Football Notes: October 22, 2007

By Asher Fusco

Monday, October 22, 2007

Not camera shy

Kansas didn’t experience any stage fright Saturday, despite appearing on national television for just the second time this season and ESPN for the first time since 2005. After Saturday, Kansas is 4-4 in games broadcast on ESPN. One of the coolest parts about appearing on ESPN? The players got the chance to introduce their teammates to viewers near the beginning of the game. Team captains Brandon McAnderson and Aqib Talib handled the introductions for Kansas. Former Colorado Buffalo and now-Green Bay Packers kicker Mason Crosby introduced the Buffaloes. The team will have another chance to shine in front of a wide audience this Saturday against Texas A&M. ESPN2 will broadcast the 6 p.m. game.

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Football

Attendance

The seats at Folsom Field remained empty in the minutes directly preceding the game, but as soon as the action started, Colorado fans filed in. The just-short-of-capacity crowd of 51,940 was extremely vocal for the duration of the game — much more so than the 50,924 Kansas State fans Kansas faced two weeks prior. The source of much of the excitement was Ralphie, a live bison that sprints across the field prior to the game. Saturday, Ralphie wore a special garment emblazoned with the words, “WELCOME PARENTS,” to commemorate family weekend. Despite the presence of parents and intimidating mascots alike, Kansas fans held their own against their Colorado counterparts. A section of Jayhawk fans in the northwest corner of the stadium performed the Rock Chalk chant as Kansas ran out the clock and stuck around to cheer as the team boarded the buses.

Perfect weather

Saturday’s 4:30 p.m. game time worked out beautifully. At kickoff, conditions in the foothills of the Rockies were nearly perfect 75 degrees with partly cloudy skies and a slight breeze. Temperatures stayed comfortable for the majority of the contest before plummeting to about 40 degrees by 10 p.m. Sunday brought some Colorado-like weather to the area, as heavy snow and freezing rain pelted Denver throughout the day.

Special teams

The Jayhawks’ search for consistency in the punt game may have ended Saturday. Senior punter Kyle Tucker looked like the Kyle Tucker of old, booting five punts at 43.8 yards per punt. Last week, Tucker said he had discovered and corrected a mechanical flaw in his punting motion. Sophomore cornerback Anthony Webb enjoyed another uneventful game as Kansas’ punt returner. Webb returned two punts for no yardage and called for a fair catch after failing to do so last week. Though Webb failed to advance the ball on either of his returns, he recorded one impressive stat: no fumbles. Senior kicker Scott Webb also did some impressive things in the thin air of Colorado, knocking one kickoff through the end zone and converting both of his field goal attempts. On the season, Webb is 11-of-12 on field goals and perfect on extra points.

Flawless

With the victory, Kansas moved to 7-0 and continued to rewrite the school record book. The 7-0 start is the team’s best since 1995 and is only the second such start since 1968. The seven-game winning streak is also the team’s longest since 1995 and the two-game road winning streak is its best in 12 years. With the victory, coach Mark Mangino moved to 32-35 overall and 6-21 on the road as Kansas coach. To add some current-day context, Kansas is one of just five FBS teams remaining undefeated. The other four undefeated teams are Boston College, Ohio State, Hawaii, Arizona State.

Staying ahead

Despite the seesaw nature of Saturday’s game, Kansas trailed Colorado for less than two minutes, continuing the Jayhawks’ complete dominance of opponents in 2007. In 420 total minutes of game time, Kansas has only trailed for 20:07. In total, Kansas has outscored opponents 172-95 and outgained opponents 3,428 yards to 1,793 this season.

The running games

Jake Sharp recorded his first career start Saturday but struggled through one of his least productive games of the season. The sophomore running back ran 15 times for 53 yards, scored one touchdown and gained 18 yards on six catches. Senior running back Brandon McAnderson and sophomore quarterback Todd Reesing made some major contributions in the run game, as Reesing led the team with 84 rushing yards and McAnderson averaged 6.3 yards per carry. The game didn’t go as smoothly for the Colorado running backs. Senior running back Hugh Charles, the Buffaloes best offensive threat, only managed 39 yards on 11 carries and fumbled at a crucial juncture in the third quarter. Backup running backs Brian Lockridge and Byron Ellis did not fare much better, combining for 35 yards on seven carries for no touchdowns.

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