Too bad Kansas University isn’t the college football equivalent of the Hotel California.
Wouldn’t it be great if KU’s football players arrived in Lawrence this week, then weren’t allowed to leave at least until the semester break?
Think of it. No road games. Only home games. Put those white jerseys in storage. Stick those suitcases in the back of the closet. What, me worry about losing my motel room key?
Kansas coach Terry Allen sure knows how Willy Loman felt. If Loman the protagonist in the Arthur Miller’s play “Death of a Salesman” made only one sale for every 14 stops, he’d probably opt for something easier, like cleaning septic tanks with a soda straw.
Fourteen times in the last three years Allen has taken KU football teams into unfriendly stadiums and 13 times Allen has been told thanks, but no thanks. Allen’s lone victory was that nerve-wracking 39-37 quadruple-overtime triumph over Alabama-Birmingham at UAB’s Legion Field in 1998.
Otherwise, the closest the Jayhawks have come to winning in the last three years was a three-point loss to Iowa State two years ago in Ames. That was the Cyclones’ only Big 12 Conference triumph in ’98. Oh, the ignominy.
Mostly, though, the Jayhawks lose big real big on the road. For the most part, the Jayhawks’ offense self-destructs and the defense disintegrates.
Over the last three years, Kansas has surrendered an average of 38.7 points in those 14 road contests. During the same span, the Jayhawks have given 20.7 points at home. Putting it another way, KU has been almost twice as bad on the road as it has been at home.
Last year was the worst. First, Notre Dame flogged the Jayhawks, 48-13. Then Colorado and Kansas State registered 51 and 50 points respectively. Next came the best defensive performance of the season. KU gave a mere 34 points to Texas A&M in College Station. Finally, Oklahoma State chalked up 45 points against KU in Stillwater.
Not many teams compile a winning record by surrendering an average of 45.6 points a game away from home and Kansas didn’t.
So far I haven’t seen anything to make me think the Jayhawks’ defense will be any better in 2000. Allen is counting on some junior college players to fill holes, yet overall KU’s defense especially the secondary lacks the speed to contain the wealth of skill players in the Big 12.
On a brighter note, Kansas does have a chance to win three of its five road games. That is correct. The Jayhawks will have the opportunity to triple the number of road wins under Allen.
The potential victims are Southern Methodist, Missouri and Iowa State. None of the three will be easy, however. SMU will have the incentive of playing its first game in its new campus stadium. Missouri always straps it on for the Jayhawks in Columbia. And Iowa State will no doubt kick it up a notch for its home finale.
Kansas also has to go to Oklahoma and Nebraska. Oklahoma’s strength is passing. KU’s weakness is pass defense. Gulp. And, as football historians know so well, Kansas hasn’t won at Nebraska since Khartoum was captured by the Mahdi.
While KU has a chance to win three road games, the Jayhawks will also be expected to lose three home games to Kansas State, Colorado and Texas. All three of those teams are ranked in the AP Preseason Top 25.
In fact, Kansas has five AP Preseason Top 25 teams on its schedule Nebraska and Oklahoma are the others and that’s more than any other Big 12 school.
Among the other second-division Big 12 schools, Texas Tech and Missouri have to play only four of the league’s elite while Oklahoma State, Iowa State and Baylor have just three Big 12 Top 25s apiece.
So, given its rugged schedule and its shabby road history, can Kansas win the six games necessary to qualify for a postseason game?
On paper, the answer is no. On grass, the answer is perhaps.
