Jayhawks — like fans — tired of Big 12 losing streak

By Staff     Oct 24, 2016

Kansas football fans toss part of an upright into Potter Lake following the Jayhawks' 34-14 win over the Cyclones on Saturday, Nov. 8, 2014.

The last time the University of Kansas football team won a Big 12 game, many of the men who occupy key roles on this year’s roster weren’t even involved with the program.

The Jayhawks, with interim coach Clint Bowen leading them, defeated Iowa State on Nov. 8, 2014.

KU had dropped every Big 12 game since, and the conference skid hit 16 this past weekend, [against Oklahoma State][1]. Kansas (1-6 overall, 0-4 Big 12) came within a missed field goal of upsetting TCU a couple weeks ago and entered the second half Saturday against the Cowboys trailing by only four points.

The longer Kansas goes without knocking off a conference foe, the harder it is for the players — and, surely, the program’s supporters. Still, for play-makers such as sophomore Steven Sims Jr., who’ve only experienced league losses, the stigma that accompanies the program’s Big 12 troubles only makes them hungrier.

> “Starving,” Sims clarified. “We want
> to get that win so bad in the Big 12.
> Because the win over Rhode Island
> (55-6 in the season opener), it was a
> win, but we just felt like we want to
> beat a team in our conference to prove
> to everybody that we can’t only beat a
> (FCS) team.”

Kansas defensive end Dorance Armstrong Jr. (2) shows his frustration on the sideline during the fourth quarter on Saturday, Oct. 22, 2016 at Memorial Stadium.

KU’S BIG 12 LOSING STREAK
————————-

**2014**

*34-30 L vs. TCU*

*44-7 L at Oklahoma*

*51-13 L at Kansas State*

**2015**

*38-13 L at Iowa State*

*66-7 L vs. Baylor*

*30-20 L vs. Texas Tech*

*58-10 L at Oklahoma State*

*62-7 L vs. Oklahoma*

*59-20 L at Texas*

*23-17 L at TCU*

*49-0 L vs. West Virginia*

*45-14 L vs. Kansas State*

**2016**

*55-19 L at Texas Tech*

*24-23 L vs. TCU*

*49-7 L at Baylor*

*44-20 L vs. Oklahoma State*

It seems highly unlikely the streak will end this week or next, with KU traveling to No. 16 Oklahoma and No. 10 West Virginia. But severing it as soon as possible definitely remains a high priority for Kansas players.

> “It’s very important,” said sophomore
> Dorance Armstrong Jr., another crucial
> Kansas cog yearning for the better
> days he believes are ahead. “No one
> wants to go four years with having a
> losing streak. Every game that we
> don’t come out with the victory, it
> eats at us. It should strive us to go
> harder. For the most part we’ve got to
> keep doin’ what we’re doin’ and get
> better at most of the things we’re
> doin’, as well.”

Against OSU, the Jayhawks trailed 24-20 with six-plus minute to play in the third quarter before suffering yet another conference setback.

> “There’s a little bit of positive out
> of that,” Armstrong said, given the
> context of a relatively better showing
> than KU had a week earlier in a 49-7
> blowout at Baylor. “We take the
> positives out of every game that we
> have, but for the most part that’s not
> how we play. That’s not the type of
> game we need to play — ever,” he added
> of the 44-20 defeat versus OSU. “For
> us to be that close at halftime and
> then for the final score to be that,
> it’s not acceptable. We’ve just got to
> keep working and get the positives out
> of all of it.”

Now a senior, safety Fish Smithson is one of the few current players who can say he has experienced a conference victory — almost two full years ago. Like many of his teammates, he left the field Saturday dissatisfied, and said players are eager to put an end to the streak.

> “That’s tough. Because that’s why we
> all came to the University of Kansas,
> to get Big 12 wins and play in bowl
> games — stuff like that,” Smithson
> said. “The wins not coming in Big 12
> play, that’s kind of tough, but at the
> same time we can’t get down. We just
> gotta keep fightin’.”

At this point, a Nov. 12 home game against Iowa State (1-6, 0-4) looks like KU’s next shot to put an end to the misery.

As for the program’s 41-game losing streak away from Lawrence … that’s another story (or blog).

[1]: http://www2.kusports.com/news/2016/oct/22/homecoming-horror-mistakes-cost-kansas-again-44-20/?football

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