Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Kansas on yellow brick road to success

He's probably a little too big to work the controls behind the curtain, but Mark Mangino may be on the way to becoming a true wizard in Kansas.

Playing with brains, courage and heart, the once forlorn Jayhawks improved to 4-1 Saturday with a 35-14 blowout win against bitter rival Missouri, which came into the game at sold out Memorial Stadium in Lawrence ranked No. 23.

The Tigers need not be reminded they're not in that Kansas anymore.

That Kansas won only two games last year, and melted like the Wicked Witch of the East against Big 12 competition, going winless.

This Kansas has won four consecutive games, including a 46-24 whipping of UNLV, which suddenly doesn't look like that bad of a loss for the 3-1 Rebels. Were it not for a season opening defeat to Northwestern in a game played in driving rain, the Jayhawks would almost certainly be nationally ranked.

With some tough games ahead -- KU still has to go to Colorado, Kansas State, Texas A&M and Oklahoma State -- Kansas may not become a true heavyweight like its coach.

But at least alumni such as John Hadl, Gale Sayers and Nolan Cromwell aren't ashamed to come to the games anymore.

"We've only played five games," Jayhawks safety Jonathan Lamb said, lending the voice of reason to a season that has begun to rhyme. "We played well (Saturday), but we've had some lapses."

Mangino, a former Oklahoma offensive coordinator in his second year at Kansas, was reminded after the game that the Jayhawks need only two more wins to become bowl eligible, but he wouldn't address the possibility.

"I think once you get caught looking ahead, you're setting yourself up for trouble," he said, after the Kansas defense contained Brad Smith, generally considered the Big 12's best all-around quarterback, to 95 total yards.

"I'm pleased to have four wins, and I know there's a locker room full of kids who are pretty excited about having four wins. But I'm not going to touch bowl thoughts with a 10-foot pole."

Or even a 18-foot, 6-inch pole. That is the height of the goal posts that Kansas students tore down after the Missouri game and dunked into Potter Lake on the KU campus during a postgame ritual that had pretty much gone on hiatus until the big win against Missouri.

Several KU students even jumped in the lake along with the posts.

"I was in high school -- I think -- the last time Kansas beat Missouri," said Chris Morton, a junior from Overland Park, Kan.

The starting 11

Washington State 55, Oregon 16: Well, I guess beating Michigan isn't all it's quacked up to be. A week after upsetting the Wolverines, a feat that put Oregon on the cover of Sports Illustrated, the Ducks might find themselves gracing the front of Mad magazine this week after a humbling home loss to Washington State in which they committed nine turnovers.

California 34, Southern Cal 31 (3 OT): Tyler Fredrickson's 38-yard field goal in the third overtime sent Strawberry Canyon into a frenzy and left heavily favored Southern Cal to harvest sour grapes. "It's not as bad when you lose to a good team, but you feel bad when you lost to somebody that's not your equal," said Trojans wide receiver Mike Williams. "Anybody who watched this game and says we weren't better than Cal is crazy." Well, Mike, I watched it, so maybe I'll see you in the asylum.

Tennessee 20, South Carolina 17 (OT): It wasn't Tennessee's best performance by any stretch, but luckily for the Volunteers, kicks aren't hard to find when Dustin Colquitt lines up in punt formation. Colquitt punted seven times for a whopping average of 51.3 yards and stuck the Gamecocks inside their 20-yard line four times. One of Colquitt's booming punts traveled 63 yards on the fly and hooked out of bounds at the 2. Another went for 51 yards and also was downed at the 2. Colquitt received a game ball after Tennessee won in overtime, when Casey Clausen hit James Banks on a 4-yard fade pass.

Florida 24, Kentucky 21: When the struggling Gators fell behind 21-3 in the first half, the fireronzook.com website took more than 3,000 hits. That was before the Gators logged the Wildcats off with 21 fourth-quarter points and Kentucky's Taylor Begley missed a 49-yard field-goal attempt on the last play of the game.

Arkansas 31, Alabama 31 (2 OT): Arkansas trailed 31-10 midway through the third quarter but rallied to tie on Matt Jones' 3-yard touchdown pass to Richard Smith with 27 seconds to play, then won it in the second overtime when backup kicker Chris Balseiro, wearing jersey No. 55, kicked a 19-yard field goal. Alabama might have won in the first overtime had Tide players not celebrated an interception in the end zone so vigorously following Arkansas' possession. That resulted in a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, meaning Alabama had to start its possession at the 40 instead of the 25. It had to settle for a field-goal attempt that missed wide left.

Minnesota 20, Penn State 14: You known Penn State is in trouble when Joe Paterno chases officials off the field. It happened again Saturday at the end of the first half, when umpire Rick Nelson ruled Minnesota's Terrance Campbell had intercepted Michael Robinson's deflected pass deep in Gophers territory, although replays showed the ball was trapped. The call negated a chip shot field-goal attempt and came back to haunt the Nittany Lions at the end, forcing them to go for a touchdown when another chip shot field goal would have resulted in overtime.

Purdue 23, Notre Dame 10: Tyrone Willingham's 1-3 start is the worst by a second-year coach at Notre Dame since Joe Kuharic began 1-8 in 1960. Naysayers are predicting Willingham could challenge Kuharic's mark for futility, as the Fighting Irish have yet to face nationally ranked Pittsburgh, Southern Cal, Florida State and a tough game against Boston College. Purdue forced Brady Quinn, Notre Dame's freshman quarterback, to throw 59 passes and intercepted him four times.

Northern Illinois 24, Iowa State 16: The Huskies scored 10 points in the fourth quarter to post their third victory against a BCS team in four weeks and remain undefeated. The game attracted a record crowd of 28,218 to Huskie Stadium as NIU improved to 4-0 for the first time since 1965. But now that the MAC season is about to get under way in earnest, it will probably get a little tougher for the Huskies. Yes, that's a joke. But only a small one.

Ohio State 20, Northwestern 0: The good news for the Buckeyes is that they finally beat somebody by more than a touchdown. The bad news is it was only Northwestern. Again, Ohio State was less than dominating in running the nation's longest winning streak to 19 games.

Michigan State 20, Iowa 10: The Spartans were efficient, winning easily despite managing just 263 yards. Michigan State capitalized on four Hawkeyes turnovers while not making any themselves to improve to 4-1, with the only loss coming against Louisiana Tech when it yielded two touchdowns in the final 1:09.

Troy State 33, Marshall 24: The Alabama Men of Troy played much better than the California ones, defeating a Marshall team that was coming off a victory against No. 6 Kansas State. Herd coach Bob Pruett called that win the biggest in Marshall history -- which is exactly how TSU coach Larry Blakeney described Troy's victory against Marshall.

Big men on campus

Stat's enough

Smoker's section: Jeff Smoker broke three Michigan State career passing records in the Spartans' 20-10 victory against No. 13 Iowa. Smoker, 28-of-44 for 218 yards and two touchdowns, set school marks for completions (478), attempts (818) and TD passes (48). ... South Florida beat Army 28-0 in the Bulls' first Conference USA game. ... Hoosier Mama? How about Michigan. The Wolverines won their 22nd consecutive Big Ten opener with a 31-17 win against Indiana. Michigan has beaten the Hoosiers in 12 consecutive times and 27 of 28 meetings. ... Safety first: North Texas tied an NCAA Division I-A record by scoring three safeties in a 44-23 win against Louisiana-Lafayette. ... Tough act to follow: John David Washington, son of actor Denzel Washington, ran for a school-record 242 yards and a touchdown as Morehouse beat Johnson C. Smith 39-21.

Couch Potato Bowl

One man's views of how the networks could improve coverage of college football: Less analysis, more pomp and pageantry. Not that they don't know their stuff, but I wish Chris Fowler, Trev Alberts and Mark May would stop talking long enough so I could see the teams run onto the field and the marching bands play their fight songs, which still gives me goosebumps.

Division I-A Lite

With three BCS wins already in the bag, Northern Illinois gets ready for Ohio this week. Not Ohio State. Just plain Ohio.

Lucky for the Buckeyes.

A look at the top teams in the non-BCS conferences:

1. Northern Illinois (MAC): It must be the corn.

2. UNLV (MWC): Rebels take a breather.

3. Bowling Green (MAC): So do Falcons.

4. Miami of Ohio (MAC): Big Ben (Roethlisberger, Miami's 245-pound QB) tolls against Cincinnati.

5. Louisville (USA): Bowl berth in the Cards?

6. TCU (USA): Frogs put another wart on Arizona.

7. Utah (MWC): Disappointing Colorado State discovers fountain of Utes.

8. Air Force (MWC): Quarterback Harridge gives 5-0 Falcons a fat Chance in Mountain West.

9. Troy State (USA): Trojans Troy a little harder and beat Marshall.

10. Marshall (MAC): Marshall law lifted in Alabama.

Games we'd like to see

In this space each week the Sun will present a dream college football matchup, with statistics and highlights provided by Lance Haffner Games' 3-in-1 computer simulation. Readers who would like to propose future matchups can do so by contacting the Sun via e-mail: [email protected].

1968 Kansas vs. 1995 Kansas: So who says Kansas is a basketball school? Well, Dick Vitale, for starters. But although the Jayhawks' football resurgence is an ongoing project, KU hasn't always been dreadful in the fall. In 1968, for instance, Pepper Rodgers' Kansas team finished 9-2 and seventh in the final AP poll. In 1995, Glenn Mason coached the Jayhawks to a 10-2 record and a final ranking of ninth. So who would win the Dorothy Bowl?

1995 Kansas 19, 1968 Kansas 14: A 1968 Kansas team led by stars John Riggins, Bobby Douglass and Ron Shanklin comes up a little short in the computer match, as the 1995 Jayhawks build a 13-0 lead and hang on in a close one. The '68 team enjoys a slight edge in total offense, 320 yards to 309, but comes up short when Riggins is stopped on 4th-and-1 at 95's 12-yard line inside of a minute to play. L.T. Levine gains 94 yards on 14 carries for '95 Kansas and is named player of the game.

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