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| Source: KU Sports |
A happiest of Halloweens to everyone! I hope you are enjoying the holiday season; the weather sure has taken a turn for the better here in the Midwest.
So if your day is going swimmingly and you want to keep it that way, I recommend you close your web browser before you read on, but if you are in for some bone-chilling reading, proceed slowly…
For those of you who are brave enough to keep reading, I will treat you with whatever positive thing I can think of. Although it really doesn’t have much to do with the 43-0 pounding at the hands of the No. 24 Texas Longhorns, I figured I would take you on a “Blast to the Past.” Since the Jayhawks didn’t show up in Austin, Texas on Saturday, I might as well write about happier days in Jayhawk Football history.
Texas Longhorns 27
Kansas Jayhawks 23
It was another early morning ball-game for the Kansas Jayhawks in mid-November. The browned leaves had fallen from the trees and winter was on the cusp. As usual by this time of year, basketball had taken center stage, while football had diminished into the background. On this particular Saturday, the Hawks, just 3-5 and (1-7) in the conference, would be hosting the No. 7 Texas Longhorns who came into Lawrence 8-1 and (5-1). The Jayhawks weren’t playing for a championship, they weren’t playing for a bowl game; instead, they were simply playing for pride and for their coach.
They were up against a stiff challenge. The Longhorns were unscathed on the year, outside of a 12-0 loss to Oklahoma, who made it to the National Championship. They would go on to win the Rose Bowl over the Michigan Wolverines and QB Vince Young established himself as a Heisman front-runner for the 2005 season. They were led by aforementioned “Invincible” Vince Young, RB Cedric Benson, LB Derrick Johnson, and TE Bo Scaife. The Horns were planning on strolling into Lawrence for business as usual, but little did they know, they were going to get all they could ask for from the feisty Hawks.
Led by defensive end Charlton Keith and defensive back Charles Gordon, the Hawks flew to the ball and shut down the Longhorns in the first half. Kansas linebacker, Kevin Kane, intercepted a Young pass and returned it 27 yards to the Texas 46, late in the first quarter. Kansas then moved the ball well when QB John Nielson completed a 21-yarder to WR Marcus Henry and the Johnny Beck show began. Beck, the Kansas placekicker, would nail 3 field-goals including a 36 yarder to end the half. Although Benson did score on a 16 yard run, Kansas claimed a 9-7 half-time lead.
Dusty Mangum and the Longhorns would recapture the lead, 10-6, with 10:06 left in the 3rd quarter, and Mangum banged through a 50 yarder less than 5 minutes later. It was a kicking battle. The 4th quarter came to a close and Kansas trailed by just 4 points, 13-9.
A shanked punt by Texas’ Richmond McGee gave KU the ball at the UT 36 yard line, and after Charles Gordon made an acrobatic 21 yard catch, FB Austine Nwabuisi pounded the ball across the plane for a 16-13 lead.
Kansas would hold the Horns and would drive the field after WR Mark Simmons sprinted for a 73 yard catch down to the Texas 1 yard line. TE Lyonel Anderson would snatch a pass from Brian Luke with just 7:41 remaining in the game. Kansas was going to pull it off! 23-13, Jayhawks.
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| Source: KU Sports |
From this point on, Vincent Paul Young, Jr. took complete control of the game. With just 4:12 left, Young scored on an 18 yard scamper to cap off a 13 play, 87 yard drive. He utilized his arm and legs to nickel and dime down the field, and cut the Kansas lead to 23-20.
As I have said countless times before, Kansas was royally jobbed on an offensive pass-interference call when Charles Gordon “pushed off” to make a remarkable diving catch that would have otherwise sealed the Horns fate. Instead, the Hawks’ defense was forced to take the field one last time.
On a do-or-die 4th and 18, Young scrambled left, then right, and then juked out legendary linebacker Nick Reid, on his way to a 22 yard gainer. The play broke the morale of the Jayhawks, who simply could have not pitched a better game. It wasn't bad defense, it was just a super-human performance by number 10 in the burnt orange. Young would connect with WR Tony Jeffrey with just 11 seconds left on a 21 yard TD pass into the corner of the end zone. The Texas Longhorns escaped Lawrence, but not without a tremendous scare and some help from the “BCS”, 27-23.
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| Source: Statesman |
The effort the Jayhawks showed on that November Saturday was historic. While they had no chance "on-paper", come game-time the Hawks took it to the Horns for 4 quarters. The scoreboard might have said otherwise, but that game was a win for Jayhawk Football. I was proud of my Hawks, a savvy bunch of guys who played with a chip on their shoulders. Here’s to you 2004!
Kansas (2-6,0-5) vs. #24 Texas (5-2,2-2)
Date: Oct 29, 2011
Score by Quarters 1 2 3 4 Score
----------------- -- -- -- -- -----
Kansas.............. 0 0 0 0 - 0
Texas............... 14 12 7 10 - 43
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| Source: KU Sports |
Now for the hellacious game that was 43-0. Let me vent just a tad…
I have never—not in my wildest dreams—thought this program would reach this level of complete and utter futility. My grandpa, 80 years old and going strong, had a more productive game on the ground than the Hawks did. He outgained them by 2 net yards.
KU football has always been my passion, but in times like these, who can’t wait for basketball? I hate the expression ‘just wait ‘til basketball season,’ but right now it is all we can pride ourselves in. The University of Kansas is in dire need of something positive from its athletic programs and basketball has always brought us the goods. The KU name is being mocked by analysts each and every day and we need basketball: it comes tomorrow.
I found myself laughing out loud during points in the game. I feel guilty for it, but how can you take this team seriously? Even the lowly Minnesota Golden Gophers upset a solid Iowa Hawkeye team, 22-21, on Saturday, so Kansas is officially the bottom-feeder of the BCS.
Losing football games each and every Saturday is so demoralizing, but the saddest part of this mess is that Kansas, much like they did in the Texas Tech game, won’t likely find a much greener Texas team. After dealing with Vince Young, Cedric Benson, Colt McCoy, and Jordan Shipley, just to name a few, this Kansas team found themselves facing a relatively ‘soft’ Longhorns bunch with few household names. The Jayhawks squandered yet another opportunity to win a game against a South school and the numbers don’t point to them doing so anytime soon.
The Jayhawks are now 2-9 against Texas and 1-12 against Texas Tech all-time after this year’s respective losses. The pounding they took Saturday didn’t help Turner Gill’s prospects, and even though Tech is fresh off a historic victory over the Oklahoma Sooners, they are no world-beater themselves (On Saturday the season took yet another interesting twist: Iowa State Cyclones 41, No. 20 Texas Tech Red Raiders 7. Oh, I can’t wait for the next ball game in Ames, Iowa. Maybe we can end this 11 game road losing streak! Funny, right? If the Cyclones don’t win by 30 I will be flabbergasted).
A 45-34 loss to Texas Tech is respectable to an outsider, but really, after seizing a commanding 20-0 lead, the game was much like what we saw on Saturday. No offense, no defense, no competition, Tech rolled. Before the games, I thought Kansas had a realistic shot to dethrone these giants, but I was sorely mistaken.
With just seconds until kickoff in Austin, I was frantically trying to find the channel for the game on my TV, but to no avail. So, like a mature young man should, I started freaking out. Finally, the signal came in and the Jayhawk Network popped on. 3 hours, 6 minutes later, I was fuming, miserable, and no longer in the mood to celebrate the Halloween festivities. Nothing good came out of that game, nothing at all. I can’t believe I am writing this, but it might have been best if I had just not watched the game altogether.
So what am I supposed to write about? I was asked this during the game and honestly, it’s a fair question. In a 43-0 loss, what is there to ‘break-down’? There certainly weren’t any positives, much less silver-linings. Heck, who even wants to read about a 43 point skunker anyways?
At this point, I can no longer complain about our fans’ ignorance, lack of attendance, or, simply, embarrassment of the University. Why should they care? We all know the fan base is negative and it sucks for those that really care, but it could get worse… the only thing worse than a negative fan base is an apathetic one.
Let me throw some numbers at you that really spoke volumes to me. In the spirit of Halloween, I give you: Frightening Statistics. Texas had 35 first downs, 441 yards and 5 touchdowns rushing, 149 yards passing, a total of 590 yards of offense, 93 plays ran with an average of 6.3 yards per play. They yielded just 1 sack for 15 yards, converted 11 of 16 third downs, turned the ball over twice, and possessed the ball for 44:07.
For the lowly Jayhawks: 3 first downs, -2 yards rushing, 48 yards passing, a total of 46 yards, 36 plays ran with an average of 1.3 yards per play. Jordan Webb was sacked 3 times for 23 yards, the Hawks were 1 of 10 on third down, and they had the ball for a jaw dropping 15:53. Kansas had 11 drives on Saturday: 7 punts, 1 interception, 1 fumble, 1 safety. Fans invest so much—too much—time on this team, we deserve better!
The Longhorns, who were averaging just 181 rushing yards per game heading into the contest (7 less than Kansas averaged), had two 100 yard rushers Saturday. They rushed for 260 yards more than their season’s average. Joe Bergeron rushed 13 times for 136 yards and 2 TDs, Malcolm Brown rushed 28 times for 119 yards and 2 TDs, Fozzy Whittaker rushed 9 times for 68 yards, and WIDE RECEIVER Marquise Goodwin rushed 5 times for 52 yards. The Longhorns track sprinter, Goodwin, had just 1 less carry than the Hawks leading rusher, Darrian Miller, who had 6 carries for 6 yards.
Tony Pierson had 4 carries for 5 yards and James Sims had 3 carries for 5 yards. So the running game, that was our so-called area of “improvement”, was abysmal. In fact, after Saturday, Kansas is averaging just 3.8 yards per rush this season. In 2010, they averaged 3.4 yards per rush. This is not promising!
The offense as a whole has not improved much either. In 2010, the offense averaged 296.4 yards per game. In 2011, the Hawks have averaged 360.4. The team has averaged exactly 4 more yards than last year, and just 0.8 yards of improvement per rush.
And really the defense has regressed more than the offense has upgraded, it’s not even close. In 2010 the Jayhawks gave up 427.7 yards per game and in 2011 they have allowed 555.8. While the offense has improved by 4 yards, the defense has given up nearly 130 more yards! That is a net improvement of -124.1 yards. They Jayhawks gave up 271 first downs in 2010 and through just 8 games this year they have allowed 396. This current team is statistically worse than its 3-9 predecessors.
Gill finally owned up to the media saying that “this one’s on me”, but frankly, it’s too late, brother. You should have been canned on the plane ride home. I don’t want ‘my bad’, I don’t want ‘I’m sorry’, I just want you gone.
Offensive coordinator Chuck Long forecasted “140 blitzes” from the swarming Texas defense, and he was right. But on Saturday the Jayhawks weren't prepared for 140 blitzes, they weren’t prepared for 70 blitzes, they flat out weren’t prepared for anything. Not only was Webb sacked 3 times, but he was under constant pressure all night and the running backs had nowhere to go. The Jayhawks were in over their heads against a very vanilla Texas team.
“They just whooped us,” Long said. “It was one of the worst days or nights I’ve had as a coach.”
The one bright spot on the whole game was that Kansas had a goal-line stand on Texas’s third possession, only to have it nullified by a safety on the very next play on a hands-to-the-face penalty by Jeremiah Hatch.
The aphorism goes: It takes two to tango. On Saturday we learned that it also takes two to complete a pass. Jacorey Shephard dropped several key passes. There wasn’t a Longhorn within a 7 yard radius of him, but the freshman took his eyes off the ball and cost Kansas a first down. Something that didn’t happen too often…
Field position was terrible all night, but great for Texas...
Animated Drive Chart brought to you by Gameday Depot.
Now call me crazy, but I think I found a little nugget. Is having a conference leading tackler a good thing? You may be wondering ‘what is this guy trying to prove here, Steven Johnson is the one bright spot on this team’, I realize that. So please don’t misinterpret this because I love Steven Johnson! He leads the conference with 94 tackles by a hefty margin, but history points to the fact that if you have a leading tackler in the Big 12, it might not actually be good thing!
So far in 2011, the conference’s leading tacklers in order are: Steven Johnson, KU; Jake Knott, ISU; Andrew Wilson, MU; and A.J. Klein, ISU. As fate would have it, those 3 teams that are represented are 3 of the 4 worst teams in the conference. Kansas is currently 2-6 and (0-5) in the Big 12, Iowa State is 4-4 and (1-4), and Missouri is 4-4 and (2-3).
In 2010, Jake Knott was again near the lead, but stud Nebraska linebacker La’Vonte David took the crown. Although David played for a solid Husker team, Knott’s Cyclones still missed out on a bowl game, going 3-5 in the Big 12.
In 2009, Iowa State linebacker Jesse Smith took first, while Baylor linebacker Joe Pawelek, who won the title in ’08, took second. BU safety, Jordan Lake, was 6th in the conference. Iowa State was just 3-5 in the Big 12 in ’09, Baylor was just 2-6 in ’08 and 1-7 in ’09.
And in 2007, Colorado linebacker Jordan Dizon had a whopping 162 total tackles. Colorado was 6-7 and 4-4 in the Big 12.
This isn’t an exact science, but a linebacker (and especially a secondary player) who leads the conference in tackles may mean 1 of 2 things:
(a) The player is a ball-hawk, he has a motor, he can wrap-up, and he has a future in the NFL.
(b) The team that said player plays for has no defensive line, so the other team often bursts plays into the secondary, and the defense is always on the field because they can’t stop anybody and the offense can’t move the ball, so the player gets a lot of tackles because of it. Basically he is just the product of a really bad team.
I like to think that in Johnson’s case it is choice (a), but in reality it looks like it is really just a combination of the two.
We keep chugging along as November is now upon us. With just 1/3 of the season remaining, there really isn’t much to look forward to. At best, maybe some young players can shine and give us some more false hope for next year. ‘We can still become bowl eligible,’ you say. HA. This season is completely lost.
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ReplyDeleteWell, I think it rocks.
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