There’s something about leaving Lawrence that hurts Kansas University’s football squad.
No sport seems to have a home-field advantage as stout as college football, but KU doesn’t need that reminder. Under third-year coach Mark Mangino, the Jayhawks are 2-12 on the road, picking up a 43-33 victory in 2002 at Tulsa and a 42-35 victory last season at Wyoming.
KU’s next shot at Mangino’s first Big 12 Conference road victory could be a big one. If the Jayhawks want a chance at another bowl game and possibly the Big 12 North title, a win Saturday at Iowa State could prevent an already steep ascent from going vertical.
The Jayhawks are aware of that, too.
“I think it’s a matter of maturity,” lineman Matt Thompson said of the road woes. “Myself, as an offensive lineman, I haven’t been accountable for myself. I haven’t played my best games this year on the road. But this week is different. The rest of the season is on the line for us.”
It’s not as if the road trips are inevitable beat-downs for KU. This season, the Jayhawks lost, 20-17, at Northwestern after holding the lead late, than fell 14-8 to Nebraska in front of 77,637 Big Red faithful. Last week was a 41-10 loss at Oklahoma, one of the best teams in the nation.
So what’s the problem?
Well for one, a packed house of 80,000 fans, like KU saw at Nebraska and Oklahoma, makes life hard on a KU offense trying to communicate prior to a play. The Jayhawks’ defense, meanwhile, doesn’t have that added boost from the Memorial Stadium crowd intent on making life hard for guests. More than that, though, it might have everything to do with comfort.
But Mangino said he was starting to see fewer and fewer differences in his team regardless of venue, an encouraging sign that the out-of-town slump may not last long.
“I can’t help but tell you that I admire the way our kids compete and fight,” Mangino said. “Home or road, you’re going to get the same effort out of them.”
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
The Jayhawks have two road games remaining: Saturday at Iowa State and Nov. 20 at Missouri. If the Jayhawks wants to return to a bowl game — which they would be eligible for with a 6-5 record — they would have to win one of the two road games, and take care of business at home.
“There’s four games left in the season,” Thompson said. “If we don’t win this game, we won’t have any chance of postseason play, and that was a goal at the beginning of the season. All of us want to get this win, and get the rest of the wins. But we’re focused on Iowa State right now.”
¢
Looks like Barmann: Mangino was asked Wednesday if both Adam Barmann and Jason Swanson would be used at quarterback against Iowa State.
He didn’t say if Swanson would get snaps, but did indicate Barmann would get plenty.
“We’ve put a lot of energy in getting Adam ready for this game,” Mangino said.
¢
Practice field on disabled list: KU, like it has for much of this month, practiced Wednesday at Memorial Stadium.
Mangino said the practice field adjacent to Hoglund Ballpark was experiencing technical difficulties in the early repair process and might not be able to be fully fixed until next year.
“Something went wrong,” Mangino said. “There’s some serious problems over there. I brought it to the attention of the administration, and they’re working on it and are probably going to get it taken care of.”
¢
Jones excelling: From the “where are they now?” files: Former KU defensive tackle Chuck Jones has popped up at Portland (Ore.) State and is having a good season in the new environment.
Jones, who played for the Jayhawks last year but was dismissed from the team prior to the Tangerine Bowl, leads the Vikings with seven tackles for a loss and four sacks. He was the Big Sky Conference defensive player of the week earlier this month.
Portland State, an NCAA Division I-AA squad, is 3-4 this season.