawks were quite competitive.
In the 6 losses during the 25-6 stretch, the Jayhawks lost by an average margin of 17.5 points. Furthermore, Mangino showed discernible improvement year-to-year in not only wins/losses, but in competitive losses.
In Mark Mangino’s last 7 losses, Kansas lost by an average margin of 14.4 points to Colorado, Oklahoma, Texas Tech, Kansas State, Nebraska, Texas, and Missouri. So even when the Jayhawks coughed up the Big 12 North Title, they were still closing the gap on the "elite" teams in the conference.
Now here is the scary part…
In Turner Gill’s 14 losses, Kansas has lost by an average margin of 29.1 points to North Dakota State, Southern Mississippi, Baylor, Kansas State(2), Texas A&M, Iowa State, Nebraska, Oklahoma State (2), Missouri, Georgia Tech, Texas Tech, and Oklahoma.
Take a look at these numbers: 11, 12, 17, 28, 30, 34, 35, 38, 42, 48, and 52. Those aren’t winning lottery numbers, folks. Instead, they are the Jayhawks’ margins of defeat in each and every one of their Big 12 losses under Turner Gill. Remember, Mark Mangino cut the AMD by 10 points from year 1 to year 2. The AMD for Gill's 2010 team during conference play: 32.3. The AMD for the 2011 team during conference play: 32.6. That doesn't bode well for Gill...not at all. Not only is Gill's team not improving, they are actually going in the wrong direction.
And finally, it's safe to say that, with an Orange Bowl recruiting class to work with, Turner Gill inherited more talent than Mark Mangino did when he took over. Mangino took over a Terry Allen coached team who went 3-8 the year before. In the 3 years before Mangino took over, Kansas had gone 12-22 and 6-18 in conference play with no bowl appearances.
Gill, on the other hand, took over a team that had gone 5-7 the year before. In the 3 years before he took over, Kansas had gone 25-13 and 12-12 in conference play with 2 bowl victories. I realize that Gill hasn’t even had 2 years, but to this point in each coach’s reign, edge Mangino, and it’s not even close.
Gill, on the other hand, took over a team that had gone 5-7 the year before. In the 3 years before he took over, Kansas had gone 25-13 and 12-12 in conference play with 2 bowl victories. I realize that Gill hasn’t even had 2 years, but to this point in each coach’s reign, edge Mangino, and it’s not even close.
So this leaves me at a crossroad. Do these stats point to giving Gill another year or do they say get him out of here? I wish I could say keep him, because if we let him go we will take yet another step back, but losing games at this rate will only hurt recruiting, the fan-base, and the future.
And frankly, it’s not just the results that make a Mangino coached team better than a Gill coached team. There were some pretty disturbing quotes from Saturday’s game.
“It’s very hard when you don’t go hard in practice and then you come into the game and try to go full speed,” defensive back Tyler Patmon said. “It’s a whole different picture.” Wait, WHAT? Even Jordan Webb expanded on this.
“I think it all stems back to practice,” Webb said. “We were really good at the beginning of the week. Our energy level was really high. We were really performing well, and then it kind of tapered off throughout the week. If that happens, you can’t expect to come out here on Saturday and beat a good team.” This is a Division 1 football program, right? A Mangino coached team was always prepared for games, and if a player cut corners in practice, he was benched. Turner Gill is treating this team so lax-like and it is showing on game days.
“It’s very hard when you don’t go hard in practice and then you come into the game and try to go full speed,” defensive back Tyler Patmon said. “It’s a whole different picture.” Wait, WHAT? Even Jordan Webb expanded on this.
“I think it all stems back to practice,” Webb said. “We were really good at the beginning of the week. Our energy level was really high. We were really performing well, and then it kind of tapered off throughout the week. If that happens, you can’t expect to come out here on Saturday and beat a good team.” This is a Division 1 football program, right? A Mangino coached team was always prepared for games, and if a player cut corners in practice, he was benched. Turner Gill is treating this team so lax-like and it is showing on game days.
To further compound the problem, not once have I heard Gill take ownership for a loss. Instead, he blames the game on a lack of “execution” or “experience”—his players fault.
“We just had a guy that didn’t do what he was supposed to do,” Gill said when asked about the blown coverage on one of the final plays of the first half. “He went onto another receiver instead of staying back in his quarter of the field, as we call it. They threw the ball right where he left, and we made a mistake there.” Earth to Turner, we are are 7 games into the season! This is on you, pal. There is no way around it. If the players are not picking up on your schemes and philosophy then you aren’t cutting it.
“We just had a guy that didn’t do what he was supposed to do,” Gill said when asked about the blown coverage on one of the final plays of the first half. “He went onto another receiver instead of staying back in his quarter of the field, as we call it. They threw the ball right where he left, and we made a mistake there.” Earth to Turner, we are are 7 games into the season! This is on you, pal. There is no way around it. If the players are not picking up on your schemes and philosophy then you aren’t cutting it.
Gill is supposedly such a “nice guy”, but he continues to berate his players publicly. Mangino was the father figure I would want coaching my child. At least he would take a bullet for them and spare them any embarrassment when the media came calling. 'Praise in public; punish in private', right? Gill, has no manhood, and just sacrifices the players’ to cover his sorry self. I'm sure he is a genuinely nice person, but he needs to put the onus on himself every now and then.
And who is not sick of this “improvement” spiel.
“Week to week, from Oklahoma to the Kansas State game, I think we took a step back as far as the overall team continuing to improve. Overall season, I know we are better than we were last year on offense and special teams. Defense… it’s kind of hard to say whether we are totally improved in that area.”
No, Turner, it’s not hard. You are not improved in the slightest. You are last in nearly every defensive category there is.
“Week to week, from Oklahoma to the Kansas State game, I think we took a step back as far as the overall team continuing to improve. Overall season, I know we are better than we were last year on offense and special teams. Defense… it’s kind of hard to say whether we are totally improved in that area.”
No, Turner, it’s not hard. You are not improved in the slightest. You are last in nearly every defensive category there is.
Week 8
Date: Oct 22, 2011
Score by Quarters 1 2 3 4 Score
----------------- -- -- -- -- -----
Kansas State........ 7 24 21 7 - 59
Kansas.............. 0 14 0 7 - 21
 |
| Source: KU Sports |
The play that best illustrates his lack of coaching and discipline was the last play of the first half on Saturday (an aside, I have seen better defensive calls from a 12 year-old playing Madden the video game than what the Jayhawks drew up).
After failing to execute a squib kick, where a lineman returned the ball 12 yards to the Kansas State 43, Kansas State quarterback Collin Klein found Tyler Lockett on a 48 yard pass play with just 11 seconds left. Snyder called timeout with just 1 second remaining, the blown coverage resulted in a field goal, where K-State extended their lead to 3 scores, 31-14. In fact, Bill Snyder, paying such attention to detail, showed more emotion when he scolded Lockett for not being wary of the clock (the Wildcats almost missed on the field goal opportunity completely had he not been tackled) than Turner Gill who just sat there and chewed his gum. If you don't want to scream and yell at Lubbock Smith for his blown assignment, at least coach him up! Something!
After failing to execute a squib kick, where a lineman returned the ball 12 yards to the Kansas State 43, Kansas State quarterback Collin Klein found Tyler Lockett on a 48 yard pass play with just 11 seconds left. Snyder called timeout with just 1 second remaining, the blown coverage resulted in a field goal, where K-State extended their lead to 3 scores, 31-14. In fact, Bill Snyder, paying such attention to detail, showed more emotion when he scolded Lockett for not being wary of the clock (the Wildcats almost missed on the field goal opportunity completely had he not been tackled) than Turner Gill who just sat there and chewed his gum. If you don't want to scream and yell at Lubbock Smith for his blown assignment, at least coach him up! Something!
To start the 3rd quarter, Gill’s half-time adjustments were in full force. Lockett, who had been threatening to take a kickoff to the house all day, returned one for a touchdown. Tony Pierson would promptly cough up the football on the KU 8 (I guess he is our power back now?), and just two plays later, Kansas State punched another one in for 6. 45-14. In a matter of 2 minutes, Kansas State scored 17 points and doubled their advantage. 2 plays into Kansas’s next drive, Jordan Webb fumbled the ball back to Kansas State. 6 plays later, the ‘Cats extended the lead again, 52-14, on a Tyler Lockett TD. There was still 10:33 to play in the 3rd quarter. Kansas would fumble for the 3rd time in a row, and the Hawks simply quit.
I can no longer avoid talking about it : the notorious “3rd Quarter” (the scary thing is, this 3rd quarter letdown stuff is not just on the defensive side of the ball). Listen to this: in every single game outside of the Oklahoma State and Northern Illinois game (that includes McNeese State!) the Jayhawks have been outscored in the 3rd quarter. Out of the locker room at intermission, the Jayhawks have been outscored and outclassed to the tune of 107 to 28. In 4 of their 7 games they have been scoreless in the 3rd period. Gill has no idea what he is doing, this cannot possibly be a “talent issue,” an “execution issue,” or an “experience issue” like he always says it is. No Gill, it’s actually a “coaching issue.”
Snyder didn’t need a masterful game plan with KU handing KSU the game with bonehead plays, penalties, and lack of energy/ effort. Kansas was penalized 9 times for 105 yards, while Kansas State was just twice. Kansas actually was called for 3 penalties on 1 play; I thought I had seen it all...
As Kansas fans, we have reached our wit’s end. In year 2 you need signs of improvement, heck, you need signs of life. 59-21 is neither. Sheahon Zenger, who is growing on me by the day, chimed in with his thoughts.
“I don’t expect any player, coach, administrator, fan, or alum to accept today’s performance or the performances in recent weeks. We will get this thing fixed” he said. “We continue to evaluate the program on a week-by-week basis at the University of Kansas. We will never make a complete evaluation until the season is over and the body of work is in.” So it looks like the earliest we could get a new coach in here would be for the 2012 season. My advice to the alumni if this kind of play continues for the rest of the season: raise the 6 million to get this clown out of here (to come back down to reality, I hope at least there is a resignation/firing this offseason—cough, cough—Vic Shealy).
“I don’t expect any player, coach, administrator, fan, or alum to accept today’s performance or the performances in recent weeks. We will get this thing fixed” he said. “We continue to evaluate the program on a week-by-week basis at the University of Kansas. We will never make a complete evaluation until the season is over and the body of work is in.” So it looks like the earliest we could get a new coach in here would be for the 2012 season. My advice to the alumni if this kind of play continues for the rest of the season: raise the 6 million to get this clown out of here (to come back down to reality, I hope at least there is a resignation/firing this offseason—cough, cough—Vic Shealy).
Collin Klein has worse throwing form than my sister and he still threw for a career high, while rushing for 4 touchdowns and being pulled in the 4th quarter. Thankfully, he missed several wide open receivers, or it could have been worse. The D-backs play so soft, with this 10 yard cushion, that Chris Harper runs a hitch rout and catches an uncontested pass for 7 yards... on every single down. Did Shealy think the K-State wide-receivers were walking petri-dishes of the Marburg virus? Why don’t we just lay down and let them walk over our bodies on their way to the end-zone—criminy.
Where Kansas State made their money, solid tackling, Kansas did not, especially on quarterback Collin Klein, who suddenly became Michael Bishop reincarnated. Now that I think about it, what quarterback that Kansas has faced has not looked like an All-American? Heck, a Heisman front-runner?
McNeese St.—Stroud: 22/27 passing for 218 yards and 1 TD.
McNeese St.—Stroud: 22/27 passing for 218 yards and 1 TD.
Northern Illinois—Harnish: 27/33 passing for 315 yards and 2 TD. 11 carries for 89 yards and 3 TD.
Georgia Tech—Washington: 4/7 passing for 164 yards and 2 TD.
Texas Tech—Doege: 29/46 passing for 366 yards, 3 TD, and 1 INT.
Oklahoma State—Weeden: 24/28 passing for 288 yards and 5 TD.
(Backup)—Chelf: 14/21 passing for 206 yards and 2 TD.
Oklahoma—Jones: 29/48 passing for 363 yards, 3 TD, and 1 INT.
Kansas State—Klein: 12/19 passing for 195 yards and 1 TD. 13 carries for 92 yards and 4 TD.
(As if it could not get any worse, Nate Bukaty, the Kansas sideline reporter for the Jayhawk Radio Network, was stung by a bee during the 4th quarter and our student section was taken by the purple people. What poor cheerleaders who had to cheer “Fight Jayhawk” to a bunch of Staters.)
With Missouri likely leaving the conference, this is the rivalry we could be left with. Until either of the 2 coaches, Snyder and/or Gill, leave, I really don’t seeing it being close at all.
And since it is germane to the topic at hand, I love this quote regarding conference realignment (specifically Texas A&M) by the Baylor Women’s Basketball Coach, Kim Mulkey. She compared A&M still wanting to play games against Baylor, despite heading off to the SEC and leaving the BIG 12, with the divorced couple dynamic.
“Who wants to be in a relationship that’s over and has no value to you? So he is basically talking about divorce” Mulkey said, referencing Texas A&M President, Dr. R. Bowen Loftin, when he said the ‘marriage was over’. Mulkey continued, “And my feeling is this: If a man wants to divorce me and says our relationship has no value to him, and then he asks me if he can sleep with me, the answer is NO!”
“Who wants to be in a relationship that’s over and has no value to you? So he is basically talking about divorce” Mulkey said, referencing Texas A&M President, Dr. R. Bowen Loftin, when he said the ‘marriage was over’. Mulkey continued, “And my feeling is this: If a man wants to divorce me and says our relationship has no value to him, and then he asks me if he can sleep with me, the answer is NO!”
I figured this is pretty much how Sheahon Zenger and all Kansas fans feel about the bittersweet ending of the Border War, which is sad because it was one of the most played rivalries in all of sports. I hope this is not the end of the rivalry that I so dearly cherished (I think I speak on behalf of all fans), especially given how our other “Showdown” has turned out lately.
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