Kansas University football coach Mark Mangino heard the giggles back in 2005 from schedule-strength pundits.
With the ’05 season just months away, KU quickly was running out of options to find one more nonconference opponent for its football schedule. Associate athletic director Larry Keating finally opened up communication with Division I-AA schools and found a team willing to come to Lawrence on the weekend Kansas needed someone.
That team? Appalachian State.
“I don’t think anybody is snickering anymore,” Mangino says now.
Not after ASU, the two-time defending I-AA national champion, knocked off No. 5 Michigan, 34-32, on Saturday.
Kansas handled the Mountaineers, 36-8, that warm night in Lawrence two years ago. But Mangino maintained then – as he does now – that Appalachian State is on par with many lower-division teams in Division I-A.
Kansas continues to schedule games against teams in I-AA, now referred to as the Football Championship Subdivision. The Jayhawks never have had much of a problem winning those games in the Mangino era, and they hope that continues Saturday when FCS opponent Southeastern Louisiana comes to Lawrence for a 6 p.m. game.
As for the shocker in Michigan? Don’t expect that to keep Kansas from scheduling FCS teams in the future, probably annually.
“I don’t mind that it’s one a year,” Mangino said. “A lot of those teams are eager to do it and want to do it to help subsidize their programs.”
And Kansas is eager to do it for two reasons: It’s another home game to bring in revenue, and it’s a game KU should win if it shows up ready to play.
The Jayhawks have played an FCS team every year in Mangino’s tenure except 2004.
All of those games have been lopsided so far – a 44-24 victory over Missouri State in Mangino’s first season was the closest. But FCS teams always sneak in a jab or two – or in Michigan’s case, a knockout.
“There’s risk anytime you play anybody,” Mangino said. “It’s the coach’s job, and that’s my job to get our guys ready to play week after week. No matter who the opponent is.”
Here’s how Kansas has fared against the Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA) in the Mark Mangino era:
Year – Opponent – Result2002 – Missouri State – W, 44-242003 – Jacksonville State – W, 41-62005 – Appalachian State – W, 36-82006 – Northwestern State – W, 49-18
