Kansas football notebook: Clean it up

By Matt Tait     Aug 31, 2015

Richard Gwin
Kansas football coach David Beaty talks to his team during a break on Friday, Aug. 21, 2015.

Mistakes are commonplace in season openers across the country, but Kansas University football coach Beaty does not believe they’re necessary.

“One of our focuses always has been and always will be on playing a clean game in that first game,” he said on Monday morning’s Big 12 teleconference. “A lot of people say, ‘Hey, you see some sloppy play in that first game,’ but I don’t think it has to be that way.”

By clean, Beaty is referring to being penalty-free, smart about how the team lines up and taking care of the little things that often are new to a good chunk of players on the field.

“We’ve been preparing our team for any and all situations,” Beaty said. “So when they get out there on the big field, it’s not the first time they’ve gone through it, (and) they can operate with poise.”

Ready to roll

With his debut as a Div. I head coach just five days away, Beaty was asked how his nerves were holding up.

“It’s an exciting time, obviously,” he said. “But there’s not a lot of sleep for just about anybody in the country at this time of the year, and we’re no different than that. … I know everybody loves their team right now, and we’re no different. I love the guys we have. We have thrown a lot at them to see how they’re gonna react, so we kind of have an idea of who they are when adversity hits, and we’ve also spend a lot of time trying to handle prosperity because we’ve seen teams that don’t handle that as well either.”

Jayhawks by 5

According to the online betting site sportbook.com, KU enters today as a 5-point favorite over FCS foe South Dakota State.

It marks the sixth time in the post-Mark Mangino era that the Jayhawks have been favored in the season-opener, but the spread is by far the lowest during that time.

KU is 4-1 in season openers since 2010 and 2-3 against the spread.

Sent packing

Former Jayhawks Jimmay Mundine (New England) and Nigel King (San Francisco) were waived by their respective NFL teams Monday.

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Written By Matt Tait

A native of Colorado, Matt moved to Lawrence in 1988 and has been in town ever since. He graduated from Lawrence High in 1996 and the University of Kansas in 2000 with a degree in Journalism. After covering KU sports for the University Daily Kansan and Rivals.com, Matt joined the World Company (and later Ogden Publications) in 2001 and has held several positions with the paper and KUsports.com in the past 20+ years. He became the Journal-World Sports Editor in 2018. Throughout his career, Matt has won several local and national awards from both the Associated Press Sports Editors and the Kansas Press Association. In 2021, he was named the Kansas Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association. Matt lives in Lawrence with his wife, Allison, and two daughters, Kate and Molly. When he's not covering KU sports, he likes to spend his time playing basketball and golf, listening to and writing music and traveling the world with friends and family.