Sunday, October 21, 2007

Keegan

Keegan: Can it, Corso: Kansas for real

By Tom Keegan

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Undefeated Jayhawks rank 9th in BCS

Jayhawks fall in at number nine in the Bowl Championship Series standings after winning in Colorado.

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2007 KU-Colorado Football

KU Football

Boulder, Colo. — Hello, Lee Corso. This is the present speaking. Please tune in and stop worrying about statistical data from bygone years that supports your contention that this Kansas University football team is a fraud.

Corso, the ESPN "Game Day" analyst who loves to be hated, needs to find a different football program to pick on. This Kansas team is too tough, too smart and too confident to be passed off any longer as a cute little undefeated novelty.

Tough, smart, and confident are the best words to describe the leader of the team, sophomore quarterback Todd Reesing, who again did his best work when his team fell behind against Colorado at lively Folsom Field.

Both defenses executed so well that it came down to the team that had the quarterback being able to make something out of nothing, winning, 19-14.

For the seventh time in a 7-0 season, Kansas had the better quarterback.

Colorado coach Dan Hawkins made the decision to take the pass away, and the fleet KU receivers had trouble getting open downfield, forcing Reesing (20 of 29 passes for 153 yards, one touchdown and no picks) to make do with shorter passes and considerable improvisational skills.

In the first quarter, Reesing couldn't find anyone open on third and nine, so he started scrambling. By the time he stopped, he had a 53-yard gain, the key play in a drive that ended with Scott Webb drilling a 48-yard field goal. Reesing nearly was sandwiched for a sack by two Colorado defenders at the start of the big play. He slipped away, sprinted to the right, executed a terrific pump-fake and made good use of a long-standing Derek Fine block.

On the first play of the fourth quarter, again on third-and-nine, Reesing side-stepped a potential sack, kept looking for an open receiver, couldn't find one, made another cut out of trouble and dashed along the left sideline before stepping out of bounds with a 17-yard gain.

Like all clever quarterbacks, Reesing (84 rushing yards, seven attempts) has terrific peripheral vision, which grants him a near-perfect feel for precisely when to run. Still, how does an undersized man not blessed with terrific speed run so well?

"He knows when to pull it down," sixth-year Kansas coach Mark Mangino said. "He isn't fast in terms of a quick burst, but he has quick feet, and he can change direction on you. He is one of those tough kids I was talking about. He just gets it done."

Reesing said of his two big third-down runs: "It was either throw the ball away or try to make a play. If it comes down to that, I'm going to try make a play in any situation."

That's what you want in a quarterback, a guy who wants the action, the responsibility, the pressure. The improvement of a healthier, faster defense, and the way Reesing has stabilized the QB position are the two biggest reasons KU already has surpassed last season's victory total.

"He has made a major difference," Mangino said. "Our first five years here, I cannot explain to you just how difficult it has been with all of the injuries and problems at that position. Especially the injuries, they just rip the heart out of you."

Now it's Reesing ripping hearts out of foes by taking what the defense gives him.

Comments

sevenyearhawk (anonymous) says...

Mr. Keegan I enjoy your writing, and love to hear you on the Spodcasters, but ...

Pot meet kettle, you didn't even pick Kansas to win in Boulder!

I know a journalist is "supposed" to be unbiased, a fact that many of our brethren seem to have forgotten ... but Tom, help yourself to a big ol' mug of Crimson Kool-Aid!!! :D

October 21, 2007 at 7:11 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

prairie_dog (anonymous) says...

We love you, Mr. Keegan, but ditto to sevenyearhawk.

October 21, 2007 at 7:26 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

troutsee (anonymous) says...

Keegan, how can you be so high on the Jayhawks and then pick CU to win. That was kind of a downer for many of us. I tell you what, we could very well run the table now.

October 21, 2007 at 8:01 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

klong (anonymous) says...

That's right trout! Dollar signs!! BCS, dollar signs!

Keegan picked us to lose? I guess I never got that memo. Anyway, who ever listens to Lee Corso? The guy is about 30% on his picks every week because he wants to call the upsets.

October 21, 2007 at 8:23 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

thjhawk (anonymous) says...

Beautiful win Hawks. Jayhawk proud here in Tennessee.

October 21, 2007 at 9:01 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

1977kufan (anonymous) says...

Super article, Tom. A great way to watch and listen to Corso is to either turn the sound down completely or throughly plug your ears. Then you can see senseless lip movement from a high paid (whatever he gets paid is too much) football pseudoanalyst (an individual who thinks he knows "something" about football, but everyone else knows that he doesn't know "anything" about football). This guy must have a tremendous agent and the administration (read individuals who hire someone to be a pseudoanalyst) at ESPN and ABC must have microbrains. Super game coaches, super, super game D (everyone on D -- you guys are just tremendous) and O (did I love that 94 yard drive and the way that it ended with a wide, wide open Mr. Fine). jayhawk football, watch it and love it!

October 21, 2007 at 9:33 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

elkwc36 (anonymous) says...

I agree with Sevenyear. I couldn't believe Tom and the Spodcasters all picked CU and tried to ride the fence now want to rail on some other disbeliever. It showed the 3 of them evidently are. Go Hawks

October 21, 2007 at 9:44 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

AzHawk97 (anonymous) says...

New Headline:
Sevenyearhawk: Can it, Keegan: Kansas for real

Dollars to doughnuts, and Keegs likes his doughnuts, I bet he picks them to lose at A&M as well.

Rock Chalk!

October 21, 2007 at 10:09 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

jhawkshocker (anonymous) says...

Does anyone know what the initials "ESPN" stand for? Is it Eastern SPorts Network? well wait, if it was that, they'd have to have an asterick follwed by "we love anything Texas and California too"
KU fans, be proud to know this.....next Sat. the fans of Texas A&M will fill a sports venue for a game against a conference title contender, a team they want to see their team beat, and beat convincingly and it's the ku jayhawks, and it's NOT their basketball team. Just think about that for a little bit.
The national media says it's a down year in the Big 12. but I don't understand that.....seems to me that OU is having a good year, they are in title contention. And let's see.....MU is having an amazing year, they have one loss, on the road, to OU (btw, that was hard to type, but I'm trying to make a point) Oh wait, here it is.....Texas is having a down year, that's it.
But let's say that it's late Feb, basketball season and KU, MU, and OU have struggled all year, but TEXAS is undefeated, would ESPN be saying that the Big 12 is having a down year? Well, of course not!!!
Ever notice that when ESPN shows football scores at the bottom of the screen and they show a score for the likes of Florida, USC, Rutgers, LSU, etc, they will then show the stats of QB's and RB's from those games?
With KU, they just show the score, no player stats.
Oh, and the common statement......KU doesn't play OU or Texas this year........well, from what I've seen, Texas is not that great this year, and........And it's very possible that KU will play OU this year.....right?
KU football players and staff: I applaud you, and thank you!!!!!!

October 21, 2007 at 10:20 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

Jacobpaul81 (anonymous) says...

I'm just tired of Keegan's over praising of Todd Reesing. I mean, I'm proud of the little guy from Texas, whose out playing all the big guys from Texas. However, It's like every week, every article this moron writes, is all about Reesing. Cut it out Keegan. Write about someone else for a change. It's not like this game was won solely by the quarterback.

October 21, 2007 at 11:10 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

whoisjohngalt (anonymous) says...

Oh my god, I about pissed my pants when I read this headline. Keegan, you are so full of crap your eyes are brown. Way to jump on the bandwagon.

October 21, 2007 at 12:55 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

jhawkdan42 (anonymous) says...

Lee Corso is a joke. I hope he keeps picking against us because he's wrong most of the time. Hawks, stack the line against a&m , they cant throw the ball! Lets enjoy the ride!

October 21, 2007 at 1:57 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

seattlehawk_78 (anonymous) says...

Most of the people on ESPN are too full of themselves and too in love with the sound of their own voice to give objective opinions. They're more interested in sounding informative than being informative. If Indiana or Illinois had the exact same schedule and record as Ohio State they wouldn't be in the top 10. Mark May won't give KU an ounce of respect because they haven't played anyone. Ohio State hasn't played anyone but he has them as the best team in the country. I think that's the definition of an old boy network.

October 21, 2007 at 3:15 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

NavyHawk (anonymous) says...

Jacobpaul81,

You must not have seen the game or read the stats. Todd Reesing was the only real offense for Kansas last night! Granted, the defense was the key reason KU was able to hang on but, they didn't score any points. Without the key 3rd down runs by Reesing, KU might not have scored ten of its nineteen points.

Todd wasn't perfect. He got a little adrenaline rush when he saw a wide open B-Mac streaking down the sideline and overthrew him by ten yards. He also missed a wide open Henry over the middle for another sure touchdown, though I think Marcus hesitated just enough to cause the overthrow. All in all, a great defensive battle won by the better team.

Way to go Defense! Way to go 'Hawks!
It's a great day to be a Jayhawk!!!

October 21, 2007 at 3:30 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

the_crowd_goes_wild (anonymous) says...

Just a little tidbit that you may all like to chew on: While Corso (and most other ESPN "analysts") aren't on the KU bandwagon, there is a former coach (who actually won a national championship) that has been on the wagon since season's start: lou holtz! Last night Lou took an even bolder step than he had been all year, by putting the Jays in his top-5 in the nation! He may be WAY off with his darling Notre Dame, but he is all love for KU. The way analysts dog him because of his talk of KU, I can't wait to see him boast when Kansas proves him right - and the others wrong!

October 21, 2007 at 3:59 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

killabees (anonymous) says...

Still waiting on BCS.

KU number 2 in sagarin.

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/sagari...

Nice to see.

October 21, 2007 at 5:29 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

dagger108 (anonymous) says...

While drinking the kool-aid, I don't think I'm ready for kool-aid shower, or an annointing of Coach Mangino. It is interestng to take what to me is as objective a look at the season to date as possible - the Sagrin rankings.

A couple things are noteworthy:

1 - KU is ranked #2. This should go a long ways when the BCS finally is released later today.

2 - KU's SOS is way behind anyone else's; #117. UConn (#16) is the only other team even remotely close at 93.

The teams we have proven ourselves against are #18 & 38. That's hard to call a strength of schedule. We will move a big step forward in the next 3 weeks if we can dispatch #34 & 30. At least that will show consistancy. The BIG tests will come the last 2-3 games of the season; MU (?OU?) Bowl Game.

My guess is that we continue to prove ourselves thru mid-terms, but miss out on one of MU/OU. That will be enough for the top bowls to overlook KU because of a lack of tradition, and send us to the Alamo bowl. Hopefully, we'll be excited about a really nice invitation, and huge progress for the program so that a victory there prepares us for the start of next season.

Waiting on the kool-aid showers - ?'08?

October 21, 2007 at 5:35 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

CasperCorps (anonymous) says...

Good game Hawks!!! Great Defense!!!

October 21, 2007 at 6:31 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

NavyHawk (anonymous) says...

9th in the BCS, 10th in Coaches, 12th in AP (idiots!)

http://www.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/s...

It's a great Year to be a Jayhawk!!!

October 21, 2007 at 7 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

yovoy (anonymous) says...

we're winning. i don't care if we're "for real", i don't care what sagarin says (though i figured we were pretty low on it). if we lose, you'll see us tumble unlike other teams that lose but seem to stay pretty close to their previous ranking. the best solution to hold the nay-sayers at bay? keep winning, because the only "numbers" that matter are the ones on the scoreboard at the end of the game. if your numbers are better more times than other more "favored" teams, no one can say that you don't belong.

the most exciting thing about all this is that it's got to be helping our recruiting, so that in the future we'll be considered as being "for real".

October 21, 2007 at 7:33 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

JayViking (anonymous) says...

Are you people really going to sit here and rag on Keegan?

Corso knocked the hawks without justification whatsoever!

Keegan predicted a hawks L and justified it claiming that CU's QB would step up at home.

He's a sports writer and that's his job. At least he's not a huge factory of douche like Corso just spewing crap out of his mouth.

October 21, 2007 at 8:01 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

seattlehawk_78 (anonymous) says...

I don't think you can knock a local writer whenever he doesn't pick KU. Anyone can be a cheerleader. Ryan Greene said KU has yet to prove themselves on the road and as a consequence picked K-State. Can you really fault him? If you need the local writers to pick KU each week just so you'll be happy then there opinion is worthless.

October 21, 2007 at 8:45 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

dagger108 (anonymous) says...

Seattle - I think it is the pot/kettle syndrome being emphasized here.

October 21, 2007 at 9:27 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

fabio (anonymous) says...

Hey guys. That was the first time this year that Keegan picked KU to lose a game and we are in the 2d half of the season. Leave him alone. I thought CU was going to win the game too, but I still made the trip. Just because you dont think KU will go undefeated dosent mean you suck.
For the record, Corso sucks!

October 21, 2007 at 10:01 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

bmcmich1 (anonymous) says...

Amen! Let's not get too down on Keegan and focus on the real idiot here: Corso. What a CLOWN!! The guy is nothing but a self-promoter who has NO credentials as far as football know-how and relies on sideshow acts to stay popular enough to be on gameday.

I've probably already given the guy too much of my time, and I advise everyone else to ignore him because it's a pretty safe bet you'll be smarter for it!! Rock Chalk!!

Fabio -

Sorry I didn't get a chance to meet up with you; Saturday was pretty much a blur. Folsom sure was a pretty cool place to watch a game though! Hope you had a blast too, and glad you made it back safe!

October 21, 2007 at 11:06 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

100 (anonymous) says...

Who cares what Lee Corso thinks. We just need to get ready for Texas A & M. KU fans need to begin making arrangements to get down to College Station. A&M is a great football team and has quite a tradition -- we need to respect them and their fans. The more KU people we have down there, the better!

October 22, 2007 at 2:02 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

mcrozb (anonymous) says...

Still "no respect" Even after beating Colorado on the road, the national media is going to overlook us, with the lone exception of Lou Holtz, who does give us recognition at his own expense, by being laughed at by his co-commentators. There is a show on FSN (Fox Sports network) called "The Official BCS Ratings Show" After our win in Boulder and we cracked the top ten in the BCS, the only thing they had to say about KU is wer're a "soft 7-0" team, even if we were to win the rest of our games, I think KU would still get no respect.

October 22, 2007 at 6:03 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

speedy (anonymous) says...

ESPN stands for fired and retired coaches assoc.
there are a few good analyst such as craig james, lou holtz, there are some class A jerks.
i will never listen to corso or the motormouth boomer. i mute them or switch chan. how those two ever kept their jobs is beyound me.
ku is doing fine w/o espn help.
lets beat tex. a&m go big blue.

October 23, 2007 at 10:28 a.m. ( | suggest removal )