2008 KU Football Wish/To Do List -- 1/3 Season Report

So it's time to check progress on the list from this past summer:

--Big 12 Championship
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   

--Charles Gordon is avenged on November 15, 2008
It shall be done

--A full house for opening day (borrowed from 2007)
Check (with a bonus sellout vs Sam Houston)

--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

Nope

--Clint Bowen solves the spread offense

Haven't seen anything new yet

--Maxwell Onyegbule gets to Chase Daniel ... every down.
Hopefully, he's saving it all up for that one game

--Mike Rivera gets to Chase Daniel ... every down.
Our best pass rusher against USF, but he didn't start against Sam Houston. There are rumors about a possible injury

--RJ Jr and Darius Parish erase my fond memories of James McClinton

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.

--Todd Reesing 2008 exceed TR 2007

Check

--Dexton Fields and Dezmon Briscoe both go over 1,000

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.

--Ed Warriner blows my mind by staying ahead of the Big 12 with further innovation to last year's scheme

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.

--Find a confident punt returner that can be a threat

Check

--Jeff Spikes lives up to the hype

Still at the front of the curve, but he has his moments.

--Marcus Herford becomes a legitimate Big 12 wide receiver threat (last chance man)

I'm not giving up the dream, but I would like to see the kick returns improve

--Jake Sharp -- 80 yard TD run at any point in the conference season or in the state of Florida

Hmmm. Let's adjust this to an 8 yard TD run 

--40,000 plus Jayhawk fans wearing blue at Arrowhead (adjusted down from 50k for our "home" game last year)

We'll see

--60,000 plus Jayhawk fans wearing blue at Arrowhead one week later

The fans will be there

--14 wins

Looks like we'll come up one short, but I can certainly live with 13-1