First off let me say that I hope everyone had a fulfilling Thanksgiving, and that if you were traveling be safe. Now let’s get down to some good old fashion Kansas and Missouri business. Border War style! Some rivalry games are based on respect for the other team, but this was is just built on disgust and pure wretchedness for one another. This rivalry is so big to each school, that they can’t even decide on the overall series record. The first game played at Arrowhead in 2007 saw Missouri beat Kansas on a national level. Handing the Jayhawks their first loss of the season. But it was the Jayhawks who ended up getting the Orange Bowl bid that year, not the Tigers. The following year Kansas made an unbelievable fourth down touchdown to win. Last year saw the Tigers edge out a two point win. So just like any other rivalry game you can throw out season records when it comes to this game.

For Kansas this will be their last game of the season. A season which has had many lows, but in recent games has shown some up side heading into next year. And how big of a momentum boost would it be for Kansas heading into the new look Big XII with a win over a very high powered Missouri team. Now it would have been better, at least story wise, if Nebraska would have ended up losing to Colorado today, that way the Jayhawks could have ruined the Tigers chance of playing for the Big XII title next week. Not saying that Kansas needs any extra incentive for this game, but it would have been so much more awesome if that was the case.

Once again this week the Kansas defense will have to go against another high talented offense, lead by quarterback Blake Gabberet. It seems every week this Kansas defense is under pressure, which it probably should be playing in an offensive conference. The Kansas offense will have a tough time scoring against a Missouri defense that just like the Oklahoma State defense, has been playing well in recent games. But as I said earlier anything can and usually happens in this game. So Rock Chalk Jayhawk!

Well it was a close game, until half. The Jayhawks found themselves in a close, low scoring game at the half with the Cowboys from Oklahoma State. Trailing 20-14 going into the locker rooms, most Kansas fans had to be stunned. Not that it was a close game, but the fact that their defense, which has given up points like a bad video game team, was actually keeping the most explosive offense in the Big XII in check. It seemed like the defense was actually coming around, with a shutout fourth quarter against Colorado, and an entire game where they matched a highly touted offense in Nebraska, where they only gave up twenty points.

The Kansas offense also looked good early. The Jayhawks took their opening drive down the field for a touchdown to take an early seven to zero lead. And until a late half goal line stand for the Cowboys, which they took down the field for a late field goal going into half, Kansas had a lot of momentum. That is where it most likely ended for Kansas.

The third quarter marked the beginning of the end for the Jayhawks, as Oklahoma State started to pull away. The Cowboys looked like a different team in the second half than they did in the first. It didn’t help that Kansas’ offense forgot that it to needed to play the second half, unfortunately they didn’t, getting zero points in the entire half. Kansas also had trouble with special teams. Two punts were blocked, one was a partial block, while the other was returned for an Oklahoma State touchdown.

The score finished at 48-14, which can make it look like that this Kansas team had given up once again, but I didn’t see it that way. It looked more like that the Cowboys woke up and realized that they were a top ten team in the nation, and that if Kansas was wanting to beat them that they would have to play up to their level. But Kansas at this time is unable to do that. Maybe next year. Kansas will conclude their season with the Border War against Missouri in Arrowhead Stadium on Saturday.

Saturday’s game will be the Jayhawks second to last game of the season, and last home game of the season. Unfortunately the Jayhawks welcome in the Cowboys from Oklahoma State for senior day. The task of shutting down another top ten team for the second straight weekend will be a daunting task for this defense. I believe this game will fall on the offense’s shoulders though. No one has come close to shutting down the Cowboys high powered offense, so it will be up to the Jayhawk offense to keep up with them. Last week the offense was held to 87 total yards at Nebraska. Obviously that performance won’t cut it this week. Good news is that the Okie State defense isn’t as near as good as the Nebraska defense. The bad news is, that Cowboys defense has been getting a lot better each week. 

The Weeden to Blackmon connection is still going strong for the Cowboys, as well as Kendall Hunter keeps looking like a first team all Big XII player. Kansas will need an entire game like their fourth quarter against Colorado, points on almost every drive. I know that sounds like it can’t be done, but not many people thought that a KU team couldn’t complete one of the all time best comebacks in college football history, but it did.

Being senior day I expect that this Kansas team will give its all, as it keeps improving and building for next year. Yes it has been bumpy ride to say the least. But the strides this team has made the last few weeks, from an outburst of scoring against Colorado, to the defense shutting down Nebraska, has made this a team to watch for the future. Kickoff is at 11 am and on FSN if you can’t make it. Rock Chalk

Going into Lincoln this past Saturday, the Kansas Jayhawks were coming off an emotional win at home against Colorado. With it being head coach Turner Gill’s homcoming of sorts, the emotions were still at a high level. The Jayhawks were looking for their second straight win as well as their second conference win of the season. What they found in Lincoln was a buzzsaw of a Nebraska defense, and a loss 20-3.

Unlike last week in Ames, where the Cornhusker defense looked mortal, this time around it looked like a jaguar toying with its prey. The Jayhawk offense was held to only 87 yards. Yes, only 87 throughout the entire game. Starting quarterback Quinn Mecham was under pressure from the start. Being sacked six times, and only completing three out of his thirteen passes for a staggering fifteen yards. The Kansas ground wasn’t getting anywhere in a hurry either. Freshman back James Sims was held to twenty-four yards on nine carries. It was wide receiver Bradley McDougald who lead the team with twenty-seven yards on four carries. Kansas’ lone field goal came off of a Taylor Martinez fumble around midfield. Jacob Branstetter was then able to put a not so good looking forty-two yard field goal through the uprights. This was the only bright for the offense, who was just outmatched everywhere on the field. I thought watching the game that the scheme they were trying to work was good, with some miss directional plays, plus some play action. It was just that every time Mecham went back to pass, he was under pressure, or that his receivers were on lock down. You can tell he has been coached in situations to take the sack instead trying to make a play, and in a game like this, he made a lot of right decisions.

Even though the offense wasn’t quite up to par, the Kansas defense showed up and put a damper on the crowd, and the high powered Nebraska offense. This hasn’t been said often this year about the Kansas defense, but they outplayed the opposing offense all game. Sure they gave up over 400 yards of offense, but they shut down the Cornhuskers when they needed to. It was only fourteen zip at half, with Kansas still in the game. Plus holding Nebraska to only two field goals in the second half was a battle won for this defense, that had been giving up thirty-five points per game. Going into the fourth quarter, it was still anyone’s ball game, and it was the Kansas defense for a change kept it that way.

Kansas will have another daunting task on senior day. And that is trying to stop, or keep up with the most high powered offense in the Big XII, the Oklahoma State Cowboys. This game will be on FSN, and kickoff at 11 A.M.

For the first and possibly last time. Turner Gill is going to return to Lincoln to face the team that he lead back in the early eighties as the Cornhusker quarterback. The 117th meeting between these two teams, will be the last time they meet as Big XII conference foes, as Nebraska moves to the Big Ten next season. The Jayhawks and the Cornhuskers will be ending the nations longest uninterrupted series at 105 meetings, and the series is the third longest rivalry series played in the nation. This Saturday will have many emotions to it. You can all but expect to hear and watch everyone in the stadium wearing red to give one of the loudest ovations to an opposing teams head coach, which is unheard of. It will be sad to watch this game one last time given some of the memories these two teams share. Nebraska holds the overall record against Kansas, 90-23-3, but lately Kansas has played as an equal to Nebraska giving them a game the last five years. This includes a win 2005 and a butt whooping in 2007. The last time the Jayhawks went into Lincoln, they almost pulled out the victory, but lost 45-35.

With last weeks come from behind win against Colorado, Kansas goes to Lincoln with some much needed confidence. This team is showing that there is still some fight left in it. This is good for the young ball team, and a there new head coach. It shows that even in a down year this team is unwilling to lay down and get rolled over. Hopefully this attitude continues in Saturday’s game against Nebraska, who looked shaky last week in Ames. If Kansas could stay in the game early they might have a puncher’s chance of completing a huge upset to say the least. While still looking a little sluggish after last weeks almost lost, the Cornhuskers and their fans are now all gushy over Turner coming back into town, so their guard might be down. Plus they could be looking ahead to Texas A&M in College Station. With all this going on, and Taylor Martinez still not fully healthy, the Jayhhawks might just leave Lincoln with their second conference win of the year. Just saying you never know.

Well the first part of my dream to end the year has come true in exciting fashion I’ll add. The Jayhawks down 45-17 to begin the final quarter against Colorado, the hawks put up a furious amount of points to complete an unbelievable comeback to say the least, and win 52-45. Listening to this game at first was unbearable, as it probably was being there to watch it. But for those who hung in there got to see or hear an amazing fourth quarter. So props to those who stayed. Now before I get into the last quarter I do want to rant a little bit about the first three. I’ll start with the offense, who didn’t do bad at all. They were able to put up seventeen points through the first three quarters. That is pretty good considering transfer third string quarterback Quinn Mecham was only starting for the second time in his career at KU. Now if he plays or starts again, Quinn will have to quit throwing picks and putting his defense in bad situations, like he did in the first half.

For the defense it looked like the same old situation, and that is anyone can look like an all-american against them. Cody Hawkins threw for three touchdowns, and  322 yards in the entire game. Most of those yards coming in the first three quarters. Rodney Stewart also had a great game, rushing for three scores, and 175 yards on the ground. Not to mention the forty-four yards receiving he had. This defense continues to give up long scoring drives like nothing else. Colorado scored on drives of fifty yards or more on six of their seven scoring drives. It looked like it was going to be another laugher in Lawrence.

But hold on, Quinn Mecham and James Sims said not so fast. Mecham, who threw for two touchdowns and 252 yards, lead the Jayhawks to five scoring drives in the second half to complete the record setting comeback. James Sims also had a lot to do with this crazy game as well. Sims rushed for four touchdowns in the second half, and 123 yards as well. These two were crucial parts to the Jayhawks thirty-five point fourth quarter. But let’s not forget that defense as well. They held Colorado scoreless in the fourth, including an exciting last second throw into the endzone that sealed the game. Another huge play was the forced fumble caused by defensive end Toben Opurum. After Opurum forced the ball lose, nickelback Tyler Patmon scooped up the ball, and ran thirty-eight yards for the score. On the next Colorado posession, Patmon wasn’t done, picking off a Hawkins’ pass. This set up the KU offense for the game tying drive.

With this win KU gets their first conferenece win of the season, and ties last years conference win total. I know it isn’t much in the record books, but it does show that this team has some up and coming talent, and that it has some fight still left in it. Kansas will play Nebraska next week at 6:00 in Lincoln.

This weeks matchup between the two schools will be the last meeting aginst the two for a long time, or might be the last one ever. As you know Colorado is leaving to join the Pac 10 next season. So if you are a Kansas fan you would like to keep them winless in the Big XII and watch the Jayhawks pick up their first conference win this season, and first Big XII win since the Jayhawks beat Iowa State last season. So just like last week the Jayhawks have another opportunity to pick up the win. It looks like Quinn Mecham will again get the nod to start at quarterback, as it is still unsure about the conditions of Cale Pick and Jordan Webb. Webb is doubtful for this game, but may see some time according to head coach Turner Gill. Only if neccessary though. Hopefully the offense will do a little bit better than they did last week under Mecham, not that it was the entire reason the hawks lost, but getting into the endzone sure beats field goals. The defense will have to contain the buffs running back, Rodney Stewart. Stewart is one of the few bright spots for Colorado this year running for 737 yards and 5 touchdowns. I expect both Cody Hawkins and Tyler Hansen to play. Both are having somewhat of a rough season. Hansen has thrown for over a thousand yards with six touchdowns to six interceptions. Hawkins has only three touchdowns to one interception.

So Vegas has Colorado as a nine point favorite, but the way I see it KU behind a defense that has struggled this year finds a way to turn things around and force two key turnovers late in the game to give Kansas a field goal win. This energizes the hawks to go on a four game win streak and gets them bowl eligible to end the regular season. Probably not going to happen, but that’s the fun thing about sports, a fan can dream. Let’s just start with beating the buffs Saturday afternoon.

Kansas almost had the Iowa State Cyclones fooled yesterday afternoon, by giving them a closer game than most thought, but Iowa State wound up winning 28-16. The Jayhawks came out to an early first quarter lead with two Branstetter field goals to make it 6-0 after one quarter. The Jayhawk defense also looked better early, only giving up twelve total yards in the first quarter. A stunned Iowa State team, who might have been over looking the game, got on the board with a Josh Lenz 62 yard punt return to give the Cyclones a lead. Right before half though KU got another field goal from Branstetter making it a 9-7 Jayhawk lead at the half. Unfortunately that was the last lead for the Jayhawks, as Iowa State got the cobwebs out of their heads and proceeded to lay a third quarter beat down on the hawks. Iowa State got an early quarter touchdown from Alexander Robinson, which gave the Cyclones a 14-9 lead. Robinson also had 117 yards on 17 carries. Next it was a Jeff Woody 3 yard touchdown run, followed by a 33 yard touchdown run by Shontre Johnson. This gave Iowa State a 28-9 lead going into the fourth. Kansas didn’t score until seven seconds left to go in the game, a 5 yard touchdown pass from Mecham to Sims. Making the final score 28-16.

KU came out looking for the upset, and Iowa State kind of helped them out in the beginning by not showing up. It is just that KU really lacks the talent to take total control of a game like that. Maybe if Jordan Webb was healthy and quarterbacking today, but with Mecham in, the offense stumbled at times. The defense looked better than they have in the past, but were unable to sustain holding the Iowa State offense down after a first half where they didn’t move the ball much. KU’s next game is at home against Colorado at 1 p.m. The Buffs got destroyed on the road against Oklahoma. Hopefully Jordan Webb will be back, and KU will find a way to get their first conference victory.

In a game that had a lot of first half scoring, only saw the Jayhawks scoring ten of the forty-one points that were put up. The Jayhawks were able to move the ball on Texas A&M’s defense, which wasn’t a shocker, but were unable to score on them. Things were looking good for the KU offense, until late in the half when an under thrown pass to the endzone from Webb was picked off by Ron Miller. Miller was able to take the interception back 83 yards before being brought down by Daymond Patterson. The Aggies would score on the short field, boosting their lead to 31-10. The real bad news for the Jayhawks was that quarterback Jordan Webb was hurt trying to make a tackle on Miller during the return. Webb was seen on the sidelines later in the game without his pads on. This doesn’t look good for a speedy return barring what injury he has. To make things even worse for the Kansas offense, backup quarterback Cale Pick left the game with a concussion in the second half. This prompted Beshears to play some wildcat quarterback until Quinn Mecham came in late. Mecham was planning on getting red shirted this year, but with to heavily banged up quarterbacks that have no expected return dates, Turner Gill has to go with him. Next week the Jayhawks go into Ames, Iowa to face the Iowa State Cyclones. The Cyclones who are riding high coming off of a huge upset win at Texas this week. Maybe the Cyclones will be looking past Kansas this week coming off of that emotional win in Austin. But something tells me even if they are looking past the Jayhawks it won’t matter, KU is too banged up on offense, and can’t stop anyone on defense.

For the 97th homecoming game at Kansas, this game could determine which coach is more on the hot seat. At the beginning of the year both Sherman and Gill both had different agendas for their respectful teams. For Sherman his Aggies were the media sleeper team that was going to rise and take control of the Big XII South division this year. For Gill it was coming in with a new attitude and being competitive in every game this year. Well to say the least neither expectations are going as planned. KU is coming off back to back humiliating defeats from Baylor, on the road, and Kansas State, at home. Lucky for Gill this is his first year on the job, and hopefully he gets more than just this year. But with a new A.D. coming in and the people of Lawrence getting restless for success who knows. On a side note, Mangino only had two winning seasons out of his eight at Kansas, so those calling for Gill’s head, calm down. Your football tradition isn’t your basketball tradition. For Sherman’s Aggies, they are coming off an embarrassing home lost against the now ranked #11 Missouri Tigers. The expectations were high this year for Texas A&M, with Jerrod Johnson being named Big XII preseason offensive player of the year, and Von Miller leading a defense that was supposed to be improved with a new coordinator. But with Johnson struggling this year, and a defense still giving up points the Aggies aren’t what they appeared to be. Kansas right now is looking to salvage their season, and to let those Jayhawk fans still know that they are still playing football. The Aggies can still manage a bowl game this year, but doubtfully win the Big XII South. A loss to the Jayhawks on Saturday although might change Mike Sherman’s plans for the following week after, he might be looking for a new job.