Mizzou Runs Away with Game and from Rivalry. BREAKING: TURNER GILL RELIEVED OF JOB

Source: KC Star

It was the season’s finale on Saturday and the Kansas Jayhawks put up a tough fight with arch-rival Missouri, falling 24-10. The game was competitive, like Turner Gill promised, but the ‘November to Remember’, that included a 61-7 thumping, was not enough to save face or his job. Sheahon Zenger made the call to fire Gill.

47,000 some-odd fans took in what may be the last Border War game ever.
(Attendance has dwindled. The teams' combined wins have a lot to say with it)

2007: 80,537 with combined wins: 21

2008: 79,123 with combined wins: 15

2009: 70,072 with combined wins: 12

2010: 55,788 with combined wins: 12

2011: 47,059 with combined wins: 8

Win and they will come, I guess. Oh how far we have fallen. 


Week 13
Box-Score Courtesy of : KU Athletics

Missouri (7-5,5-3) vs. Kansas (2-10,0-9)
Date: Nov 26, 2011 

Score by Quarters     1  2  3  4   Score
-----------------    -- -- -- --   -----
Missouri............  0  3 14  7  - 24
Kansas..............  0 10  0  0  - 10

It was Kansas’s bowl game, so they came out fired up. Mizzou came out lackluster and half asleep. QB James Franklin entered the game with just 7 picks on the year, but Kansas forced Franklin to make poor decisions early, throwing 3 interceptions on back to back to back possessions. Kansas was clogging the running lanes, so Franklin was forced to roll out of the pocket and several balls hung up in the air. Tyler Patmon jumped a route and picked off a pass, then Greg Brown caught a wounded duck, and Bradley McDougald returned a 57 yarder for a touchdown. All three returns had a shot at going the distance. The secondary showed tremendous improvement throughout the year, and they finally “showed us the goods.”

Outside of the pick six, Kansas only mustered 3 points on a Ron Doherty field goal, so they held only a 10-3 lead at half.  

Source: KU Sports

QB Jordan Webb became all too familiar with the natural grass at Arrowhead Stadium. He has got to get rid of the stick-em on his hands and the stinking football. Webb was flustered all day and was sacked 3 times on critical downs. Even when he did throw the football, he hesitated and threw into double and triple coverage. His line was—well—just look at it: 9/20 for 60 yards and 2 INT. Mizzou’s defense is talented up front with DT Sheldon Richardson, but the secondary wasn’t particularly great. Webb needs to improve on his sophomore campaign or an athletic specimen like Christian Matthews could take his job.

Matthews tallied 31 yards on 6 carries, and completed the first (and only) pass that Kansas threw out of the wildcat for 12 yards. The former high school quarterback gave Kansas more flexibility than Webb because he could make a Tiger miss.  

Source: KU Sports

Kansas outplayed Missouri on all sides of the ball in the first half, but like the Baylor debacle, it was a tale of two halves. Kansas won the first, but Missouri won the second (fairly handedly).

If you’d remember when we talked about inflection points, please. When Kansas long-snapper Tanner Gibas’s arrant snap went sailing over Ron Doherty’s head, Kansas led, but I knew at that moment that Kansas was losing the ball game. It was just the first possession of the second half, Missouri took the over the ball deep in Kansas territory, and the Kansas offense had yet to do diddly. It was a recipe for disaster. Had Doherty boomed another coffin corner punt, Kansas’s defense could have turned Missouri over again, but instead Missouri put up 7, tying the game at 10.

Gibas, a highly touted LS coming out of high-school, had a strong season, but the 2 high snaps in back to back games to end the year will be fresh in fans minds’ during the offseason. It’s unfortunate that long snappers only get publicity when things go horribly wrong, so let’s keep in mind that Gibas had a spotless year outside of the last two games. He will move on and have a great career, but nevertheless, these botched snaps were really injurious to the team.

So as the game started to take a turn for the worse I began looking over my shoulder. Here we go, I thought. And sure enough, I saw more middle fingers than I ever had. I didn’t say a word, I didn’t make any gestures, I just cheered on the Jayhawks. I am proud to say that it was unwarranted, unless wearing crimson and blue to a football game merits heckling.

Win, lose, or draw, I knew that this game would leave a terrible taste in my mouth. The Missouri fans I ran across were ignorant and outspoken. 'They didn’t want Tony Pierson to begin with' (Pierson had originally committed to the Tigers)! HA! He ran wild on them, when he had a crease. Then they started talking about 'basketball'! KU’s 7 straight Big 12 Championships was 'no big feat'.  Then I heard that the SEC will make them 'an elite football powerhouse'. If nothing else, they gave me a good, hearty laugh.

Source: KU Sports

We were sitting in the KU section, mind you, and my friend, shown above on the left, still managed to get heckled by a drunken Missouri fan.

WR Marcus Lucas, who hauled in a 53 yard touchdown on a gimmicky fake run play, winked at me after he scored his touchdown. It’s nothing big, but at the same time, it’s not classy.

And then for my best evidence…Mizzou WR T.J. Moe. He is the case in point by himself. There isn’t a better ambassador for this crude, classless program, than Moe. Just listen to him! I don’t understand why they embrace the burning of a town, but enough with them. Good riddance.

I realize that it is just a small sample size of the Mizzou fan-base, but I am not going to shed a tear now that we are rid of those miscreants that I ran into on Saturday.

FULL SCREEN VERSION

Animated Drive Chart brought to you by Gameday Depot.

But the big news of the day: Turner Gill is gone. Even though this was the most exciting thing to happen to Kansas football all year, this is nothing to celebrate. As much as I wanted him gone, I wish him all the best. I never want to see someone lose his job, and we must keep in mind that his staff is left out in the dark. Sure they are out and recruiting right now, but so were Mangino’s assistants in 2009, and none of them were retained by Gill. Recruiting coordinator and running backs coach Reggie Mitchell would be a great keep, but I think even he gets cut loose. Its bitter-sweet, like all firings, but let’s also keep in mind that Kansas owes Gill some 6 million dollars, and his staff another 2 million or so.

Source: Bleacher Report

There were some pretty telling quotes that came out today. Former Jayhawks spoke out in defense of Turner Gill as a person, but not as a coach. Former DB Ryan Murphy said that when Gill first came in “players were excited because they had a coach who was a little more laid back and relaxed. [He thought] as time went on that guys realized that they needed a coach who was going to be more on them and a disciplinarian and you kind of need that." Former DE Quinton Woods added that "Gill is an awesome person and he has instilled good qualities in the men on the football team, but on the field you have to put that aside and you can't be that chill and relaxed. On the field you have to be firm and I think Mangino executed that 100 percent of the time and he had some displeasing ways he went about it, but at the end of the day he got the job done." That does not settle well with me. The players knew that Gill was not cut for the job and I am sure more stink will be revealed with time. I was leery of this before it went public. Thank You Lew Perkins.

2009 felt like a low point, a 5-7 record losing 7 straight to end the year, but I would kill for a 5-7 record now. Gill brought an unprepared, undisciplined, and unmotivated team to the field week in and week out. He went 5-19 at Kansas and just 1-16 in Big 12 play. Did fans really expect to keep Gill another year? I realize that is a loaded question, but keeping Gill is just not in Kansas’s best interest.
I feel for the players who will now have gone through 3 coaches in a short 4 years. It’s kind of like the child who loses his authority figure early in life…. Who are you supposed to trust? I am sure they are all saying the same things. ‘We are improving’, ‘we are getting there’, ‘Believe’. All of the coach speak is probably making the players queasy.
I actually stumbled upon a clip of Sheahon Zenger meeting with Gill last night. So much for the 6 million bucks...

 
So maybe I stole a cheap laugh? Maybe not? In all seriousness, Gill is a class act in how he carries himself off the field, and I don't want to make a mockery of the situation. He released this statement to the public: "I would like to thank the University of Kansas for the opportunity to be its head football coach. On behalf of our staff, I want to thank the players for putting their heart and soul into this football program the past two years. I hope nothing but the best for all their future endeavors, both on and off the field." I still expect him to collect his 6 mil on his way out, but Gill was really a man of character. Was he accountable? Now that is stretching it. Regardless, I wish him well in all of his endeavors. 

Just because winter is upon us and football season is over for the Jayhawks doesn’t mean RCR is going to hibernate too. Expect even more coverage of KU football in an especially trying time. The firing gives me impetus to keep writing, and Kansas football is at a crossroad. It is either on the cusp of turning this program around, or about ready to put this program 5-10 years back.