Chants of “defense” filled Kivisto Field at Memorial Stadium early Saturday afternoon as the Jayhawks defense stifled the Texas Tech highly ranked offense to the tune of 82 yards in the first quarter. But the Jayhawks defensive success was short lived as the Red Raiders wore down Kansas in their march to 4-0, leaving the Jayhawks again scratching their heads.
The Kansas defense showed what they could be capable of Saturday afternoon but the problems that have plagued the Jayhawks throughout the season again reared its ugly head. The Jayhawks defenders made several nice stops and were in position to make more but missed tackles and missed opportunities have been the story for these Jayhawks all season.
Kansas had moments where they swarmed to the ball but had the familiar defensive back out of position or laying on the ground.
“Bottom line is you have to look at the angle you’re taking”, said Head Coach Turner Gill about the troubles his defensive players are having. “You’re never going to be perfect but you would like to have a few more tackles being made. What you have is guys grabbing instead of moving their feet. When you move your feet through the ball carrier you have a better chance of doing that. We got to continue to work on that and we will.”
After the drumming Kansas took at the hands of Georgia Tech, many expected the Jayhawks to implode but I got the sense this week they actually thrived on the opportunity to redeem themselves. For the first half against Texas Tech, the Jayhawks defense looked significantly better but fell off as the game progressed.
But the entirety of the defense wasn’t hanging their head late. Linebacker Steven Johnson made several bruising tackles as the final seconds ticked off the clock.
“I was trying to just hit those dudes so hard”, said Johnson about his strong finish. “It’s hard because I’m just trying to get this feeling out of my stomach. It hurts trying so hard and practicing so hard when the results aren’t there. I’m gonna play for 60 minutes regardless of what the outcomes going to be. I’m gonna keep fighting that’s just how I play. We will get better as a defense. We did a lot of good things but we just didn’t do enough good things. We’ll bounce back.”
Looking forward, it doesn’t appear the Jayhawk defenders will be fraying at the seams.
“It’s definitely frustrating but we’re going to stick together”, said safety Bradley McDougald. “That’s what we are going to have to do: rely on each other. Guys are going to get it. I know we keep saying that but its showing slowly but surely we just got to keep clicking until guys are doing it for four quarters and mistakes are slim to none.”
But that seems to be the one consistent with the Jayhawks defense: they stick together. And although many fingers could be pointed at the players and the coaches, the bottom line is that getting better each week is the prime objective.
“I’m optimistic because we played better today”, said Defensive Coordinator Vic Shealy after the loss. “It may not look like it but we played better today”.
