We get the usual Family Fun Zone (4:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.) a T-shirt and a 2008 football poster. The bonus will be a commemorative Orange Bowl team photo card. I'm intrigued.
DJ Goodwin
Color me disappointed on the team card. It was the same one they gave out at the Awards Banquet.
Solving the spread offense. Sounds like Clint Bowen is all over it. In this article from the KC Star he mentions that defensive philosophy has become stale, specifically the concept that offenses are not good enough to work the length of the field three to five yards at a time.
“Offenses and offensive coordinators, they do have the patience to do that short passing game over and over. To them, a 3-yard pass is just as good as a 3-yard run.”
The article mentions bump and run as part of the solution. We'll see if we get a taste of that tonight at the 7:00 p.m. spring game at Memorial.
A lot of events conspired that caused a little hiatus for HD. The best of those would be the Hoops NC. The worst would be that nasty little virus that crossed the country. How much productivity is lost from something like that? Alright, let's get to it ...
Aqib and the Weed / I hope it this doesn't cost AT that much on draft day, but we'll see. You gotta love a place where it's okay for a stoner to be prez, but we're gonna have think about it before we let you play corner in the NFL.
http://www.profootballweekly.com/PFW/NFLDraft/Draft+Extras/2008/wwhi040808.htm
D'Cunha / I'm not real surprised about the slow learning curve with the Australian tackle. A lot of people had him penciled in as starter, but it's a challenging position for guys without a lot of football experience. I take heart in the fact that Matt Darton (playing at left tackle) filled in for Anthony Collins against Iowa State and we didn't miss a beat. Right tackle concerns me more, but hopefully the competition between Wolfe and D'Cunha will be good.
http://www.kansascity.com/166/story/569327.html
Spring game to Monday / In case you missed it, the game moved to Monday at 7:00 p.m. (gates open at 6:00 p.m.). That might make it easier to score the essential free poster and T-Shirt.
Sands II / The LJW is reporting that the son of KU legend Tony Sands will be part of the 2009 recruiting class. Deshaun Sands (5-9, 175-pound) rushed for 1,486 yards and 13 touchdowns for Monarch High School in Coconut Creek, FLA last season.
http://www2.kusports.com/news/2008/apr/11/kansas_lands_legacy/?football
Brentwood Bomber on the Move / Same article as above. We're losing Bill Whittemore to an A.D. job at Franklin Road Academy in Nashville, TN. That's alright -- the training will do good for when he takes over the head job here at KU when MM announces his retirement in 2026
"An all sports channel? What a dumb idea. That'll never work."
--Ron Burgundy
The story that inspired it all -- klick to go.
Spring Game: April 12, 1:00 p.m.
The official KU website announced the game time for the spring scrimmage. The action kicks off at 1:00 p.m and Mark Mangino will receive his coach of the year award from Sporting News during halftime.
The Perkins Restaurant Family Plan
A lot of adults use the child tickets anyway, but I don't understand why the ticket office doesn't offer an actual discounted four-pack of season tickets for adults for the bowl and the extreme south sections in the main stadium. No one can say those seats are as good as the ones on the side and I think $500 for four tickets would be a pretty nice deal to build up the season ticket base. The family plan is two adult/two child tickets for $400. Four regular tickets would cost you $1200.
There's still more out there to be achieved. We still haven't won the Big 12, or a national title for that matter.
Speedback, Jake Sharp | Clickety KUsports.com
As expected, the Kansas football program has been docked two scholarships for the 2008 recruiting year by the NCAA for coming in under the 925 APR minimum and having a couple of players bolt that were not in good academic standing. Don't worry, KU already had two scholarships hanging out there. The speculation was floating around earlier in the year, but it's pretty clear now that Mark Mangino and his staff had anticipated this and capped themselves at 20.
So what is the APR. Here is the KUsports.com take:
APR is calculated by giving athletes on scholarship one point per semester for remaining eligible and one point for remaining on campus. The points then are calculated for each team and divided by the highest possible point total. That percentage then is translated to another point total, with 1,000 being the highest. So, a multiyear score of 925 essentially means a team compiled 92.5 percent of all possible points over a four-year period.
A score under 925 doesn’t necessarily mean looming penalties. A program only is subject to penalties if its score is below 925 and an underclassmen fails to pick up a single point in a given semester — that is, leaves campus and leaves in poor academic standing.
Nice, huh? Seems like a great idea to essentially grade it on a curve, so we can always have some institutions in poor standing. Hey, the guys at the NCAA have to make a living as well.
Anyway, the key is that this is really all in the past for the KU football program -- the result of bringing in a pretty big JUCO class in 2003. A couple of people want to pin this on Mangino and I suppose essentially he made the call to go JUCO heavy early on. I'd say he aggresively attacked the plan of turning around a program that was stripped bare. In retrospect, I think Mangino has indicated that he would have done it differently now.
Most KU football fans have decent memory and it's not to difficult to recall 2003 scenario. Coming out of the 2002 season, it was clear that Bill Whittemore was a rare talent and with a little support, he could accelerate the growth curve for the program. With just one more year of eligibility, I even remember a local KC columnist scripting a piece begging Mangino to do what it took to get some talent in to take advantage of the opportunity. Of course, no one is condoning the academic fraud that occurred. It's unfortunate, but it was a self-reported mistake that was clearly an error in handling capacity. As for the impact on our APR scores, well that's just the way it goes. At this point, it's pretty much ancient history. Let the NCAA puff their chest out, but no one is fooled. This is a team with 14 Academic All-Big 12 players and next season that APR mark will be buried.
This is the third chart in a series comparing Mark Mangino's points delta (points scored minus points allowed) per season. Today, we look at Mangino versus some of the more recent and prominent coaches at KU. A few points come to mind:
1) Terry Allen was worse than I remember.
2) I'm not sure that getting rid of Sikes after one bad year was such a good idea. Still, it was 1953, so I have no idea what was going on at the time. I'll have to check in with my father-in-law on that one.
Links to the other two charts: Vs North | Vs South
USF Game Moves To Friday
The game moves to September 12 for a 7:00 p.m. start. ESPN2. I'm thinking that means no high definition and I believe that would be a mistake for two teams that made a lot of noise in '07.
http://www.kansascity.com/166/story/526547.html
Spring Practice Quotes
There's a whole page of quotes at the KUathletics.com site. A lot of revealing coments. Stuff like a mention of OT Matt Darton playing a full game last year against ISU. Kerry Meier as our punter for spring ball? Briscoe mentions a focus on less dropped balls for 2008. Sharp states three goals available for KU football.
Facilities Already Helping
From the same page, JUCO transfer wide receiver Rod Harris Jr. had the following quote on why he choose Kansas:
"In the past, Kansas wasn't really a school that I paid attention to because I grew up watching the bigger schools in the Big 12, like Texas A&M, Texas and Texas Tech. But watching how Kansas improved over this short time span is amazing and to be a part of a growing program is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. A chance like that doesn't come around too often. I get to be a part of the new facilities and everything else that is changing. It is a great atmosphere and a great environment to be coming to and I am glad to be here."
Mangino Doesn't Want to Rock
I think Ryan Wood is off by saying that Spring Game attendance has been lagging in recent years. We don't compare with OU and Nebraska, but we've seen steady attendance growth for the game under Mangino. On the subject though, Mangino threw this gem out there:
"I'm not going to recommend that we have a rock band at the spring game, or rodeo clowns."
Pro Day Surprises
Again from Wood's blog, there's a mention that two former KU players were in attendance -- Eric Butler and Rodney Allen. I remember Bill Young calling Allen the best DE he had at KU. I'd love to see both of those guys get a tryout this summer.
DJ Goodwin
For spring game attendance from 2007, here is a post I had last year -- http://hawkdigest.squarespace.com/hawk-digest-kansas-football/2007/4/27/big-12-spring-game-rankings.html
It reallly doesn't take much to move into the top five.
If you've trolled past the gridiron board on phog.net this weekend, you probably picked up this thread and the news story for the Journal-World that fueled it.
I have no doubt that discussions may be going on with the fun folks at Arrowhead; however, I really hope that KU officials are focused on a more critical factor -- ensuring that they get enough Kansas football fans to the 2008 event to make the stadium neutral. I'm not exactly sure how they are going to market that after the reviews following last year's edition. Still, they better get it done. The target is a Big 12 Championship and it looks like this could again be the game to decide it. There will be plenty of time to discuss the future of the game in the spring of 2009, so get focused on getting KU fans to the game and separated from the black and yellow. Also, we want the player tunnel this year.
One note -- I wonder if not having the Arrowhead tickets as part of the season ticket package will actually help. Could that reduce the number of WEF points chasers that sold off their tickets for a nice profit? We may have less fans or maybe it will be the same number, but making that a separate purchase might mean only true KU fans are buying in. Less sellers could lead to solid KU sections at the stadium.
"Only one team finished with just one loss and a bowl win."
--Larry Wahl, Orange Bowl Representative
Really, I would've shown up just for the highlight video. A great time and a first class ceremony. The crowd filled up one side of the Fieldhouse. My expectation was that the entire venue should have been full, but still it was a good crowd. You can barely make out the sweet powder blue suit that James McClinton was sporting in the photo above.
The Bad News
Joe Mortensen, Ryan Cantrell and Justin Thornton were all on crutches. The guy in front of me said Mortensen's injury was an ACL and that he would miss the first three games of 2008. Please don't consider that an "official" source. Thornton's injury occurred in an intramural basketball game, but no info on Cantrell has been made available.
Let's say that you're a hardcore KU football fan. And let's say, you don't want to be "a disgusting fatbody," so you like to hit the cycle trainer in the offseason. Riding a trainer sux. So you make it more fun by watching old KU football tapes. Maybe you were recently enjoying the 2005 KU-Nebraska game that had some historical significance. In fact, one might argue that it might be the most prized videotape in your collection (clarification: sports videos).
You're pretty out of shape. So you end with the first quarter, shut off the TV and feel proud.
Fast forward to the next session two days later. To your horror, you immediately notice the TV power is on and ... there is a second red light glowing next to the RECORD BUTTON. You're no fool -- you immediately put two and two together. A certain button-pushing three-year-old has erased the mother of all KU games in what was probably a frantic quest to view a certain Baby Einstein video for the 900th time this month.
Do you panic? No, well ... I mean yes. In general, you offer up a few of your best curses for the wife in order to implicate her in the crime. Somehow, she is involved. After all, it wasn't the three-year old that taped an episode of Ally McBeal over the 1999 KU-Notre Dame game (not a great loss). Still, it seems to be a plot.
Okay, don't panic. What is the antidote? The choice is obvious, you reach for the 2003 Missouri game -- old faithful. Sure enough, one long Charles Gordon punt return later and clarity returns as you sweat it out on the trainer.
Just go here -- http://www.huskervideos.com/2005_single_list.htm -- and your memories will once again be preserved. Woohoo! Thank you huskervideos.com, you rock!
Saturday Night Special
Doors open at 6:30 p.m. Saturday night for the 7:30 p.m. football awards celebration. Be there. You get something for free.
Darren McFadden Gets the X-Box 360 Cover
The Arkansas back nabbed the 360 cover, but there are still four platforms to go. EA is choosing a different athlete for each console plus a school mascott for the Wii. That one is being voted on here. As for the other three athletes -- I know a certain NFL-bound CB that would look awesome on the game. There should be plenty of photos available.
KC Auto Show Gets Into the Border War
This is something I couldn't have anticipated:
Toyota is roaring straight into the spirited University of Missouri and University of Kansas rivalry with two college-themed Tundra pickups at the Greater Kansas City International Auto Show, promising fans of either school the most powerful vehicles ever for their sports enthusiasm.
... To wrap them in school spirit, the trucks will be emblazoned with school graphics and fans will even be given a chance to take a photographic memento home with them. The auto show is unfolding at an ideal spot to highlight the schools' rivalry, right near the geographic fault line between two universities that are barely a three-hour drive from one another.
Put on by the Automobile Dealers Association of Greater Kansas City, the show runs from Wednesday, March 5, to Sunday, March 9, at H. Roe Bartle Hall in Kansas City, Mo. It will feature about 500 new cars, trucks, vans, SUVs and crossover vehicles.
On Saturday, between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m., the mascots of both schools -- Truman the Tiger for Missouri and Big Jay for Kansas -- will be on hand for photography sessions.
