Jayhawks need to remember South Florida as they prepare for UTEP

As the Kansas football team heads out for their only non-conference matchup on the road, the Jayhawks can only look back to a year ago when they traveled to South Florida and see how important it is to be prepared for your opponents best shot.

Against the South Florida Bulls, the Jayhawks jumped out to a 20-3 halftime lead only to give up 31 unanswered points and fall 37-34 on a field goal as time expired. When it counted in the second half, the defense couldn’t come up with a stop.

Saturday, Kansas faces a UTEP squad that isn’t as highly touted and lost its opener to Buffalo, but the Miners feature a veteran quarterback in Trevor Vittatoe, who’s a three year starter who’s already thrown for over 65 hundred yards in his career. He engineered what appeared to be a game winning 80 yard TD drive at the conclusion of the game against Buffalo only to have a 20 yard scoring pass with :14 seconds left nullified by a holding call.

Former National Coach of the Year Mike Price is in his 6th year at UTEP and has an explosive offense again this year. The Jayhawks put pressure on Northern Colorado quarterback Bryan Waggener last week and recorded three sacks, but the pass defense had it’s breakdowns with four interference calls, three by sophomore corner Anthony Davis.

The bright spot was junior Chris Harris, who’s moved back to safety from cornerback this season and forced a fumble, broke up a pass and recorded seven tackles. But those cornerbacks must improve against an effective passing attack and KU must see continued improvement from the new linebacking corps who coach Mark Mangino said

played hard in the opener but needs to work on tackling and pursuit of the ball.

Todd Reesing didn’t have to throw the ball much last week as Kansas marched up and down the field with their ground game, but with wide out Dezmon Briscoe back in the lineup, you would expect to see the Jayhawks take to the air more this week. With a young line you’d also like to see them continue to show they can run the ball whenever they need.

All things said, this is a game Mangino better make sure his team doesn’t take lightly. They only need to remember their trip to Florida last September.