Morning Brew: A bowl of oranges wakes a sleeping giant
With a prestigious bowl under its belt, the football team is now in the driver’s seat to determine its 2008 season.
By Andrew Wiebe (Contact)
Originally published 12:00 a.m., August 27th, 2008
Updated 04:14 p.m., August 27th, 2008
Countless storylines spawned from the perfect storm that was Kansas football in 2007.
For starters, there was the tale of a certain overlooked, but irrepressibly confident, young quarterback named Todd Reesing. Dubbed “Sparky” by coach Mark Mangino, Reesing captured Lawrence’s imagination while setting no less than 21 offensive records in his first season as a starter.
Then there was the coaching clinic put on by Mangino and his staff, prompting the Associated Press to name the big man 2007 National Coach of the Year after a school-record 12 victories.
And it’s impossible to overlook the football fever that enveloped the University as merchandise and ticket-sales soared and pride made a triumphant return to Memorial Stadium.
But one number defined the Jayhawks’ unprecedented success more than any other: 14,246. That’s the number of days that passed between Kansas’ Orange Bowl trip in 1969 and last January’s 24-21 victory over Virginia Tech in Miami.
For those of you counting at home, that’s 20,514,240 minutes of the kind of mediocrity that comes with the likes of Bud Moore, Terry Allen and Bob Valesente at the helm.
Maybe that kind of drought was acceptable for the last 40 years, but the football landscape in Lawrence has changed drastically since Bobby Douglass led that 1968 squad to within two points of beating Penn State.
Expectations have changed, and mediocrity is no longer acceptable. Mangino has a sparkling new football complex that came with a $31 million price tag. Reesing is a year older, and the Jayhawks no longer have to settle for overlooked or unorthodox recruits.
For the first time in years, national pundits are actually paying attention to the Jayhawks, even if the spotlight is on last season’s supposedly cream-puff schedule.
Meanwhile, Jayhawks highlights have found a place they haven’t been since Glen Mason patrolled the sidelines, spliced in with those of traditional powerhouses to promote national broadcasts.
Last year put Kansas on the college football map. This year, Mangino’s challenge is entrenching his program among the nation’s best while dealing with the loss of All-Americans Aqib Talib and Anthony Collins and playing a daunting slate of games.
It’s a different era in Lawrence, and like it or not success is expected.
Rest assured the new breed of Kansas football fans won’t accept almost 15,000 days of disappointment anymore.
IF YOU GRILL IT, THEY WILL COME
Last weekend I found out exactly what it take to persuade students to attend non-revenue sporting events: free hot dogs — and lots of them.
At least I think that’s what brought 623 fans, most of them students, to last Friday’s women’s soccer game against Purdue. Those that stuck around after the grilling at halftime saw the Jayhawks overwhelm the Boilermakers with three second-half goals.
There won’t be free processed meat products when newly minted No. 25 Kansas takes on Auburn on Sunday at the Jayhawk Soccer Complex. But there will be an explosive brand of attacking soccer that has produced six goals in two games thus far, and in my book that is far more satisfying.
—Edited by Andy Greenhaw
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