Pretenders start to fade away when November arrives

There always seems to be one of these weekends every November.  Ranked teams across the country, suddenly realizing that they are actually on the way to a great season, suffer brain lock and fall to the upset bug.

Saturday, teams were throwing up on their shoes everywhere. First, No. 4 Iowa fell to Northwestern by seven.  But give the Hawkeyes a bit of a break.  Their quarterback went out with an injury and the play that cost them their QB and a TD should have been negated by a facemask call.

Then Penn State dropped the ball at home in front of 110 thousand against Ohio State.  The Nittany Lions had the Big 10 title in sight only to lose it under a pile of Buckeyes.  Terrelle Pryor made a return to his home state payoff big as Ohio State now controls their destiny in the conference.

Fresh off their impressive dismantling of USC, Oregon fell flat on their face and gave up 223 yards rushing to Toby Gerhart and 51 points to the Stanford Cardinal.  How does a color score 51 points?

Georgia Tech nearly became the fourth team in the top 11 to choke on a bone as the Yellow Jackets pulled out an overtime affair against Wake Forest.  Throw in California taking it on the chin, Houston miraculously winning at the gun and Notre Dame falling to Navy for the second time in three years and you get what I’m talking about.

The irony about the Notre Dame loss is that it hardly counts as an upset anymore. Charlie Weis didn’t do himself any favors with this loss.

All these losses really belong to the pretenders though.  Florida, Texas and Alabama won and nothing changes at the top.  The SEC title game will decide one participant in the BCS Championship game and as long as the Longhorns don’t stub their toe down the stretch they’ll get their shot at the crystal football.  But everyone would be wise to remember this day as they look to the weeks ahead. 

Snyder engineering another miracle in Manhattan

When Bill Snyder decided to return to coach Kansas State for a second tour, there were a lot of people who wondered if the game had passed him by,  The Wildcats hadn’t exactly torn it up the last couple of years of before Snyder retired.

Saturday in Manhattan, KS, Snyder and his Wildcats started nailing down the Big 12 north title with a methodical 17-10 victory over Kansas in the Sunflower Showdown.  It was a picture perfect day with a postcard finish for K-State. 

Missed opportunities, turnovers and Daniel Thomas were the difference as Kansas saw their dreams of a Big 12 north title disappear in a fourth straight loss. 

KU’s Darrell Stuckey returned the opening kickoff 69 yards and the Jayhawks drove to the K-State five, but a sack of Todd Reesing forced a 30 yard FG attempt by Jacob Branstetter that was wide right.

Next possession, Kansas drove from their own 13 to the K-State 30 before Reesing underthrew Dezmon Briscoe deep over the middle and was picked off by Emmanuel Lamur.

Kansas State’s Josh Cherry finally broke the scoring ice when he drove home a 47 yard FG to cap a 40 yard drive with just over eleven minutes left in the half.

Kansas responded, driving 60 yards in 7 plays, as Reesing connected with Briscoe for a 17 yard catch and run for a 7-3 Kansas lead.

On the next two KU possessions, Reesing lost fumbles after scrambling for yardage.  The first time the defense held and Cherry missed a FG.  K-State turned the second fumble into seven points as Grant Gregory hit Lamark Brown for a 31 yard strike with 17 seconds left in the half and a 10-7 lead.

That final score of the half and the opening drive of the second half were the difference for the Wildcats.  On the opening drive of the second half, the Wildcats Daniel Thomas accounted for 63 yards of an 84 yard drive, all on the ground, the last from 5 yards out and a 17-7 lead. 

Kansas State ate clock in the second half with Thomas ripping off yardage.  He finished with 185 yards on 24 carries.

After Reesing engineered a 13 play drive to the Kansas State thirteen, Branstetter hooked a 30 yard FG attempt wasting the drive.

KU then drove 57 yards in 16 plays before stalling and Branstetter hit a 46 yard FG cutting the lead to seven with 5;20 to go.  But for all of that work, 29 plays and 14 minutes of possession, KU has three points to show for it.

The Wildcats then ran out the clock for a 17-10 victory.   Reesing finished 27 of 41 for 241 yards and a TD, but two of his his three first half turnovers proved costly as did the missed field goals by Branstetter.  The question now is will Kansas at 5-4, totally collapse with a bowl berth still possible.

Compelling matchup in Manhattan Saturday

This week’s Sunflower Showdown is interesting on so many levels.  First and foremost, Kansas State can almost secure the Big 12 north title with a victory over Kansas.  But just as important for the Jayhawks, a win on Saturday could be the catalyst to them winning the title.

Throw in the fact that Mark Mangino created a quarterback controversy by pulling Todd Reesing when KU still had the opportunity to win against Texas Tech and you see why this matchup is so compelling. 

Despite the surprise fourth quarter benching, Mangino says he still has confidence in Reesing and Reesing says he isn’t happy with what happened or the way he’s played, but he’s not lacking in confidence heading into Manhattan.

For KU to win on Saturday It has little to do with K-State and everything to do with the Jayhawks. Reesing must play better, but he also needs to be protected.  Last week the offensive line gave up six sacks.  Kansas can’t win if they can’t protect Reesing or get the running game going. 

Jake Sharp still doesn’t seem to have the explosion that he needs to be successful, so it may be time to give Toben Opurum an opportunity to pound out some yardage.  Dezmon Briscoe has dropped passes in key situations in each of the last three games. Somehow he needs to come to the field more focused.

As important as anything may be coach Mark Mangino and the decisions he makes on Saturday.  His questionable decision to not onside kick when his team was kicking off from the Tech 40 with a 7 point lead was ridiculous.  Going for it on fourth and one from their own 31, down by seven with 7:10 to go made no sense and pulling Reesing when down by 14 when he wasn’t hurt was nuts.  They were one play from being right back in it.

If Mangino coaches the same way on Saturday, KU will lose their fourth in a row.  One thing that is certain is he has a ticked off quarterback heading into the game and there’s no telling how he’ll play on Saturday, but Reesing has always been at his best when cornered.  Maybe that’s what we’ll see from the senior and his teammates.

Is Iowa really the fourth best team?

Are the Iowa Hawkeyes really the fourth best team in the country?  I get it that they are 9-0 and one of just seven remaining unbeatens.  But this is a team that has had to rally four times in the fourth quarter for wins.  They have trailed in eight of their nine games this season.  Four times they’ve trailed by double digits.

Last Saturday they not only needed a stunning fourth quarter comeback, but some very curious officiating and replay calls that cost Indiana two touchdowns.  Everybody needs luck in their great seasons, but this is beginning to border on the ridiculous.

Just when it looked like Indiana was going to go up by 21, Tyler Sash picked off a pass that had pinballed off four players and raced 86 yards for a TD.  An Indiana TD pass minutes later was overturned by a replay official who apparently was watching another game, because it was clear the catch in question was a TD.

Quarterback Ricky Stanzi had his worst and greatest game both on the same day.  Stanzi threw four interceptions in the third quarter alone and five overall, yet he also threw for a career high 337 yards and two TD’s of 92 and 66 yards in a 28 point fourth quarter explosion.

This is a team that needed two blocked field goal’s at the end of the game to win their season opener.  Blocked a punt for a TD against Penn State.  This is a team that has made things happen with big plays by their defense and special teams.  But does the fourth best team have to come from behind in eight of their games?

Some of the BCS computers have the Hawkeyes ranked number one which even coach Kirk Ferentz has questioned by saying, “They don’t have eyes, because if they did, they’d say are you kidding me?”  

Iowa has Northwestern, Ohio State and Minnesota remaining on their schedule and only the Buckeyes are on the road, but when you constantly have to draw from the well to come from behind and win, the odds of going unbeaten keep getting longer.  An unbeaten season in the Big 10 this year doesn’t mean you’re one of the top four teams in the country.  Cincinnati shouldn’t be ranked 5th by the way.  

But this is about Iowa.  They’re having a season to remember, but I’m not sure they’re the fourth best team in the country.  Then again, I’m not sure who is, but at the moment I think I’d have to go with Boise State and Oregon to round out the top five.  Oregon may be playing the best at the moment, but they lost to the Broncos in their opener, so I can’t put them on top of Boise.

Jayhawks collapse in fourth quarter 42-21

Two offensive teams desperate for a victory met on the south plains of Texas Saturday afternoon.  Hard to believe it was a defensive battle for three quarters.

Kansas had five first half sacks and two resulted in touchdowns.  The first came on a Jeff Wheeler sack of Seth Doege.  Doege was stripped of the ball and Max Onyegbule  ran it in for the TD.

Second play of the 2nd quarter Detron Lewis got behind the Kansas secondary and was wide open for a 59 yard TD pass from Doege to tie the game at 7-7. 

With 3:15 to go in the half Colby Whitlock sacked Todd Reesing forcing a fumble and Richard Jones recovered taking it to the Kansas 2.  Running back Barron Batch plowed in to make it 14-7.

With a minute to go in the half Jake Laptad recorded the 5th sack of the half for KU stripping Doege of the football.  Lubbock Smith recovered and took it to the Red Raider 2 and Toben Opurum then scored on a two yard run to tie the game 14 all.

Taylor Potts took over at QB for Tech in the second half and Tech picked up the tempo offensively driving into scoring position before Bradley McDougald intercepted a tipped pass at the 15 and returned it to the Tech 47.

Late in the third quarter Kansas drove 81 yards in 10 plays and Reesing broke free of a potential sack and hit a wide open Dezmon Briscoe for a 6 yard score and a 21-14 KU lead.

But the 4th quarter was all Tech and Barron Batch.

Batch ripped off a 44 yard run and later scored from the one on fourth and goal to tie the game at 21 all.

Tech then recovered a Kerry Meier fumble on the Kansas 23.  A third down draw play Batch left an open field for a 17 yard romp for a score and a 28-21 Tech lead.

On a fourth and one from their own 31, Reesing fumbled the snap and LaRon Moore returned it for a TD and suddenly it was 35-21.

Coach Mark Mangino then benched Reesing for freshman Kale Pick causing head scratching from almost everyone including Reesing.

After holding Tech to minus 32 yards rushing in the first half the Red Raiders ended up with 105 for the game and Batch had 123 on the ground. final score 42 - 21 as Kansas falls to 1-3 in the conference and travels to Manhattan to face Kansas State next week.