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Monday, October 29, 2007

Keegan

Keegan: Bottom line: KU unbeaten

By Tom Keegan

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Eighth place at eight-and-oh

The Fighting Manginos climbed the BCS rankings after beating Texas A&M in College Station last weekend.

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KU 8-0 for first time since 1909

The KU football team is 8-0 for the first time in nearly 100 years.

Nobody held a pity party for the Kansas University football program in 2006 when:

¢ Charles Gordon crippled the secondary by bolting to the NFL a year ahead of schedule.

¢ Safety Rodney Harris returned to the program, only to suffer a career-ending neck injury.

¢ Defensive tackle Eric Butler, projected to be a key contributor, lost an NCAA eligibility case, which ended his career.

¢ Darrell Stuckey, the safety who was going to add speed and sparkle, suffered an ankle injury that left him never quite up to full speed all season.

¢ Linebacker James Holt suffered a broken bone in his foot, missing several games and stripping him of needed experience.

¢ Kerry Meier, the quarterback who was going to stop the revolving door from spinning, went down with a shoulder injury, forcing Adam Barmann back into action.

¢ Linebacker Eric Washington, a starter, ended his career due to a neck injury in Nebraska.

As if all that wasn't bad enough, KU couldn't win the close ones. The Jayhawks lost in overtime to Toledo and Nebraska and fell from ahead in the second half in losses to Texas A&M, Oklahoma State and Baylor.

There's no crying in college football, so all those bad breaks added up to one thing and one thing only: KU was a 6-6 football team that did not compete in a bowl game. Nobody cares how you get there. You are what your record says you are.

Over time, bad breaks tend to even out. In this case, it didn't take much time.

Injuries? Other than Kendrick Harper, who missed the nonconference portion of the schedule, KU has been extremely healthy. (Harper, by the way, is quite an addition. As do Aqib Talib and Chris Harris, he certainly hits hard for a cornerback.)

The breaks went the right way on the scheduling front as well. Texas, Oklahoma and Texas Tech aren't on it, not that it would be a stretch to believe KU could go 2-1 against that threesome. Nebraska has taken a big step backward under Bill Callahan and is having trouble stopping anyone.

What does the perfect storm of good fortune mean? Nothing. Kansas is 8-0 and ranked eighth in the nation, and that's all that matters. KU still had to defeat three solid Big 12 teams (Kansas State, Colorado, and Texas A&M) to get two-thirds of the way through the regular season and halfway through the conference season unbeaten.

Still, every week Mark Mangino finds himself answering the same question: Is your team for real?

A nice answer would be: Are you for real or are you some absurd figment of my imagination?

Purdue and Penn State are the best teams Ohio State has beaten, and nobody's asking Jim Tressel if the Buckeyes are for real.

Kansas won at Kansas State, which won at Texas. Kansas won at Colorado. Oklahoma lost there. Kansas won at Kyle Field. Nobody else has done that this season.

When Nebraska visits Memorial Stadium on Saturday, three weeks of pent-up excitement will be unleashed on the visitors by spectators wearing blue. If KU loses, nationally the story line will be that it finally came back down to earth, even though that wasn't the angle when USC lost to Stanford. If KU wins, the coverage will center on Callahan's career on life support.

Oh well, at least Kansas is catching the breaks where it counts.

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Comments

KU (anonymous) says...

I expect the Jayhawks to destroy NU. This defense is really, REALLY coming together. And wow! What a game from Kendrick Harper Saturday! It appears that even if Talib opts for the draft, KU will have 2 really solid corners next year.

Rock Chalk.

October 29, 2007 at 7:34 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

Teapot9 (anonymous) says...

Exactly Keegan, KU is unbeaten. Then why don't you refelct that in your AP voting and throw a bone the Jayhawks way. I mean ASU received two #1 votes. Be a "homer" for just a couple of weeks.

October 29, 2007 at 8:10 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

sevenyearhawk (anonymous) says...

Kansas will hang FIFTY on Nebraska ...

read my post in The Huddle on the Message Boards for a full A&M weekend report ...

October 29, 2007 at 8:54 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

kylecisnum1 (anonymous) says...

this is perfect, people are still doubting us giving us extra motivation! excited about saturday and i hope to see a blowout!

October 29, 2007 at 11:14 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

killabees (anonymous) says...

The best thing about our play so far is that we're perfect in the big XII but have played only one home game.

Granted we've given one of our remaining home games away, but still...

October 29, 2007 at 11:29 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

phoenixjayhawk (Rodney Stice) says...

KU can win against Nebraska. They should have put up big numbers against A & M. The offence needs to control the game in the 4th, we have had problems with time management against A & M and CU. Defence looks tough. They need to quit giving up a touchdown in the fouth, and making the game closer that it was.

Playing on National TV for 6 straight games, I love that. Keep up the good work.

Rock Chalk Jayhawk, GO KU!!

October 29, 2007 at 12:24 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

dagger108 (anonymous) says...

Thanks for the perspective on last year. I had forgotten/hadn't put together how pervasive the injuries and all had been.

You gotta love the solid, solid tackling by this team, and the DB's in particular. Even out in the open field, there aren't many tackles that are missed or broken. One of the guys mentioned spending some extra PT (practice time) preparing for the A&M game, but I think the solid practice has shown all year.

A number of recruits have commented on coming here because of the ops for the other PT, so it is nice to have the contributions and PT of all the players recognized. Should just help to continue the rise of the program via recruiting.

October 29, 2007 at 2:36 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

actorman (anonymous) says...

The KU defense has been truly incredible. The offense has the potential to be tremendous, but has looked a little shaky at times. I'm worried about all the passes being dropped and how often Reesing's passes don't seem to be quite on the mark, especially early in the game. Hopefully the defense will keep playing at their top level and the offense will smooth out the kinks so KU can put a complete game together, like it did early in the year against the non-conference patsies. Time for a 56-3 stomping, followed by another complete game next week in Stillwater.

October 29, 2007 at 3:29 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

yovoy (anonymous) says...

i'm not thinking about a blowout, i'm worried about a win. i'll take a blowout, but i'll also take a 1-point squeaker.

we cannot count nu out of it. they could've beaten texas the other day had they not imploded.

dunno if the 'wounded animal' analogy is apt, but it's said that wounded animals are the most dangerous. i guess it depends on the kind of animal.

October 29, 2007 at 4:46 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

1977kufan (anonymous) says...

Thanks for the great article, Tom. I just want a solid win against NU (even 3 points is OK with me). Bottom line, Jayhawks are stilll undefeated when the red and white look in their mirrors and depart the Stadium. Everyone, stay focused on NU and do not look beyond this next game, this game is an extremely important game. jayhawk football, watch it, love it. rock chalk!!!

October 29, 2007 at 8:12 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

NavyHawk (anonymous) says...

I expect Todd will have a much better start playing at home, as long as he doesn't get too amped up. I can accept a few dropped passes as long as those who drop them continue to make plays later on and Todd continues to show faith in their abilities. My biggest fear is that he doesn't look the cornerbacks off enough. He almost got picked for six last week and that shouldn't happen if he'll just look away from his primary receiver if only for a second.

Rock Chalk!

October 29, 2007 at 10:46 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

JBurtin (anonymous) says...

Funny, I wrote essentially this same article about fifty times during the off season in an attempt to get people to lay off of Mangino.

It was obvious to anybody that has been watching over the last few years that he is an incredible coach that had to deal with a young year and many, many ill-timed injuries to the most experienced players on the team. Yet he still managed to put in more wins with that team than any of the Terry Allen teams could have done.

Myself and several others on this board were called idiots more than once for being on Mangino's side.

Sweet Redemption!

October 29, 2007 at 11:42 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

shelleysue (anonymous) says...

Mangino knows how important special teams and defense are and that is why we're 8-0. It took him a while to get the team to this point, but I knew he would do it.

The A&M game was a glowing example of how important those two aspects of the game are. Even when your offense struggles, a great defense will win the game.

I have no doubts that our defense will contain Missouri and we will end the season as the Big 12 North Champion.

Go Hawks!!

October 30, 2007 at 3:27 p.m. ( | suggest removal )