2008 KU Football To Do/Wish List -- 2/3 Season Report
So it's time for our second check progress on the list from this past summer:
--Big 12 Championship
1/3 Musicians like to say a bad practice makes for a good performance. September was a little mediocre, so let's assume the Jayhawks show us awesome in October
2/3 October wasn't awesome, but it wasn't a complete disaster either (well the home loss to Tech was). The Jayhawks were 2-2 which is far better than most pre-2007 Mangino Octobers. KU is still in the mix for a Big 12 title game birth, but it's on the line tomorrow
--Charles Gordon is avenged on November 15, 2008
1/3 It shall be done
2/3 I'm really starting to sweat this one
--A full house for opening day (borrowed from 2007)
Check (with a bonus sellout vs Sam Houston)
2/3 Paid attendance has been awesome this year. Stamina not so good, but you can't blame anyone for walking out of the Tech game, can you?
--The team properly channels the nationwide "just a scheduling fluke" media campaign and comes into the season with the exact right amount of focused anger/adrenaline
1/3 Nope
2/3 And still more no
--Clint Bowen solves the spread offense
1/3 Haven't seen anything new yet
2/3 Couldn't be further from solving it (advice from Don Draper -- think about it real hard, then let it go)
--Maxwell Onyegbule gets to Chase Daniel ... every down.
1/3 Hopefully, he's saving it all up for that one game
2/3 The improvement is there, but the dominance is still not
--Mike Riveragets to Chase Daniel ... every down.
1/3 Our best pass rusher against USF, but he didn't start against Sam Houston. There are rumors about a possible injury
2/3 Yeah, he's been hurt. So has Joe M, which makes for a pretty forgettable senior season so far for the crew. Holt looks good though.
--RJ Jr and Darius Parish erase my fond memories of James McClinton
1/3 Actually, if you watch the interior play they're not doing too bad. Jamal Greene has shown some flashes as well. We haven't quite seen the consistent jump and penetration that McClinton had last year, but remember it took him a few years to get there as well.
2/3 Despite three losses (Haselhorst, RJ and Caleb) now plus McClinton, I really don't feel like these guys are the issue. Jamal Green continues to impress me. RJ was having a pretty decent season. The future looks bright. Darius will get some big time play against KSU
--Todd Reesing 2008 exceeds TR 2007
1/3 Check
2/3 At least from a statistical standpoint we've got a little slippage here. Eight intercepts so far with just seven last year. They need to utilize the run more now that Jake looks sharp
--Dexton Fields and Dezmon Briscoe both go over 1,000
1/3 Would love to see Fields back for Iowa State. Seems to have big games against the Clones. Briscoe is pretty much on target despite a forgettable evening in Tampa and losing his start against Sam Houston. I'm pretty sure the Breeze will get the message. Time to be a leader.
2/3 Obviously, Fields got hurt. The Breeze rocked it against OU and I still think he'll get a 300-yard game before he leaves the Hawks. On target for DB. We'll need extra games for DF, but K-10 will make it.
--Ed Warriner blows my mind by staying ahead of the Big 12 with further innovation to last year's scheme
1/3 Other than a greater reliance on the shuttle pass, nothing new here and a season's worth of film has our opponents knowing us well. Todd Reesing will have to continue to pull rabbits out of the hat if we don't start showing some new features.
2/3 Pretty disappointing. KU has shown two back sets on occasion on those plays generally pan out. Defenses seem to error on covering two backs out of the backfield, but we have not utilized that package enough. Angus can catch, so can JC and if you don't like those guys, Herford offers a similar feel. I did like the implementation of the option which helps Jake, but otherwise, looks like the same old, same old and after a year of studying film, teams know what makes Reesing uncomfortable and where he likes to go.
--Find a confident punt returner that can be a threat
1/3 Check
2/3 How would we know? Haven't seen anybody punt for a while.
--Jeff Spikes lives up to the hype
1/3 Still at the front of the curve, but he has his moments.
2/3 Not living up to the hype, but certainly has come along. Texas Tech has two fantastic defensive ends, so there were bad moments, but the running game as improved since he flipped sides with Hatch. The future is bright here. Too bad we have to replace the entire interior again next year.
--Marcus Herford becomes a legitimate Big 12 wide receiver threat (last chance man)
1/3 I'm not giving up the dream, but I would like to see the kick returns improve
2/3 He had a vintage 2007 return against Tech right? Let's build on that.
--Jake Sharp -- 80 yard TD run at any point in the conference season or in the state of Florida
1/3 Hmmm. Let's adjust this to an 8 yard TD run
2/3 Jake's broken some big gainers now. The big one was actually a pass against ISU, but that's good enough for me. October was a good month for Jake and we want more.
--40,000 plus Jayhawk fans wearing blue at Arrowhead (adjusted down from 50k for our "home" game last year)
1/3 We'll see
2/3 Still a lot of football to play before we get there. Got to focus on Saturday.
--60,000 plus Jayhawk fans wearing blue at Arrowhead one week later
1/3 The fans will be there
2/3 KSU is step one
--14 wins
1/3 Looks like we'll come up one short, but I can certainly live with 13-1
2/3 I think we top out at 11 now, but I think we just need to focus on win #6 and getting to the game (KSU) that gets us to the game (NU) that gets us to the game (MU) that gives us a shot to play for a championship.
DJ Goodwin
