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Insight Bowl nears

Tempe, Ariz — The way the omens have been going for the Kansas University football team, you almost expect a black cat to roam the Jayhawks’ sideline today at Sun Devil Stadium, site of KU’s Insight Bowl 5 p.m. kickoff against Minnesota.

First, news broke that Justin Thornton did not make the trip because of unspecified disciplinary reasons. Thornton’s play at cornerback after converting from safety in midseason was the single biggest key to the secondary’s turnaround, one detailed in today’s GameDay section, which was printed hours before news broke that Thornton would not play in the game.

Kendrick Harper gets to start in his final game of a two-year KU career marred by injuries and ineffectiveness. The 5-foot-9, 190-pound Harper, a native of Hartwell, Ga., came to Kansas from Butler County Community College with high hopes. As is the case with so many junior-college transfers making the step up, it never happened for him. At least not yet. He started five of the first seven games of this season, but has played sparingly since getting burned repeatedly against Oklahoma.

A defensive player earned MVP honors in KU’s last two bowl games: defensive end Charlton Keith in the Fort Worth Bowl and cornerback Aqib Talib in the Orange Bowl. Maybe Harper continues the tradition, but anyone rooting for Kansas in this one will settle for not even noticing him on the field. As is the case with third-base coaches, cornerbacks who don’t get noticed generally are in the midst of good games.

The next bad omen came when it was revealed that Jake Sharp has been confined to his bedroom with the flu. Kansas coach Mark Mangino said Sharp will play, but how much strength will he have? Furthermore, despite the team’s efforts to keep Sharp from spreading the illness, has it already invaded some teammates?

Bad omen No. 3: Missouri needed to go to overtime to shake Northwestern. Could it be the Big Ten is better than most in Big 12 country believe?

Bad omen No. 4: A peek inside Sun Devil Stadium served as a reminder that Arizona State and Minnesota wear the exact same colors, so this might feel like a home game for the Golden Gophers. OK, so that one’s a stretch. Then again, omens by definition are stretches.

Omens don’t decide football games. Football players and coaches do, and Kansas has more good ones in both departments than Minnesota. In the past two seasons, Mangino has a 19-6 record. Tim Brewster is 8-16 in two seasons at Minnesota.

Even against a suddenly shaky-again secondary, Golden Gophers sophomore quarterback Adam Weber doesn’t figure to do as much damage as bowl-seasoned KU junior Todd Reesing.

Brewster called Weber’s favorite target, Eric Decker, “as fine a wide receiver as there is in America today. It was unfortunate that he got hurt the last couple of weeks of the season. He was a Biletnikoff finalist. But I think he could have won the award for being the best receiver in the country.”

Reesing has two elite receivers in Dezmon Briscoe and Kerry Meier. Again, advantage KU.

Despite the omens, the Jayhawks remain the smart-money pick, which is a downgrade from the easy-money pick they were a week ago.