It’s worth asking: If the seconds count down in today’s game, and if Kansas University has a lead, and if fans want to throw something on the football field symbolizing their team’s upcoming bowl game (as they did with tangerines in 2003), just what would it be?
The Fort Worth Bowl is KU’s strongest possibility. The Champs Sports Bowl and the Houston Bowl are others.
So … any ideas? Texas toast, maybe?
Ah, forget it. With KU football’s history the last 30 years, the fact today’s regular-season finale has huge implications is progress.
The Jayhawks have been to just four bowls in their last 30 seasons, including the 2003 Tangerine Bowl, a berth in which was clinched with a season-ending victory against Iowa State. Most of the last two dozen Novembers, though, have seen meaningless games at Memorial Stadium as hype overflowed in Lawrence for KU’s men’s basketball team.
To throw a wrench in that tradition is something these Jayhawks are glad to do.
“With the exception of 2003, it’s been awhile since a game has meant something to KU football in the month of November,” KU coach Mark Mangino said. “It brings excitement to the campus and community that everybody seems to be focused in on.
“That’s good. That’s a good sign. We want to be playing games in November that mean something. That means a lot to the progress of our program.”
A campus buzz
KU quarterback Jason Swanson didn’t notice, saying finals were (or should’ve been) the priority.
But he seemed to be alone among his teammates, all of whom said bowl chatter was on campus this week before it shut down for Thanksgiving.
“You hear murmurs and little whispers,” linebacker Kevin Kane said of bowl talk. “You don’t want to pay too much attention to it, because you have to do it before anybody says anything. We’re just going to go out there and hopefully prove the murmurs and whispers right.”
Added Brandon Perkins: “Everybody wants to go to a bowl game. It’ll be exciting for everybody.”
Yes, with the basketball team’s Hawaiian Hiccup still stinging from earlier this week, Jayhawk fans now turn to football for a reason to puff their chests.
Imagine that. Basketball fans, demoralized, turning to football to feel good.
“When I first got here, it was a joke,” Perkins said of the football talk at KU. “Everybody would talk about us losing, and it was never about us having the opportunity to become bowl eligible.
“(Now) people will come up and be like ‘Yeah, good luck this weekend.’ It’s a big, big change from when I first got here.”
Beyond the students
Mangino can sense it, too. Though he’s talked all year about passionate support from KU’s student body, the fourth-year coach said it went beyond that.
“We expect a pretty excited crowd,” Mangino said. “I’ve been told by many longtime staffers at KU, people who work on campus, ‘It’s a good feeling to be able to play for something late in the year.'”
At this point in 2002 and 2004, Mangino’s teams were playing for pride. All but one of Terry Allen’s five teams were out of postseason running by now.
Even the ’03 season finale wasn’t this dramatic. Those Cyclones were 2-9 heading into the KU game, and the Jayhawks were sparked by the return from injury of quarterback Bill Whittemore.
A 36-7 final was only shocking because, hey, six victories wasn’t supposed to be attainable. This is Kansas football, right?
This year, Iowa State might have more talent, but with the game at Memorial Stadium (KU is 5-0 at home), no one can pick either team with a whole lot of certainty.
Ask an outsider, New Mexico coach Rocky Long. His team has an invitation to the Fort Worth Bowl next month if, and only if, the Big 12 Conference doesn’t get eight teams bowl-eligible.
More and more, it’s shaping up to be the Jayhawks that could play spoilers to the Lobos, and Long admits, “I think it’s probably 50-50 with Iowa State and Kansas.”
Home-field advantage
With Iowa State in the midst of four consecutive convincing victories, KU needs Memorial magic now more than ever.
The Jayhawks have stumbled to losses against Kansas State, Texas Tech, Texas, Colorado and Oklahoma away from Lawrence, while rolling to wins against Florida Atlantic, Appalachian State and Louisiana Tech in the nonconference season at home.
Then there were the big two — memorable victories against Missouri and Nebraska. The emotion from those games was so high, goalposts came crashing down in back-to-back weeks. The second set, now drenched thanks to a swim in Potter Lake, was up for all of one day.
“When Memorial is filled up, and it’s rocking for you,” Perkins said, “it’s a good place to play.”
KU will see just how good today. If Texas-sized slices of bread starting pelting the field in the fourth quarter, Perkins might be right on.
“Kansas in another bowl game,” Perkins said, thinking it over. “That’d be pretty fun.”
