Nobody held a pity party for the Kansas University football program in 2006 when:
¢ Charles Gordon crippled the secondary by bolting to the NFL a year ahead of schedule.
¢ Safety Rodney Harris returned to the program, only to suffer a career-ending neck injury.
¢ Defensive tackle Eric Butler, projected to be a key contributor, lost an NCAA eligibility case, which ended his career.
¢ Darrell Stuckey, the safety who was going to add speed and sparkle, suffered an ankle injury that left him never quite up to full speed all season.
¢ Linebacker James Holt suffered a broken bone in his foot, missing several games and stripping him of needed experience.
¢ Kerry Meier, the quarterback who was going to stop the revolving door from spinning, went down with a shoulder injury, forcing Adam Barmann back into action.
¢ Linebacker Eric Washington, a starter, ended his career due to a neck injury in Nebraska.
As if all that wasn’t bad enough, KU couldn’t win the close ones. The Jayhawks lost in overtime to Toledo and Nebraska and fell from ahead in the second half in losses to Texas A&M, Oklahoma State and Baylor.
There’s no crying in college football, so all those bad breaks added up to one thing and one thing only: KU was a 6-6 football team that did not compete in a bowl game. Nobody cares how you get there. You are what your record says you are.
Over time, bad breaks tend to even out. In this case, it didn’t take much time.
Injuries? Other than Kendrick Harper, who missed the nonconference portion of the schedule, KU has been extremely healthy. (Harper, by the way, is quite an addition. As do Aqib Talib and Chris Harris, he certainly hits hard for a cornerback.)
The breaks went the right way on the scheduling front as well. Texas, Oklahoma and Texas Tech aren’t on it, not that it would be a stretch to believe KU could go 2-1 against that threesome. Nebraska has taken a big step backward under Bill Callahan and is having trouble stopping anyone.
What does the perfect storm of good fortune mean? Nothing. Kansas is 8-0 and ranked eighth in the nation, and that’s all that matters. KU still had to defeat three solid Big 12 teams (Kansas State, Colorado, and Texas A&M) to get two-thirds of the way through the regular season and halfway through the conference season unbeaten.
Still, every week Mark Mangino finds himself answering the same question: Is your team for real?
A nice answer would be: Are you for real or are you some absurd figment of my imagination?
Purdue and Penn State are the best teams Ohio State has beaten, and nobody’s asking Jim Tressel if the Buckeyes are for real.
Kansas won at Kansas State, which won at Texas. Kansas won at Colorado. Oklahoma lost there. Kansas won at Kyle Field. Nobody else has done that this season.
When Nebraska visits Memorial Stadium on Saturday, three weeks of pent-up excitement will be unleashed on the visitors by spectators wearing blue. If KU loses, nationally the story line will be that it finally came back down to earth, even though that wasn’t the angle when USC lost to Stanford. If KU wins, the coverage will center on Callahan’s career on life support.
Oh well, at least Kansas is catching the breaks where it counts.
