Three weeks into the Kansas University football season and we know this much:
One, the Jayhawks can score.
Two, the Jayhawks’ opponents can score.
Three, the Northwestern game was an anomaly.
Surely, no two college football teams in America have taken more divergent paths since their season openers than Kansas and Northwestern.
You’ll recall that Northwestern pretty much flushed the Jayhawks on a rainy Labor Day Weekend night at Memorial Stadium. The final score of 28-20 didn’t really indicate how the Wildcats dominated. The ‘Cats ran 88 plays to KU’s 57, maintained possession nearly twice as long and would have won handily except for a pair of TDs recorded by KU’s defense and special teams.
Since, Kansas has won two straight in mostly impressive fashion while Northwestern has dropped two in a row, both at home.
Go figure.
In retrospect, Northwestern opened the season with seven straight quarters of championship football. Against Air Force in their home opener, the ‘Cats led 21-7 after three quarters. Then quarterback Brett Basanez threw interceptions on NU’s first three possessions of the fourth quarter and Air Force won, 22-21.
In the Kansas game, Basanez had completed 23 of 36 passes for 219 yards with just one interception.
Saturday, the ‘Cats played host to Miami — Ohio, not Florida — and the RedHawks clubbed them, 44-14. Miami quarterback Ben Roethlisberger — the best football name since Bob “Hunchy” Hoernschmeyer — passed for 353 yards and three touchdowns.
Worse, Miami knocked Basanez out of the game twice, and running back Jason Wright, who burned Kansas for 196 rushing yards, gained only 20 yards in 11 carries.
Since the misery of that Northwestern defeat, Kansas has arisen to smack UNLV, 46-24, and whack Wyoming, 42-35, thanks mainly to quarterback Bill Whittemore, who continues to solidify his reputation as the most versatile KU quarterback since John Hadl in the early 1960s.
Few of the quarterbacks KU has had since Hadl were such double-edged threats as Whittemore. QBs like David Jaynes, Frank Seurer and Mike Norseth were dangerous passers, but were no threat to run. At the same time, Nolan Cromwell was the best running QB in school history, but his best pass was a forward fumble. Bobby Douglass, who called the signals on the 1969 Orange Bowl team, was feared more for his running than his passing even through he threw rockets.
The only other KU quarterbacks close to Whittemore for versatility were Chip Hilleary and Dylen Smith. Hilleary, who played on some of Glen Mason’s best teams, was consistent as a runner and a passer, but couldn’t be classified as a threat. Smith could run and throw, but was turnover-prone. Remember the Oklahoma game in 2000? Smith coughed the ball up seven times that day by throwing five interceptions and losing two fumbles.
Whittemore’s numbers in the last two games have been staggering. He has completed 34 of 46 passes for 539 yards and seven touchdowns. At the same time, he has rushed for 134 yards. That’s 673 yards of total offense.
In just 12 games in a KU uniform, the 6-foot, 205-pound Whittemore has already compiled 2,888 yards of total offense. If he averages just 123 yards a game during the rest of the season, the talented senior will go over 4,000 yards for his career and only six former Jayhawks have done that.
Your guess is as good as mine how much we’ll see of Whittemore against Div. I-AA Jacksonville State this weekend. Some might say it would be best to save him for the Big 12 Conference opener the following week against Missouri, but I disagree.
Fate dictates injuries, but rules determine the length of a college career. You can’t control either, so you might as well go for it while you can.
