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Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Keegan

Keegan: In the year of the quarterback, only a handful can consider themselves … In the running

By Tom Keegan

Kansas quarterback Todd Reesing bides his time behind the protection of the offensive line as he looks to pass during the first half against the Buffaloes, Saturday, Oct. 20, 2007 at Folsom Field in Boulder.

Photo by Nick Krug

Kansas quarterback Todd Reesing bides his time behind the protection of the offensive line as he looks to pass during the first half against the Buffaloes, Saturday, Oct. 20, 2007 at Folsom Field in Boulder.

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Heisman candidates

Teammate hoping to get Reesing recognized for Heisman

Nationally, Todd Reesing winning the Heisman Trophy still seems like a long-shot, but a grassroots effort may get underway for the Kansas quarterback thanks to one of his teammates.

Missouri T-shirt has many KU fans upset

One T-shirt that won't be found in Lawrence points to a dark day in the city's history and ruffles some feathers on the hill.

B-Mac's big season a surprise to many

When Brandon McAnderson was recruited, he was brought in as a fullback - a player to block for the running back and to gain extra yardage here and there. However, the senior has excelled at the running back position and is only 61 yards shy of 1,000 yards rushing this season.

Reader poll

Who is more likely to win a National Championship this year?

  • KU Football 52% 1372 votes
  • KU Men's Basketball 47% 1229 votes

2601 total votes.

Audio clips

2007 KU Football Press Conference Nov. 13

Reesing Scrambles

Take three steps back, seven steps to the left, 11 steps back to the right, five steps forward, seven steps back to the left and one more step forward. And do it all in 10.6 seconds.

Congratulations. You have just done the Reesing Shuffle. For a video demonstration of the dance created by Kansas University quarterback Todd Reesing before he threw across his body, a la John Elway, for a 34-yard completion to Dexton Fields on Saturday night in Stillwater against Oklahoma State, visit this YouTube link.

Come to think of it, since all modern culture runs through YouTube, tell 100 friends to tell 100 of their friends to visit YouTube to view his Fran Tarkenton-like scramble. That way, maybe it can become the most viewed video of the day and will be offered up to everyone who visits the site. Since that pretty much is every member of society, Heisman Trophy voters are sure to see one of Reesing's finest moments and hear the call of veteran broadcaster Brent Musburger: "Here's Reesing, picks up a block, still looking for someone, moving hard to the right, avoids a tackle, shades of Doug Flutie, and then completes the pass to Dexton Fields. How about that! That would make Mr. Flutie proud back there in the studio."

Doug Flutie won the Heisman Trophy in 1984, the year Douglas S. Looney of Sports Illustrated wrote, as quoted on Heisman.com: "Flutie has three things going for him on the football field: Spontaneity, brains and optimism."

Is that not a perfect description of what Reesing has going for him?

Color analyst Kirk Herbstreit, who endorsed Reesing for Heisman consideration during the broadcast, mentioned after that play how Reesing "does a great job of keeping his focus downfield and throwing the football."

He's been doing that since he ripped off the redshirt and rallied KU to a comeback victory against Colorado in 2006.

Fields has come to expect it of Reesing.

"That's Todd," Fields said. "That's why he's worked well for us this year. He can scramble and make plays outside of the pocket. I thought he was going to get tackled, but he slipped out of it some way, and he was coming toward me, and we just use our scramble rules, and that's how he found me."

Reesing's statistics rank right up there with the best in the nation, yet stats are only part of the equation. A look at how he has elevated a team that went 6-6 a year ago strengthens his candidacy.

As for stats, the best ones to evaluate quarterbacks are won-loss record, yards per pass attempt, interception percentage and touchdown percentage. Rushing statistics figure into the equation as well.

In this, the year of the quarterback - not even Arkansas tailback Darren McFadden is having a Heisman-level season - here is a look at the most deserving Heisman candidates, listed in order of their worthiness, not in order of how likely they are to win the award first won by University of Chicago's Jay Berwanger in 1935:

1. Dennis Dixon, Oregon

Record: 9-1; Yards per attempt: 8.43; Interception pct.: 1.22; Touchdown pct.: 8.13; Rushing: 549 yards, eight touchdowns.

He's going to be tough to defeat, particularly if the Ducks keep winning. He makes big plays passing and running and takes great care of the football.

2. Tim Tebow, Florida

Record: 7-3; Yards per attempt: 9.9; Interception pct.: 1.96; Touchdown pct.: 9.02; Rushing: 718 yards and 19 touchdowns.

He's a quarterback, a tailback and a short-yardage back rolled into one. Except for the three losses, his numbers are the best in the nation.

3. Reesing

Record: 10-0; Yards per attempt: 7.93; Interception pct.: 1.2; Touchdown pct.: 7.78; Rushing: 197 yards, one touchdown.

As shown by the pass that Marcus Henry turned into an 82-yard touchdown, Reesing isn't afraid to throw into tight spots. Given that, his active streak of 179 consecutive passes without an interception is freaky. Reesing always keeps his eyes on the target, whether he's scrambling or preparing for a lesser opponent, such as improving Iowa State.

4. Sam Bradford, Oklahoma

Record: 9-1; Yards per attempt: 9.5; Interception pct.: 2.27; Touchdown pct.: 10.61. Rushing: Negative-1 yard, no touchdown.

Has the highest TD percentage of the contenders and is second only to Tebow in yards per attempt. Throws an interception nearly twice as frequently as Reesing, but that's still not bad.

5. Patrick White, West Virginia

Record: 8-1; Yards per attempt: 8.07; Interception pct.: 1.29; Touchdown pct.: 7.1. Rushing: 803 yards, 10 touchdowns.

He's not as effective a passer as the others on this list, but he's the best runner, averaging 6.7 yards per rush.

6. Chase Daniel, Missouri

Record: 9-1; Yards per attempt: 8.16; Interception pct.: 2.22; Touchdown pct.: 6.42; Rushing: 248 yards, three touchdowns.

Simply because he made a name for himself last season, Daniel's Heisman talk is louder than Reesing's. The numbers don't support that, though. Reesing has a lower interception rate and higher touchdown rate than similarly undersized, mobile Daniel.

Meanwhile, Reesing is leaving the Heisman talk to others.

"To be even mentioned for an award like that is unbelievable," Reesing said. "I'm not worried about it because all I can do is get ready for this next game and play the best I can, and if things like that at the end of the season happen, that would be tremendous and unbelievable, but I'm not worried about that now."

Neither is Reesing's coach.

"That's fine," Mark Mangino said of Herbstreit's Reesing-for-Heisman talk. "Anytime they mention one of our kids with personal honors I'm excited about it. But that's not what propels us and that's not what propels Todd. I think winning is the thing the kids want to do most because that's something that every kid on the team is invested in. The more success our team has, the more opportunities there are for individual honors. If they win them, it would be awesome, but that's just not what motivates us. It's winning more than anything."

Needless to say, Reesing would rather win four more games in a row than win the most prestigious individual award in college athletics.

Comments

okjhok (anonymous) says...

Sure wish the voters looked at things as objectively as Keegan. If KU wins the next three games, they'll have to.

November 14, 2007 at 7:09 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

Lebowski (anonymous) says...

LOL. I wouldn't call Keegan's outlook objective, either.

But at the same time, if Reesing equals his recent production for 4 more weeks, and KU gets at least 3 more W's, he should win it hands down. Keegan said a lot, many of those other programs are already established. Reesing has been the key difference between last year's 6-6 and this year's 10-0.

Mangino may already have won coach of the year, and KU is all of the sudden a very recognizable name on the recruiting front.

November 14, 2007 at 8:13 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

jpstrayer (anonymous) says...

Regarding the Mizzou shirts....anyone who has a M*ck Fizzou shirt has no room to complain.

If you ask me both shirts seem a bit childish.

Wear blue, support your team in a positive manner without the bad taste.

November 14, 2007 at 8:23 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

okjhok (anonymous) says...

Lebowski...
Keegan used won-loss record, yards per pass attempt, interception percentage and touchdown percentage to make his argument. I suppose he could have used more or slightly different criteria, but how much more objective can you get?

November 14, 2007 at 8:29 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

klong (anonymous) says...

If we keep winning, more and more attention will go to Reesing. Winning makes everything better. Just win baby!

November 14, 2007 at 9:15 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

madmangine (anonymous) says...

Agree with the muck fizzoiu shirts. throw them away and show some class. Also stop with the God aweful signs that say "My coach could eat your coach." Its about football not fat.

November 14, 2007 at 9:54 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

klong (anonymous) says...

Also on that poll about a national championship. I would rather pin all my hopes on football because the basketball team has no chance in my opinion. Have you seen them play? A sixth grade team can shoot a better free throw %. That will cost them in the tourney like it always does.

November 14, 2007 at 9:57 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

okjhok (anonymous) says...

Free throws cost us in the nat champ. That's it. In the rest of the losses, we got outplayed or just didn't hit shots. Free throws were not the biggest problem. That said, I agree that the free throw shooting is poor. Most of it, though, is attributed to Kaun. He's getting his brains hacked out by smaller opponents right now and going to the line a lot. I wouldn't look for that to continue as our opponents improve. Also, those that think that he can improve his free throw shooting in practice are wrong. He's a seven footer that doesn't have a smooth stroke. Either you have it or you don't. I would look for his minutes to take a hit if he continues to struggle at the stripe, especially in key situations.

November 14, 2007 at 10:14 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

ramsrevenge (anonymous) says...

Anyone check out this article? Pretty good.

http://www.sportsline.com/collegefoot...

November 14, 2007 at 10:45 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

txrockchalk (anonymous) says...

Keep voting for Reesing!

http://76.12.3.168/index.asp

November 14, 2007 at 10:55 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

Yahweh (anonymous) says...

I don't want to get all caught up in this stuff, because it's obvious this Mizzou T-shirt is just a sad attempt to better than KU at /something/. Those who claim that if people support the "Muck Fizzou" than they should "accept" this disgusting, slave-supporting, murderous, abomination are missing the point completely. This isn't even the same thing. The "Muck Fizzou" shirt is a witty, if not completely PC attack against a rival university's sports teams. This Quantrill shirt is an attack against the residents, both current and past, of the city of Lawrence. By placing a sports reference beneath the image, the shirt attempts to make the wanton murder of residents and mass arson of Lawrence acceptable. The issue present, though, has nothing to do with sports and is an attrocious use of common sense and judgement, not to mention a complete vaccum of basic human decency. As a life-long Lawrence resident I am utterly appalled. "Muck Fizzou" versus "Burn your town down and piss on your ashes," YEAH! I could understand if we had a shirt depicting John Brown cutting up babies here, and I can understand anger on the other side for the "Muck Fizzou" shirt, but we don't cherish our brutal Civil War moments here, and this shirt (in relation to the "Muck" shirt) is akin to killing a cockroach with a shotgun, it's just way over the top. Any Jayhawk, any Lawrencian who stands there and accepts this excrement from across the border is either a spineless mouse or a poseur.

Rock Chalk Jayhawk

November 14, 2007 at 11:11 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

100 (anonymous) says...

Enough Heisman gossip and Missouri Shirt gossip, let's talk about something that matters right now: Iowa State football. It is time to begin making plans for Saturday KU fans. If you don't have tickets to the game yet, there will be plenty of room on the hill. Wear BLUE!!! I repeat, wear blue!!! no red!!! As for the game, Iowa State is for real -- a truly good football team, with a deceiving record -- they've already shocked two of our big wins, Colorado and K-State. Let's keep in mind that Colorado and K-State beat Oklahoma and Texas (on the road by 21). Every ounce of our rooting energy needs to be put into that game at Memorial Stadium on Saturday. KU football players: You have so much to be proud of -- across the nation, we are so proud of you guys! Win or lose on Saturday, make sure to shake Iowa State's hands -- they are great guys, just like you, and a hard working group to boot. respect the cyclones! Rock Chalk Jayhawk!!!

November 14, 2007 at 2:20 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

Lebowski (anonymous) says...

okjhok,

Fair enough to support his opinion (which I agree with, of course!) with unbiased statistics.

But he is not looking at things objectively, just as I don't. He's backing up his opinion with statistics that support his argument that he is right there in the running. But a fan or media member supporting one team cannot be objective when discussing members of that team, just as few national media members can be objective when discussing the strengths of Big 12 schools in comparison with their favorites over there on the East coast. It's not possible, by definition of the word.

To answer your question, he would be more objective if he wasn't a columnist for LJW or a KU fan.

November 14, 2007 at 4:07 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

mikeowens (anonymous) says...

If Keegan's story was truly objective (and this is coming from a KU grad), Chase Daniel would be higher than sixth in his rankings. And if the LJ World was objective they'd have a picture of Daniel in the collage. What a joke. Give Daniel and Missouri credit, even if you can't stand them.

And to those who will undoubtedly say the stats don't lie, I say watch these guys play. Compare the offensive efficiency of Florida, Oregon, Kansas, Missouri, West Virginia and Oklahoma with your eyes and your head. Which unit scares you most? That's the real barometer.

November 14, 2007 at 4:47 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

seattlehawk_78 (anonymous) says...

We are everywhere ramsrevenge. Three feature articles in Sports Illustrated already. It has to be getting harder for the players to concentrate given all the publicity they're receiving.

November 14, 2007 at 4:52 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

ku_fan25 (anonymous) says...

im glad were doing well but and im happy for the 10-0 start
but until next season im not ready to say we can play with anybody in the country be honest people before the season started would you believe we would start 10-0.... if we do this next year ill be a believer

November 14, 2007 at 4:59 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

seattlehawk_78 (anonymous) says...

I would be shocked if he won the Heisman but this season will put him on next years list. I think The Man(gino) has a better shot at Coach of the Year.

I love watching those highlights and that's one of the best. Can't wait for the 2007 KU Football Highlights DVD to come out.

November 14, 2007 at 5:23 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

scootja32 (anonymous) says...

I don't even care if he WINS the Heisman. I just think it would be so cool to see him sitting in one of the 5 chairs in NY when it all goes down. Especially at 5'9" and only being a sophmore.

So assuming Collins returns, is KU a preseason top ten next year?

November 14, 2007 at 5:44 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

KGphoto (anonymous) says...

Forget voting for Reesing. Reesing himself said "If it happens, that would be amazing. I'm really just worried about the next game".

Just worry about Iowa St. They are the only team who has demons to exorcise against US. All year we've been exorcising our own demons, and we've been damn dangerous because of it.

Iowa St. has a beef. Beware.

And Keegs, Reesing didn't throw back across his body. He threw away from it. And he sort of lobbed it, which reminds me nothing of Elway.

November 14, 2007 at 5:51 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

scootja32 (anonymous) says...

you guys can blast me all you want. I'm gonna chalk it up already. We're at home, they haven't won on the road. I think that I can look past Iowa St. because I know our players won't.

KU 51
ISU 7

November 14, 2007 at 7:32 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

jhox (anonymous) says...

To change the subject, first Pinkel gets in a cheap shot by saying he would never run up the score on somebody, with the implication that KU ran up the score on NU, and NU ran up the score on KSU. I can't speak to the NU/KSU game, but I was at the KU/NU game and we went ultra concervative starting late in the third quarter. We could have easily hung 90 on them if we had wanted to.

Today I heard Keatzman interviewing Ron Prince and he brings up KU putting 76 on NU, and NU putting 70+ on them, and asking how he feels about Pinkels comments about not being the kind of coach who runs up the score.

Is anyone else sick of hearing the implication that Mangino ran up the score on NU? Anyone who does, obviously didn't see the game. It could have been much worse, and I wish it had been (you can bet Tom Osborne would have dropped 90 on us if he would have had the chance...Mr. go for 2 up 33-0 before halftime.) The excuse NU people always gave was that they needed the points to inhance their BCS standing. I guess the shoe really was on the other foot this time.

The other point I would make is that NU was scoring points themselves. It's not like we were winning 60+ to nothing and still racking up TD's.

November 14, 2007 at 8:38 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

ku_fan25 (anonymous) says...

anybody agreee?

November 14, 2007 at 9:13 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

seattlehawk_78 (anonymous) says...

No way was Mangino running up the score. He still has an obligation to his team. They need to progress each week and that means playing the majority of each game. By the time the 4th quarter started the Huskers were hemoraging points. Our offense was pushing them around like rag dolls. I think 90 points is being kind, we could have scored in triple digits if we wanted to but he took the starters out after about 4 or 5 minutes in the 4th.

November 14, 2007 at 9:28 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

Yahweh (anonymous) says...

My question: Does anyone care if we did run up the score NU? Nebraska deserves to have people whup up on them. If we beat them by 50 for the next decade I might begin to feel guilty... nah. Nothing particularly personal towards the maize shuckers, but come on! What goes around...

November 14, 2007 at 10:20 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

scootja32 (anonymous) says...

Dont' change the subject again.

November 14, 2007 at 10:23 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

100 (anonymous) says...

An Iowa State fan has predicted a "one sided beating" of Kansas this weekend at Memorial Stadium. It is on a CBS message board -- one of the last comments at the bottom of the attached page -- his username is ISU-MAN94

http://www.sportsline.com/mcc/message...

November 15, 2007 at 12:47 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

okjhok (anonymous) says...

That's not an ISU fan, it's an LSU fan, and he/she is predicting that MU will beat us. Also, has a valid point above. The reason I'm looking ahead to MU is because I know the players won't. Here's a news flash for all of you. Are you ready??? We're fans...it doesn't matter if we look ahead to the 2010 season.

November 15, 2007 at 5 a.m. ( | suggest removal )