Now, I don’t know what to think about this team. It would be easy enough to say they are 1-3, there only win is against the Jackrabbits of South Dakota State University, they suck. But that just is not the case. At all. In fact, this team was up eight against Rice going into the fourth quarter and blew the game last second. Literally. Against # 15 TCU the Jayhawks were never really in the game, but they were never out of it either. On Saturday vs NIU, in DeKalb where the Huskies had won 16 games in a row, the Jayhawks took a double digit lead into the fourth quarter. And lost.
So on one hand KU has been in every game this season, quite a leap from last year where every game was essentially over by halftime. On the other hand , late game leads don’t equate to wins and they surely don’t feel as good. Realistically, the Jayhawks could and probably should be 3-1. At some point, even if it is much sooner than expected (4 games into the Weiss Era) when the team has a lead, late, they must find a way to protect it.
Glass half full for sure, but why not? The Jayhawks defense last year allowed more points than a porcupine and got the head coach fired in his second year. It was the depths of Kansas Jayhawk Football.
So as much as it sucks to be in games and lose them this season, How refreshing it is to just be in games.
Saturdays loss to Rice was a punch to the gut for the Jayhawks, but certainly no knockout blow to Charlie Weiss’ long term plans for KU Football. When looking up and down the Jayhawks schedule this season, Rice was one that most of us had a “W” next to. Hopefully you used a pencil, not a pen.
Losing to the Owls is certainly not a good thing, but it lets everyone, from the fans to the Head Coach himself get a gauge of where this team is going this season and beyond. While Coach Weiss has brought in several of his guys (Crist, Ragone) by and large he is playing with Turner Gill and a few Mark Mangino recruits.
Unlike Pro Football, when the fortune of a franchise can be changed on a big free agent signing (see Peyton Manning to the Broncos) it takes a while in college football to build a program. So while it may be frustrating, we must be patient and not judge this year based on how many games KU wins or loses but rather on how the football program looks going forward.
The loss to Rice may have bloodied the face of the Jayhawks, but if they can come out swinging this Saturday against TCU and land some blows it will give a fan base which is searching for anything positive to hold onto a solid grip on where this team is going.
And who knows, Buster Douglas did knock out Mike Tyson.
