I spent this past weekend in the Illinois Valley for my roommate’s sister’s wedding and had a blast. Probably too much of a blast. While speaking with the groom, I found out their plans for their honeymoon: a surprise trip to Las Vegas and some time in Hawaii. After immediately (but unsuccessfully) looking for a bride so I could have an excuse to jet to Vegas and any island, I made the rounds on my phone and checked some scores from Saturday.

And there it was: NDSU 6, KU 3.

I had this image of how this football season would play out: An up-and-coming coach hired in the offseason, who turned around a small-time program and guided an improving Kansas team. He gets his first win as head coach against a Missouri Valley Conference school that went 3-8 last year. The type of statement victory that would get Jayhawk nation past last season’s collapse and the tumultuous offseason that followed. It felt like what would be the beginning of a beautiful marriage.

I guess the honeymoon’s over.

Turner Gill’s debut at Memorial Stadium wasn’t what I had in mind. But the payoff for hiring Gill can’t be expected this year. The transition period for this team will be much longer than the 60 minutes it took for the Jayhawks’ first lost of the season. In his first season at Buffalo, Gill’s record was 2-10. And while it’s unrealistic to expect anyone to be happy with that kind of season, Saturday’s game provided some parallels to another deplorable Kansas debut.

Mark Mangino went 2-10 in his first year at Kansas in 2002, including a 45-3 stinker of a season opener at Iowa State. We all know how that story would play out, but before his accusation-filled departure from the program, Mangino forever changed the expectations surrounding the football program — fueled by three Bowl game victories.

Kansas knows how to win. That’s apparent when you look up at the rafters in Allen Fieldhouse. But that winning culture is synonymous with continuity. It took Mangino five years to start getting serious wins against serious teams. The basketball team, KU’s most prolific program, has had eight coaches in 112 years of existence. There’s a pattern developing, no?

Turner Gill and Kansas made a commitment to each other this past summer. And while the going might be rough right now, give Gill and the Jayhawks some time. Soon enough we’ll remember why they tied the knot in the first place.

— Edited by Anna Nordling