James Sims for President

Source: KU Sports

A year ago today, Kansas was down in Austin, Texas, getting its brains beat out by a barely mediocre Longhorns team, 43-0. Kansas was crap, and the line favored Texas by 28 points, but nobody in their right mind would have predicted these numbers... That day, Texas had 35 first downs; Kansas had 3. Texas had 441 yards rushing; Kansas had -2. Texas converted 11 of 16 third downs; Kansas converted 1 of 10. Texas possessed the ball for 44:07; Kansas possessed the ball for 15:53. All this, just 12 months ago.

On Saturday, Kansas took Kivisto Field on homecoming as 18 point underdogs. Texas was top 10 in the nation in points scored, averaging over 44 points per game, and Kansas was near the bottom in the NCAAs, averaging less than 20 points per game. Texas would run up the score, and Kansas wouldn't be able to hold serve.

But that didn't happen. Instead, Kansas dominated the game for 3 and 1/2 quarters, imposing its will with a power running game, playing the game to its strength, right into the teeth of the Texas defense. This day, Texas had 16 first downs; Kansas had 18. Texas had 211 yards rushing; Kansas had 234. Texas converted 4 of 12 third downs; Kansas converted 7 of 15. Texas possessed the ball for 27:12; Kansas possessed for 32:48.

Kansas lost its bowl eligibility, falling to 1-7 (0-5), but gave its fans reason to believe that a bowl isn't out of the question for 2013. Kansas was a few plays away from beating Texas for the first time in over 70 years.

James Sims is a junior running back out of Irving, Texas, a town 200 miles north of Austin. At Irving MacArthur High, he rushed for 3034 yards and 36 touchdowns, and caught 8 touchdown passes in 3 seasons. He had written offers from Arkansas, Iowa State, North Texas, Purdue, Utah, and UTEP, but committed to the University of Kansas on July 13th, 2009. Despite being overlooked by the big Texas schools: Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, and even Baylor, Kansas was somewhat of a heavyweight, going 20-6 in the past two seasons, and starting off the 2009 season 5-0, so Sims didn't feel as slighted. Anyways, Sims was licking his chops to join this Big 12 North contender in the 2010 season, and to hopefully get a shot at beating the schools that turned him down. Mark Mangino would make him a dominant back, and he would likely go play some football in the NFL. Easy as that.

Source: Irving Weekly

But like a lot of times in life, things didn't work out as planned. KU would lose its last 7 games of the year in heartbreaking fashion, Mark Mangino was fired for allegations that he had abused his players, and Sims was left scrambling to try to find a team to another play for. Turner Gill took over at KU, and in the end, Sims stayed loyal to Kansas after developing a relationship with RB coach Reggie Mitchell. Brandon Bourbon was the higher ranked running back coming out of high school, but Sims captured the attention of Lawrence with his chic, retro flattop.

Sims made his first start for Kansas a bit prematurely. Kansas had dropped its first game of the season 6-3 to North Dakota State, and Turner Gill was already in up to his knees. Sims had his red-shirt still intact, but desperate times often call for desperate measures, so Gill burned the red-shirt. Sims got the chance to play against the No. 15 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, and wound up rushing 17 times for 101 yards and a touchdown in KU's 28-25 upset.

In KU's only other 2 wins, Sims rushed for 115 yards and 2 touchdowns against New Mexico State, and 123 yards and 4 touchdowns against Colorado in an improbable 28 point fourth quarter comeback.

In 2011, Sims only reached the century mark twice, but they both came in victories, beating McNeese State and Northern Illinois. The reason? Sims carried the ball only 20+ times in only three games last year. I'm certain Turner Gill had a good reason for that, though...

This year, although he was suspended for the first three games of season because of a DUI arrest, Sims is having his best output yet. Sims returned for the NIU game, with Kansas sitting at 1-2, and he carried the ball 18 times for 91 yards and 2 touchdowns. Since working out the kinks in his debut, Sims has carried for 100 yards in every single one of the past 4 games, and has carried the ball 20+ times in each and every one of those games! Wow, do we have a coach who actually knows what he is doing?

Sims is averaging 124 yards per game this season at 4.8 yards per carry, which is even more impressive because Kansas has virtually no passing game to speak of. It hurts that he missed the first three games, but had he kept that average up for those ballgames, he would be top 10 in the nation in rushing. More importantly, Kansas could be sitting here with a better record (but I wouldn't be surprised if he takes down Jon Cornish's single season record and June Henley's all-time record next year).

On Saturday, against a front line of Texas players with 5 stars beside their high school profiles, linebackers with 5 stars beside their high school profiles, and defensive backs with 5 stars beside their high school profiles, Sims (with only 3 stars beside his name) still tallied 176 yards on 28 carries, including a 64 yard rush from inside the KU 10 yard line.

But what makes Sims's effort so amazing was that Texas knew Kansas was going to run the ball, I knew Kansas was going to run the ball, everyone knew Kansas was going to run the ball. Kansas did not attempt a forward pass for both the second and third quarters, and threw only 9 passes on the day. Texas brought d-backs into the box, but Sims still pounded out four yards, five yards, six yards, like his life depended on it. Charlie Weis tipped his hand by refusing to throw the ball, but Mack Brown and Texas still couldn't stop it. Kudos to Weis for the gameplan, kudos to the offensive line for the effort they gave on every single snap, and kudos to James Sims. He is an animal.

And he will only get better...

Sims cut weight over the off-season with the help of new strength and conditioning coach Scott Holsopple. And it has showed. Sims is still a strong, bruising back, but he has added some more speed. His 64 yard run on Saturday was the longest since Jon Cornish's 69 yarder against Northwestern State in 2006.

In the spirit of the elections, I would cast my vote for James Sims to get the most carries for the rest of the year (although the analogy stops brusquely because we all know that Kansas has four viable candidates to run the ball, whereas the United States might not have one viable candidate to run the country...sorry for reaching).

And if Jake Heaps lives up to the hype unlike his predecessor (cough, cough Dayne Crist), Sims should have more room to operate next year. I'm looking forward to the future, and as long as Sims stays healthy, it won't be long until KU breaks their conference losing streak.






Kansas continues to get closer and closer to breaking through and winning a Big 12 game, but it seems that the closer they get to actually winning the game, the harder and harder it gets to finish it.

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The game, itself, started off on a sour note. Taylor Cox muffed the opening kick, and was tackled short of the 20 yard line. After a decent first yard pickup, Michael Cummings was sacked just moments after receiving the shotgun snap. Weis took the ball out of Cummings hands and pounded Sims, Cox, and Pierson on the ground because he knew all too well that reading Texas's exotic blitzes would be a lot to ask out of his freshman.

Kansas punted, and Texas took over in great field position. Freshman Jonathan Gray cut through the Kansas defense like a knife through hot butter, and Joe Bergeron plunged in from 3 yards out to give Texas the early advantage. 43-0 did not seem too unlikely.

Kansas would move the ball deep into Texas territory on its next possession, but an errant snap on goal to go resulted in a 4th down and goal from the 29. With the kicking woes disallowing Weis to trot out a kicker with any confidence at all, Cummings threw a deep fade route to Andrew Turzilli, but the ball was batted away, and Texas took over. In the first quarter, Texas rushed for 51 yards on 8 carries.

Kansas forced a punt out of Texas, but took over on their own 2 yard line. Sims wedged out a few hard earned yards on first down, and on second down, he shot through the line and around the Texas secondary down the near sideline for 64 yards. A horse-collar penalty awarded Kansas another 15 yards, and a few plays later on a 3rd down play from the 15, Christian Matthews took the read option and went leaping into the end-zone to tie the game. Suddenly, the stadium was injected with enthusiasm and optimism.

Source: KU Sports

The Kansas special teams and defense would respond, forcing bad field position and a three and out, and the Jayhawks drove 60 yards, capped off by an 11 yard Tony Pierson touchdown run on a jet sweep. Memorial Stadium was rocking.

From this point forward, the Kansas defense set the tone of the game.

Kansas forced Texas into third and longs, and when Texas did work the ball up the field, the Kansas defense tightened the screws. Greg Brown made a great play on the ball, intercepting David Ash inside KU's red-zone. Kansas sat on the ball, and took the game to halftime.

At halftime, Kansas led the Longhorns 14-7, their first lead of the Longhorns since... wait for it... 2004 (I don't want to pour any more salt in those old wounds, so I will let you put two and two together by reading this, but the parallels are undeniable).

Kansas forced Texas to punt on the opening possession of the second half, but Bradley McDougald muffed the punt, trying to give Kansas more room to operate on offense. It's tough to blame McDougald on that play, but it stung all the same.

Texas worked the ball down to the Kansas 2 yard line, but on 4th and goal, Bergeron was stuffed by Ben Heeney and Huldon Tharp.

Kansas's Lubbock Smith intercepted Texas on the next possession on a poor pass from David Ash on a 3rd and 7 screen pass. Texas held the ball for over 10 minutes in the third quarter, and a majority of which were in Kansas territory, but came away with zero points.

On the Longhorn's next possession, Case McCoy took over at quarterback, and Texas started getting the ball outside the tackles to its world-class sprinter Marquise Goodwin. Toben Opurum and Jake Love both went down on one play, and sure enough, on the the next play Goodwin went 41 yards and 11 yards into the end-zone on his two carries. It wasn't the final nail in the coffin, but it also wasn't a good omen by any stretch.

Kansas took over with under 10 minutes to play in the game, tied with Texas at 14, and proceeded to drive the ball down the field. On a crucial 3rd down and long, Cummings hit Jimmay Mundine in the seam for a new set of downs. The Longhorns were given a healthy dose of James Sims over the next few plays, and with Nick Prolago hit one of the most nerve-racking 29 yard field goals you will ever see. 2:28 left in the game. Kansas up three. Texas with the ball.

McCoy's first pass was a bullet towards Greg Brown's right hip, and had Brown come down with it, Kansas would be out of the cellar and still partying. But it wasn't the case. The crowd got louder. On second down, McCoy air-mailed his receiver down the right sideline. The crowd got louder. And on third down, McCoy completed a short pass to Mike Davis before Davis was belted by Tunde Bakare, well short of the line to make. The crowd was jumping. Davis was helped off the field, and a on a 4th and 6, with the ballgame riding on it, McCoy found (Jaxon) Shipley over the middle. The crowd went silent. You thought we were done with McCoy/Shipley, right?

Mike Davis would come in on the next play (?) and just 1 play later, he caught a 38 yard pass down to the Kansas 3, when Tyler Patmon bit on the hitch and tried to jump the route. Kansas held tight for 2 downs, but on 3rd and goal, McCoy found D.J. Grant in the back corner of the end-zone. Texas would escape, 21-17. That crowd was paralyzed.

There is something to be said for Kansas holding Texas out of the end-zone so many times, and forcing two key interceptions. Those things definitely helped keep Kansas in the game, but Texas wasn't without good fortune as well. Texas fumbled a snap, but had "called a timeout" prior to the play. They also botched the quarterback/running back exchange, but the ball bounced fortuitously into their halfback's hands, who carried it for a gain of a yard? Good teams make good luck, and Kansas sure looked like a good team on Saturday. They might have even looked like the better team.

Source: KU Sports

Ben Heeney recorded 13 tackles, Huldon Tharp had 11, and Jake Love and the football seemed to have a natural affinity for one another. This was an effort that reminded you of KU greats like Nick Reid, Kevin Kane, Banks Floodman, Joe Mortensen, Mike Rivera, James Holt, and Steven Johnson.

The secondary made plays all day, but unfortunately, when it mattered most, Texas broke the line of defense for a game-winning drive.

Need more proof that Kansas is improved? Kansas will enter the Baylor game tied for second nationally for fewest penalties, with just 29, and 14 of those penalties came during the first three weeks of the season. So Kansas has improved form last year, and also during this season.

And the number one least penalized team in the country? You guessed it. Kansas State at 28. Kansas finished 56th and 64th the past two seasons with 69 and 72 penalties, respectively.

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Baylor's offense scares the bejesus out of me and I'm going to be frank: Kansas can't match the effort they gave against a potent Texas offense (in their own right). But Baylor's defense is a terrible trainwreck. The Bears are ranked 122nd in the country in points allowed (42.7), and in all four of their Big 12 losses, they have allowed the most points scored by their opponent on the season. 70, 49, 56, and 35.

Kansas should score more in this game than they have in any game to date (+31). Saturday will be a tough matchup for Kansas, but every matchup is tough for that putrid Baylor defense. Rock Chalk.