Sunday night, after his 6-touchdown performance in a dominant victory over the Houston Texans, Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers explained during a postgame interview that even though his team had started out 2-3 — Sunday’s win pushed the Packers to .500 — the players inside the Green Bay building were cool, calm and confident even though the world around them believed the sky was falling.
I couldn’t help but think about the current state of Kansas football when I heard Rodgers say that.
Under first-year coach Charlie Weis, KU is off to a 1-5 start, sits at 0-3 in the Big 12 and hasn’t won a conference game in its last 15 tries.
Although many fans are staying loyal and choosing to see the progress and enjoy the ride, several have bailed, most of them tossing out that tired-old, oh-so-unoriginal line about basketball season in the process.
To each his own, but while some have chosen to take the latter route, Weis and company have continued to work. And you know what? It’s actually paying off.
Last Saturday, Weis’ Jayhawks almost knocked off defending Big 12 champ Oklahoma State with a wild fourth-quarter run in which back-up QB Michael Cummings sparked the struggling offense and nearly got the job done.
A day later, Weis talked about how he knew that moment was coming. Not Cummings’ magic or the close call against the Cowboys, but the moment when he looked out onto the field and saw the type of team he planned on building when he first took over at KU.
“The way they were working, it was just a matter of time,” Weis said. “It was gonna happen.”
He wasn’t the only one who felt and feels that way. After the loss, D-Line coach Buddy Wyatt Tweeted about how close the Jayhawks had gotten and said again, “Our time is coming.”
Monday morning, defensive coordinator Dave Campo also turned to Twitter: “We’re getting better, hang in there Jayhawk fans. Your time is coming!”
Heck, even junior kicker Ron Doherty, who was taken off of both the field goal and punt teams vs. OSU, Tweeted something similar about how much the loss hurt and how close *his* team was. No whining. No animosity. No poor me. Just trust that the Jayhawks were getting there, getting better.
There are at least a dozen signs and stats that point to this fact, many of which have been said over and over on this website and in this very Monday Rewind blog. But it seems that’s no longer necessary. We’re past that now. For anyone who chooses to see it, this is a team very much headed in the right direction, and, perhaps more importantly, one that believes that direction is worth pursuing.
“There’s a lot more positive vibe around the place than there’s been in quite some time,” Weis said. “There’s never been a problem with work ethic but it’s tough to be positive all the time when you’re losing…. If they were gonna quit, they’d have done it a long time ago. We’re too hard on them.”
