Tuesday, December 30, 2008
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – Micah Brown’s fourth-down reception on a fake punt didn’t win last year’s Orange Bowl for Kansas. That was one of coach Mark Mangino’s messages at Tuesday’s press conference, the last media event before the 2008 Insight Bowl.
Mangino was asked if he used the 30-day layoff to throw in a few more trick plays for the game, much like the fake punt last year.
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Insight Bowl Press Conference
KU football coach Mark Mangino, along with players Todd Reesing and Darrell Stuckey, spoke with the press Tuesday morning in Scottsdale, Ariz., one day before they meet the Minnesota Golden Gophers in Tempe.
“Does everybody have a wrinkle or two for a bowl game? Yes,” he said. “Is that how we expect to win the game? No. We expect to win the game by lining up and playing sound, fundamental football.”
If things go according to the script, Mangino shouldn’t need to reach into his bag of goodies at all. Kansas is a 10-point favorite, and Minnesota coach Tim Brewster has heaped nothing but praise and admiration on the Jayhawks.
“It’s very simple,” Brewster said. “If we don’t stay on the field more, our chances of beating Kansas are not good.”
Brewster said he planned to accomplish that by weaning his spread attack for a more traditional two-running back set.
“The unique thing now today, guys, is not the spread, it’s the two-back downhill offense,” Brewster said. “That downhill, in-your-face offense that you remember from a few years ago. That’s the offense that people struggle with more today.”
Safety Darrell Stuckey isn’t too worried about the offensive switch. Despite having no film to study, Stuckey said he’s confident that Minnesota’s new running attack won’t be a problem.
“Run games typically tend to be similar,” Stuckey said. “They all go through the same gaps. It’s just one of those things as a defense that you’ve got to be prepared to stop the run.”
Kansas’ run defense ranks No. 35 in the country, so numbers suggest that Minnesota will have to find some success through the air to get its offense moving. Statistically, Kansas’ pass defense ranks near the bottom at No. 113, but Stuckey said that’s okay because it came against top competition.
“As a secondary we like challenges and we like playing against the best teams in the nation,” he said.
Kansas won’t be lining up against a premier team in the country, but Brewster’s bunch is starving for a chance to prove that its 55-0 loss to Iowa was a fluke. In fact, Minnesota’s more likely to yank some rabbits out of helmets, trying to gain some kind of edge.
Whatever the result, Mangino said tricks don’t make the team and they only fool an opponent for so long.
“We’ve run trick plays here,” Mangino said. “Sometimes they work, sometimes they don’t. We don’t rely on it. We rely on execution.”
— — Edited by Kelsey Hayes
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