Preview: KU @ Iowa State

Source: zimbio.com

KU snapped a 27 game conference losing streak with its 31-19 win over West Virginia, and Saturday's game against the Iowa State Cyclones presents another opportunity to streak-bust. Dating back to 2009, Kansas has lost 23 straight road games, and hasn't won a Big 12 road game since the 35-33 win over these very Cyclones on October 4th, 2008. Kansas had to rally back from an early 20-0 halftime deficit, thanks to strong second half performances from Todd Reesing, Jake Sharp, and Kerry Meier. This year, KU finds itself a 4 and 1/2 point underdog in Ames, and has a very good chance of ending the streak, but they better not try to do it like they did in '08. I'm afraid that offense was a smidgen better than this one...

Losing Streak Ends, So Naturally: We Want Bama

Source: KU Sports

Funny story: So I started officially keeping this blog, The Rock Chalk Rant, on Blogger in the Fall of 2011, during KU's 2-10, 2011-2012 season. What most don't know, though, is that I actually first considered writing a game recap following KU's 52-45, 28 point comeback on November 6th, 2010. I was, and still am, enamored by the twists and turns of a college football game, especially that one, and I thought, as I sat there thinking about all the variables that impacted that game in that post-game delirium, that people would find it interesting to read game-recaps like they would a story. Because I think football games are stories, in a sense, (some better than others, and some, as we have seen, are the same old same old story) full of little occurrences that often go overlooked, but actually have a substantial impact on the game and season's outcome. I don't want to get too sappy, but like life, the little things add up over the course of time and add up to something pretty sizable...

Preview: KU vs. West Virginia

Source: isportsweb.com

The Vegas line puts the West Virginia Mountaineers as 7 1/2 point favorites for today's matchup, which is the closest spread Kansas has faced as the underdog since the Rice game, and the most favorable match-up since the home game against Louisiana Tech in the third game of the season.

Back on the Ground

Source: KU Sports

KU fell to Oklahoma State 42-6 on Saturday.

Preview: KU @ Oklahoma State

Source: Bleacher Report

And the gauntlet continues for KU. As we are all well aware of by now, the Big 12 Conference allows no time to for you to sit down and catch your breath. Today, the 2-6 (0-5) Kansas Jayhawks travel to Stillwater, Oklahoma to take on the 14th ranked, 7-1 (4-1) Oklahoma State Cowboys. It marks the Jayhawks's first trip to Stillwater since 2011, when they grabbed an early 7-0 lead over the heavily favored 6th ranked Cowboys, only to surrender 56 straight first half points, losing 70-28. Hopefully the coaching changes and player turnover will make this year is a slightly different story. I'd be happy with a game more like last year's version: Oklahoma State won the game on a wet afternoon in Lawrence, but by the skin of their teeth.

Hawks Still a Few Steps Slow

Source: KU Sports

In my last podcast with Crispin Brim, I said that the Texas Longhorns, at this stage in the game, are just a better version of what Kansas is. Now, I didn't out-rule Kansas being a Texas-level team. They were something Kansas could be, but something that Kansas just isn't yet. Sure enough on Saturday, the two teams played a very similar game from a schematic standpoint, Texas was just a better at it. Kansas trimmed the 14-0 Texas lead to 14-6 after closing out the first half with a field goal, and starting the second with another one, but a few critical mistakes down the stretch swelled the Texas lead a gave them the victory 35-13.