The road losing streak hit 28, the final score left Kansas 38 points shy and an unknown number of KU fans were up in arms about it.
It was that kind of day for the KU football team in Durham, North Carolina on Saturday, a time and place that many believed would be a heck of a lot different than the same old, bad blowouts we’ve seen in the past.
Instead, it was a lot of the same frustrating football that has plagued Kansas for the past five seasons — big plays and easy scores for the opponent, an offense that struggled to get anything going and a room full of players and coaches who had trouble finding answers when it was all over.
The Jayhawks’ 41-3 loss to Duke may have merely dropped them to 1-1 on the season, but if ever a 1-1 team felt like 0-10, this is it.
It should be very interesting to see where things go from here with all aspects of the program.
Quick takeaway
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For the first time in the Charlie Weis era, it seems like people have had enough. The KU fan base, as a whole, has not been entirely supportive of Weis and this team throughout his time, but there always had been enough people who backed the program to cancel out those who didn’t. Saturday night, though, even the optimists kept quiet and some turned to the dark side. The Jayhawks were not out-talented by Duke, but they were out-played, out-coached and out-manned. This one, to me, seems like the first undeniable step in the wrong direction since Weis took over, and the future of the program, from top to bottom, all of a sudden, has landed in a very dicey position.
Three reasons to smile
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**1 – Let’s be honest; after a game like that, there just aren’t many.** I thought senior linebacker Ben Heeney was Heeney (but was anyone surprised by that?); I thought senior cornerback JaCorey Shepherd showed he’s every bit on the same level as Dexter McDonald and I thought Michael Reynolds played his butt off, particularly in the first half, when he just kept getting close off the right edge but never quite got to Duke QB Anthony Boone. Other than that, there were serious concerns pretty much everywhere else on the field and the Jayhawks left Durham in need of some serious soul-searching just two weeks into the 2014 season.
Three reasons to sigh
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**1 – Other than the obvious drawbacks of the lopsided final score and the aftermath that followed,** there were a few specific aspects of this latest loss that were concerning. The biggest, obviously, was the play of Montell Cozart, who looked incredibly sharp and in control during the opening quarter of the season but has looked anything but that during the seven quarters since. Cozart has the physical tools, but he’s young and he’s still learning and for every 3-touchdown-no-interception game (like he had vs. SEMO in the opener) there are going to be days like Saturday. The question now just becomes, “How quickly can he pick things up and improve?”
**2 – KU’s option game was atrocious in this one.** I like the option for this offense because it puts Cozart in a position to attack and put pressure on the defense with his best asset. When it’s blocked the way it was on Saturday, though, it looks like something you’d see at a Pop Warner game. Because of Duke’s penetration on the edge — read: KU’s blocking breakdowns up front — Cozart and the KU running backs just had to keep stringing it out and stringing it out all the way down the line until they reached the sideline. At that point, Cozart usually pitched it, but with the sideline so close and so many Blue Devils in pursuit, it looked like Duke had two players there for every one Jayhawk in the area. The option game is as much an attitude as it is about being assignment sound and the Jayhawks failed in both categories against Duke.
**3 – The Jayhawks ran more plays (76-71) and won the time of possession battle (32:34-27:26)** but had just three points to show for it? That begs the question, “What the heck were they doing when they had the ball?” The answer? Not much. Just five of KU’s 14 possessions ended as a three-and-out but only one went over the 4-minute mark and that was the second-to-last drive of the game, when KU drove 72 yards in nine plays and 4:12 but turned it over on downs after doing most of that work against Duke’s reserves. Five of KU’s drives included seven plays or more — including the 10-play, 58-yard drive that produced the team’s only points — but KU found itself facing third-and-long a lot of the time and often failed to take or see the shorter gains that would have set up more manageable third-down scenarios.
One thought for the road
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KU’s latest lopsided loss…
• Moved the Jayhawks to 577-591-58 all-time.
• Tied the all-time series between the two basketball-blueblood schools at 1 win apiece.
• Was the 28th consecutive loss away from home. KU’s next chance to snap its road losing skid comes Oct. 4 at West Virginia, the team the Jayhawks beat last season to snap a 27-game Big 12 Conference losing streak.
• Featured points in the first quarter for the second game in a row. Kansas scored in the first quarter just four times in 12 tries last season.
Next up
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KU returns home to face Central Michigan, which, two weeks ago popped Purdue, but, last week, was rocked by Syracuse, 40-3. The Chippewas were a bowl team a year ago and certainly will not be an easy out for this struggling KU squad. Kickoff is set for 2:30 p.m. at Memorial Stadium.
