HONOLULU Judging from how well their Christmas went, Kansas’ football players and coaches must have been very good boys this year.
The Jayhawks awoke Friday and ran over to Aloha Stadium and unwrapped a 23-20 win over Brigham Young in the Aloha Bowl.
A bowl win isn’t just another fruitcake for KU’s football program. This was the first in 31 years.
“Needless to say, we’re ecstatic,” coach Glen Mason said. “We’re not a program that’s spoiled yet. We get excited about every little thing, except this pouring water on the old coach is getting a little old.”
During their 8-4 season, players doused Mason with coolers of water after wins over Kansas State and Oklahoma. They got him again after beating BYU.
“They threw two buckets on me today,” Mason said. “I read in the paper it can cause heart attacks.”
It should do his heart good to think that the Jayhawks’ reliable old weapon, kicker Dan Eichloff, has a year’s eligibility left, and that KU has found a new weapon in sophomore Rodney Harris.
Harris moved from tight end to wide receiver during practice for the Aloha Bowl. On Friday, he caught four passes for 142 yards, including a 74-yarder for a touchdown and a 48-yarder to spark Kansas out of a case of third-quarter doldrums and out of a 20-12 hole.
Eichloffno bumhit two of two field goals. His kick from 48 yards out with 2:57 left provided KU’s winning margin.
Kansas actually trailed twice, and the first time it took just 13 seconds. Hema Heimuli fielded Eichloff’s opening kickoff and returned it 94 yards for a touchdown.
It took the Jayhawks 18 seconds to tie it. Their first play was a six-yard naked reverse by quarterback Chip Hilleary. On second down at the KU 26, Hilleary lateraled to wide receiver Matt Gay, and Gay, under pressure, lofted a pass to Harris, who ran it in untouched.
“We had that planned,” Mason said. “We were going to do that in the first two plays of the game.”
The pass was designed to go to tight end Dwayne Chandler. Harris was Gay’s second option as a receiver.
“It didn’t work exactly the way we worked on it, but Rodney was a heck of a lot more open than we ever worked on it,” Mason said.
By halftime, the Jayhawks had a field goal and a safetydefensive tackle Chris Maumalanga nailed BYU’s Jamal Willis in the end zoneand had rolled up 208 yards offense to 144 for Brigham Young. But they trailed, 14-12.
The cougars owned the third quarter, outgaining KU, 187-33, but only managed to stretch their lead to 20-12. One of three missed field goals by kicker David Lauder came in that span.
That left the door open. With 12 minutes left, Kansas made its first first down in 11:46, and on the next play, Hilleary scored two plays later on a one-yard option keeper, and he ran a naked reverse for the two-point conversion and a 20-all tie.
On their next possession, after converting a crucial fourth down at midfield, the Jayhawks went ahead on Eichloff’s last field goal.
With 2:11 left, Charley Bowen intercepted a pass by Cougar quarterback Tom Young, and KU needed one first down to guarantee a win.
Deja vu. One late first down against Colorado, and the Jayhawks would have won that one, too.
“I used that as an example in the huddle,” Hilleary said.
