Scott McClurg/Journal-World PhotoBoulder, Colo. ? It was an author named Irving Stone, I believe, who penned the book titled “The Agony and The Ecstasy.”
Stone’s novel was about the life of the artist Michelangelo, but the title just as easily could be applied to Saturday’s Kansas University-Colorado football game.
It was ecstasy watching Kansas quarterback Bill Whittemore and the KU offense run through Colorado’s defense like tanks through a cornfield. And it was agony watching Colorado quarterback Joel Klatt and the CU offense careen through Kansas’ defense like a dose of salts.
If you were listening to this one on the radio at home or in your car — it wasn’t on television — how many times did you holler: “Where’s the defense?” Or, “Can’t we stop anybody?” Or finally, in frustration, “This is driving me nuts.”
Yes, it’s hard to believe a Kansas quarterback could put up the second-best single-game passing and total offense numbers in school history, and the Jayhawks would lose. Or as coach Mark Mangino said: “We should have won today, and we didn’t do it.”
Would Kansas have won with Gabe Toomey playing middle linebacker in the fourth quarter?
We’ll never know, of course, but it doesn’t take a genius to understand you don’t want to go into nitty-gritty time in front of a noisy hostile crowd with your best defensive player on the sideline with an undisclosed injury.
Mangino conceded Toomey was injured, saying only that the junior-college transfer should be ready to play against Baylor Saturday in Lawrence. Kevin Kane, Toomey’s caddy, made a couple of nice tackles down the stretch, but Brian Calhoun’s 12-yard game-winning TD run in overtime was right down the chute.
Still, one defender doesn’t win or lose football games. This was a platoon pratfall. Nobody tackled worth a hoot. In fact, if Mangino wanted to make a “How-Not-To-Tackle” instructional video, he could use most of the defensive tape from Saturday’s 50-47 defeat.
“We didn’t tackle well,” Mangino said. “That’s all I heard in the headset. ‘We missed a tackle,’ or, ‘We didn’t get the tackle.’ We missed a lot of tackles, a lot of tackles.”
Two weeks ago, you may remember, the Jayhawks’ defense was showered with bouquets after that 35-14 win over Missouri at Memorial Stadium. The Jayhawks took last weekend off. And then it looked like the defense took this Saturday off, too.
In retrospect, the Jayhawks’ defense reached its seasonal zenith against Missouri, then sank to its nadir Saturday at Folsom Field. Mangino speculated that the off week, which included no live tackling, might have caused the defense to lose its stinger. The KU coach also theorized the defensive decay possibly could be attributable to a midseason slump.
Whatever, KU’s defensive unit was so embarrassed afterward that only one of the defenders requested by the media for post-game interviews obliged. Or maybe they were just so mad they didn’t want to risk saying something they might regret.
Outside linebacker Banks Floodman, the lone KU defender to make an appearance, wasn’t happy, that’s for sure.
“This game needs to piss you off,” Floodman said, “and there are a lot of pissed off players in the locker room. We just didn’t play good defense.”
Informed that Mangino had speculated that two weeks of non-live work might have eroded tackling skills, Floodman snapped: “The week off had nothing to do with it.”
KU’s defenders aren’t only ones who need to be mad. There were special-teams breakdowns, and the offense can kick itself for failing to maintain possession with a 44-41 lead and about 5 1/2 minutes remaining, among other things.
Still, by the time the Kansas contingent arrived in Lawrence later Saturday night, the realization might have sunk in that losing in Boulder didn’t diminish in any way the indisputable fact the Jayhawks have come a long, long way from last year’s 2-10 nightmare.
WIBW video: KU streak ends in Boulder
