The Greene Room Live: KU-Southeastern Louisiana

By Staff     Sep 8, 2007

**8:59 p.m.**: Well, let Tom Keegan’s ‘Carmon Boyd-Anderson for Heisman’ campaign begin. On the freshman’s first chance to truly showcase his stuff, he rushed for 27 yards on eight carries on one drive, capping it with a two-yard touchdown plunge.This one is in the books, and here were a few positives from the game in my opinion:1) KU proved that it can score big even when Todd Reesing isn’t as accurate as he was a week ago and when he’s under more pressure. Though we still have to see him do that against a Division-I opponent under the same conditions.2) Marcus Henry is a stud.3) No one in the green and gold tonight could earn that same distinction.On the other side of the coin…1) KU’s offensive line didn’t look as unified as it did a week ago. That’ll have to change before the Jayhawks bring I-A opponents back on the schedule in seven days.2) KU’s secondary still has yet to pick off a pass. That’s not necessarily a glaring concern, but it’d be nice to see some more ballhawking. I’m sure that’ll come, though, as they haven’t let either of the quarterbacks they’ve faced this season beat them or make them look bad.**8:28 p.m.**: So [earlier this week in the Spodcasters][1], we talked about how this is one of those games where by the end of the third quarter, you question the meaning of life, because the game has gone so stale.It’s not quite at that, because KU is keeping it exciting.-My preseason pick for defensive breakout player, Maxwell Onyegbule, had his first KU sack, which coincidentally went for a safety, making up for KU’s failed two-point try earlier, and probably putting the ‘chart’ question away for the week.-Kerry Meier threw his second touchdown pass of the game, even though it was just a little shovel to Jake Sharp, which let the sophomore back do most of the work. Meier continues to run the offense well with the second team.Now KU’s second team defense is on the field, which shoudl tell us all something about this team’s true depth, especially in the secondary.**8:00 p.m.**: It’s kinda dawned on me over KU’s last two possessions that the area needing of the most attention in the next six days will be the offensive line.If it weren’t for Todd Reesing’s legs, the protection wouldn’t look as good as it has. But even at that, the sophomore slinger hasn’t had much time back there to figure stuff out for much of the night.On the final possession of the first half, with another second at hand, he could have hit a wide open Dezmon Briscoe down the seam for a touchdown strike. On KU’s last drive, pressure forced him to underthrow Marcus Henry in the end zone.Against Southeastern Louisiana, it’s not so horrible, because the game is basically already over at 32-0. But in a few weeks, that won’t fly in Manhattan.**7:06 p.m.**: OK, I understand how football coaches have these ‘charts’ which tell them when to go for two on a touchdown and when not to, all kinds of different scoreboard scenarios on there and whatnot.But going for two when up 22-0 on a I-AA team which obviously has no chance of coming back on you? It’s a bit of a headscratcher. KU tried it, and it failed.Though Aqib Talib’s touchdown was quite the scene. It was a deep ball similar to last week’s from Reesing, but he made Travis Williams eat his lunch at the goal line, simply outjumping, outmuscling and outtalenting (yes, I’m coining that one) him for the ball, making it look easy.**6:24 p.m.**: Maybe it’s just me, but one of my favorite things to see in a football game is a special teams unit try to save a ball at the goal line on a punt before it goes down as a touchback.With that said, Kansas’ Micah Brown just worked his way into my all-time top-10 in that category. The reserve receiver put his back to the goal post at the goal line while the ball took a high hop, leapt and tried to volleyball set it back into the hashmarks. It looked like he did, but the refs awarded the Lions the 20-yard line. Still, nice effort.Just an early observation: KU’s offense is not opening up as early as it did a week ago, with a heavy favor toward run plays as far as play selection goes. I’m sure it won’t last, as this game shouldn’t be scoreless still. SELa. can’t move the ball worth a lick.**5:25 p.m.**: Hip-hop music is known for fads that no one can really explain. The latest one is tied to the song ‘Crank That’ by Soulja Boy. The song has its own dance.Personally? I think the song is lame, despite a nice beat.Anyway, it was funny to see the KU team huddle up in the end zone with about 40 minutes until kickoff with the song blaring on the PA system. At least 15 players were doing it. Well, at least it’s not the [Macarena][2].They were probably inspired by the kid in the student section – section 39 to be exact – who got himself a nice 5-minute jumbotron cameo by doing the dance on the stands.No matter what anyone says, he’s my Fan of the Game winner, even if he leaves after a quarter.For reference, here it is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vum3qgoh0x4**5:06 p.m.**: Who would have thought that for two weeks in a row I’d start The Greene Room Live by bummin’ about the Maize and Blue falling brutally short of expectations?Well, again, there’s KU football to get to on another beautiful day out at Memorial Stadium. I’ve gotta give it to the KU fans as far as the gameday atmosphere in the neighborhood down here at 11th and Mississippi, because despite the construction site just South of the stadium, it hasn’t hindered anyone’s festivities.The one thing I’m looking for in this game is how well KU can brandish the depth that the players have raved about for the past couple of months. The one area I’ll be watching in particular is the secondary as a whole. I’m probably sounding a little end-all, be-all about this as far as the scoreboard, but I fully expect it to be a 30-point game by halftime. Two guys I really want to see get some quality reps in the second half are Anthony Webb and Phillip Strozier at the corner spots.Also, expect to see a nice stat line from Carmon Boyd-Anderson, who is sure to get plenty of totes in the third and fourth quarters if this one gets out of hand early. This could be where we really see some flashes of what he’s got, as opposed to his three carries late last week at the end of the 52-7 beatdown of Central Michigan.I’ll talk to you after kickoff.**_KUSports.com editor Ryan Greene can be reached at rgreene@ljworld.com, or by phone at (785) 832-6357._** [1]: http://www2.kusports.com/podcasts/spodcasters/2007/sep/05/penalty_box/ [2]: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9z7t-Ox3XvU

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