The University of Kansas hit a low point in the 2001 football season. They had lost 6 straight games and had been outscored 199-20 in the final four games of that streak. Terry Allen was replaced and Tom Hayes stepped in to coach the final three games of the season.
The Jayhawks finished on a “strong note” with a rousing 27-14 win over Wyoming that defined the Tom Hayes era, but nobody saw that late-November game because every fan had moved on to basketball season, even though the Hawks had just lost to Ball State in Maui in the “cramp” game.
In 2002, new coach Mark Mangino decided that he was going to build up his new team’s morale by scheduling tough but beatable opponents in the non-conference portion of the schedule…a novel idea considering his link to the Bill Snyder coaching tree.
Mangino was not going to make the same mistakes that his two predecessors did; like scheduling a game at Notre Dame and losing 48-13—a Terry Allen special, or getting his tail kicked all over the place by Florida State in the Meadowlands like Glen Mason in 1993. (The Hawks got stomped into the ground at the Meadowlands worse than Jimmy Hoffa…too soon?)
If you suck as a football team, why schedule games that will make your players want to quit? Kansas already plays in a conference with elite programs like Oklahoma, Texas and Nebraska so there is absolutely zero reason to put legendary PROGRAMS on your schedule other than to have your alumni point out that they have seen those shinny gold-painted helmets on TV for over fifty years.
Mangino left two road games on the non-con schedule in ’02 (something legend Bill Snyder did) against a decent UNLV team and Tulsa, had a home game against Division 1-AA Missouri State, and hosted Bowling Green who was coached by unknown-future-coaching-legend Urban Meyer. KU lost to UNLV and Bowling Green, but secured their only two wins of the season against MO State and Tulsa. Not a great result but it was a starting point.
In 2003 he added a “Big 11” team (Northwestern) to the schedule and had a rematch against UNLV. The Northwestern game ended up in a 28-20 loss in the rainiest game in modern KU history, but the rematch against the Running Rebels was a jumping off point for Jayhawks football. Mangino had to win that game to right the ship and show that his program was capable of improving. The 46-24 victory was a statement that KU was done sucking completely and you had to at least play your starters into the third quarter when playing the Jayhawks now. They followed that victory up with a hard-fought road win over Wyoming. Both of those wins played a huge roll in allowing the Jayhawks to get slaughtered by N.C. State and Phillip Rivers in the Tangerine Bowl that season.
The significance of the 2003 season was that teams only a year removed from having one win against a Division 1 football team can build confidence by getting a few victories over evenly-matched opponents in the non-con, and ride that wave all the way to a bowl in the modern landscape of college football.
That is a lot like how the non-con schedule sets up for the 2009 season for Kansas. First, there is a layup against Northern Colorado who has 3 wins in as many years—and one of those three victories was a 16-13 nail-biter against Montana State-Bozeman.
Next is a match-up against a capable UTEP team with a terrific offense, but terrible defense on the road. This game is reminding a lot of KU fans of the trap game at the Glass Bowl against Toledo in 2006. That game actually set up the renascence of KU football because it showed that Kerry Meier had the propensity to turn the ball over and get hurt—setting up Todd Reesing’s ascendancy later that season. The main worry in this game for KU fans is that former BCS Bowl/stud coach/alleged stripper-lover Mike Price is the man in charge of the Miners. Price can coach and will have his team prepared, no doubt about that. There is also an irrational fear amongst Jayhawks fans that have them thinking they will get dumped by UTEP the way in which the 1992 Jayhawks got beat in the second-round of the NCAA Basketball Tournament, 66-60.
“How do you kill a Jayhawk? UTEP on them.” Remember that one?
Fortunately this is not a Friday night game like the Toledo game. If the Jayhawks play their game they should not have a big problem dispatching the Miners.
Next is Duke. While having the most wins in the decade in college basketball (290, KU is number two with 280) the football team does not exactly bring the same panache as Coach K’s squad. In the decade they have a whopping 14 victories– with most of those wins coming against teams with average GPA’s that are higher than their average 40 times. The most intriguing thing about this game might take place in the stands with all of the Duke Basketball shirt-wearing Missouri fans that are sure to be in attendance. Maybe Quinn Snyder will come too.
The final non-con game against Southern Mississippi will prove to be the biggest challenge for Kansas. Though Brett Favre’s alma mater has not broken through to the elite level of teams in college football, they have been to 12 bowl games in the past twenty years.Eleven of those bowl appearances were under former coach Jeff Bower, and first-year coach Larry Fedora continued beating the drum by leading the Golden Eagles to a win over Troy in the New Orleans Bowl in 2008. He hopes to improve upon that success this year, and by all reports his team is up to the task.
Southern Mississippi runs the spread offense and has a receiver that will be a pro in DeAndre Brown. The 6’6” 238 lb. sophomore had a 1,000 yard season as a true-freshman and caught 12 touchdowns, but broke his tibia and fibula in his left leg during the New Orleans Bowl—if you have a strong stomach you can look up the play on Youtube. Search “DeAndre Brown,” “broken leg,” “gruesome,” “horrible,” “pointing the wrong way” and you should be able to find it. If Brown is healthy he may be the best player to face the Jayhawks all season long in terms of NFL talent.
If Kansas goes 4-0 in the non-conference portion of the schedule it will set them up to have a solid season, especially with the brutal conference portion of the schedule looming. It will not shock many if KU is able to get through unscathed, but it will be central in building their confidence much like 2007, the only other time that the Jayhawks went 4-0 in the non-con in Mangino’s time at KU. That team went on to win the Orange Bowl (still to this day, writing that last sentence is really cool and something I thought would never happen).
KU under Mark Mangino in the Non-Conference
Record: 20-6
Road Games: 6
BCS Opponents (Record Against): 4 (1-3)
KU has won 17 straight non-con home games dating back to the loss at home against Northwestern in 2003.
KU has lost 3 straight road games in the non-con, with their last victory coming at Wyoming in 2003.
KU’s record is 4-2 against teams that have gone on to a bowl in the same season they have played in the non-con.
KU is 6-2 against teams that have gone on to have winning records in the same season they have played
