Putting the Horse Back in Front of the Cart

Source: KU Sports

Kansas kicked off the season 1-0 after holding down South Dakota 31-14 on a muggy September Saturday. It wasn't pretty outside, and it wasn't much prettier on the field, but Kansas is where it needs to be (in the standings, at least). Let the process begin...


About two weeks before kickoff, I set my personal spread on this first game (FCS opponents don't get Vegas lines for some reason, so prognosticating was especially burdensome). My initial prediction for KU/USD was 38-13 Hawks. I figured KU would be able to sustain long, run-heavy drives against a, by and large, soft Coyotes defense, and finish by tasting the sweet nectar of the endzone a good four or five times. Add in a nice, suspense-free field goal from walk-on Matthew Wyman, and there's your 38 points.

I respected USD quarterback Josh Vander Maten's rushing ability enough to concede a touchdown drive, but I also thought Dave Campo's defense would pick up where it left off on red-zone successes from last year. With two field goals, there's your 13.

Then, with the news that USD's top DT would be sidelined, and I guess some a lot of pre-game delirium, I bumped that number up to 52. Two more touchdowns (preferably passing, so we could kill that stupid-ass stat: no KU wide-out had caught a touchdown pass since the K-State game in October 2011). So that was my thinking in a nut-shell.

Well, Kansas had a rough go at in the first quarter, and so too did my prediction. On the first two possessions, dropped passes ailed the offense, and on the third, Kansas came up short on a 4th down conversion. South Dakota found some early success on the ground with the help of some missed arm-tackles, seizing a 7-0 lead: 55 yards in 9 plays.

Yet it didn't feel like same old same old to me. I understand the fans' frustration, but two things were happening that didn't bother me so much. They bothered me-- sure-- but they can be addressed.

1) Kansas was dropping perfect passes. I credit this to nerves. And on a bright note, the wide-receivers rarely had the opportunity to drop accurate passes last year. So, you could almost say this is a positive if you really think about it.

And 2) Mr. Vander Maten was running through and around the defense early in the game. Honestly, Dave Campo should shore this up with time, and besides, the Big XII is bereft of this breed of quarterback (with a few exceptions) anyways.

And Kansas responded nicely by carving out the viscera of the Coyote defense via the passing game(!): 10 plays, 75 yards. As much as we like to discredit FCS teams, accuracy is accuracy. Heaps made throws that we haven't seen made since Todd Reesing was slinging it around. Tony Pierson caught 2 passes, one for 7, and another for 25 yards on a beautiful touch pass from Jake.

Then, on the seventh play of the drive, Heaps connected with Josh Ford on a little button hook, Ford turned it up-field and slithered toward the goal-line. He reached the goal-line with the nose of the football, and the crowd erupted. Like it should. To our knowledge, the cursed streak had been eradicated for once and for all.

But KU Football has never been that conspicuous. Nothing ever comes that easily for reasons unexplainable.

The play was reviewed, the touchdown annulled, the streak resurrected.

Streaks die hard, apparently.

The quarter ended on a particularly sour note, and when play resumed, Kansas punched the ball in with battering-ram James Sims. It was six points, but it just felt wrong.

Kansas then forced a punt on the next possession, punted the pig back, and then on a third down play, made one of the most excitingly disappointing plays in the history of football.

Source: KU Sports

Keon Stowers is a big man: 6'3" and bumping up against 300 pounds. He plays defensive tackle for the Jayhawks, and he's quite good at it. But he also has a powerful story that is worth hearing. You can read about him here. I highly recommend doing so.

Anyways, Mr. Stowers dropped back into coverage on this particular third down (a call he made on his own!), and found the football in his hands. The first interception of his life.

So with the ball in his hands, things were going pretty swimmingly for the big fella, but Keon got greedy. He wanted more.

Rumbling, bumbling, stumbling, but NOT fumbling, Keon gracefully pirouetted away from a Coyote, and weaved his jolly way through blockers up the field and into the end-zone.

The play was inspiring, invigorating, and plain comical among many other things, but two party pooping yellow-flags, lay ominously on the field.

A block in the back on Keba Agostinho brought the touchdown back; excessive celebration for the apparent touchdown was just salt in the wound.

You really cannot make this stuff up. Only Kansas Football can be penalized for excessively celebrating a touchdown that never really "happened".

Last year, the team practiced celebrating made field-goals, but the kicker couldn't put it through the up-rights, so they ended up celebrating a missed field-goal unwittingly.

It was situational irony at its best. I sat up in the stands, omniscient, watching a bunch of yahoos acting like school boys in the end-zone, while I knew the play was coming back and they didn't. If nothing else, the grab-assing was well rehearsed, Chuck.

The rest of the game was devoid of tomfoolery, thankfully. Kansas had a few more miscues, particularly on the offensive line, and also a rare fumble from James Sims as they were going in to score, but South Dakota really only had one more legitimate drive the rest of the game.

The Kansas defense forced five punts from that point on, and the rushing attack gashed.

On what looked like his fourth or fifth read, Heaps hit Justin McCay in the back of the end zone with a dart, and that dart pierced the streak in a vital artery. Thank You.

Darrian Miller's return adds another dynamic to an already potent rushing attack. And this is only the beginning of what we are going to see from Tony Pierson and Brandon Bourbon at the F-spot.

Not to mention, Wyman nailed a 45 yard field goal, and Trevor Pardula kicked THREE touchbacks and pinned a punt inside the 20, so I'll sleep like a baby this week!

Other than that, this was just a kind of bleh win--which shouldn't be taken for granted. Heaps didn't get his 60% pass completion like I had hoped, but drops and throw-aways detracted from that, and the defensive line left a lot to be desired, but all in all, the team looked okay.

My advice at this point is to savor this fatty meat of a win for now, because there is a chance, possibly a very good chance, that we'll be gnawing on straight bone marrow for the rest of the year.

Sorry, that was bleak. Awfully so.

Honestly, I'm not going to put too much stock into this game. Kansas's parts were greater than the sum of the whole, which isn't a good thing, but it also suggests that they have pieces... or the infamous p word: potential. To be fair, the JUCO's had to acclimate, and hell, Kansas won the game! Iowa State and Kansas State can't say that after they struggled with FCS competition. Silver linings, people. Silver linings.

But make no bones about it, the screws have got to be tightened if Kansas wants to compete in Houston this week against Rice. Look forward to my prediction on Thursday...

Until then, as always: Rock Chalk.