Toben Opurum and the rest of the Kansas defense kept the Jayhawks within striking distance most of the afternoon.
The growing pains continued harassing the Kansas Jayhawks Saturday afternoon as the #15 ranked TCU Horned Frogs beat the Jayhawks 20-6 showing Kansas just how far they need to come to compete with the Big Boyz of the Big 12.
Kansas held strong and went toe to toe with the visitors staying within four points at the half (10-6) thanks to several impressive defensive series by Dave Campo’s defense. But TCU would take control down the stretch and although Kansas had several opportunities to get back into the game in the 4th quarter, they never threatened TCU.
Kansas quarterback Dayne Crist had his best day of the season accumulating over 300 yards of passing despite being harassed by the TCU defense throughout the afternoon. Crist was sacked 3 times and was under pressure often. Though there were still a couple overthrows and poor decisions, Crist looked much more comfortable and made his presence felt on several drives.
Unfortunately, the Jayhawks were unable to capitalize on the TCU mistakes and failed to reach the endzone.
So how did the Jayhawks compare to the upper echelon of the Big 12?
Here’s what I noticed from today’s contest plus I talk to several KU players postgame including Dayne Crist, Tony Pierson, Andrew Turzilli, and Chris Omigie. Also, Coach Charlie Weis’ postgame news conference in its entirety in this week’s Scotten’s Scribbles.
No Moral Victories
Though the Jayhawks covered the Vegas betting lines and had this game within reach until late in the 4th quarter I can’t call this one a moral victory.
TCU did just about everything they could to keep the Jayhawks in this game. Hats off to the defense for making some crucial turnovers, 4 coming inside the 25-yard line, but there were just way too many opportunities for TCU to make this game ugly—they just didn’t capitalize.
There is no question that if the Kansas team that showed up against TCU would have shown up last week this team is sitting at 2-1 instead of already a losing record. This season was never going to be judged by wins and losses and today they got better as a team.
That is a victory within itself.
This Kansas team doesn’t have the luxury of moral victories, with 3 starting lineman, a starting QB, TE 2 WR’s, 3 DB’s, and a DE, all set to graduate this year, this team needs/wants to win now. So although it is very positive they got better Saturday, with all the opportunities presented, nothing short of a win in the points was good enough for the Jayhawks.
But you don’t have to take my word for it (ala LeVar Burton).
“{Moral victories don’t} exist,” said Coach Weis after the game. “There’s no such thing. Do I like the way they fought? Yeah. But there’s nothing ever good about a loss”.
Charlie Weis Postgame:
New Offensive Wrinkles
Though the passing game Saturday left some more to be desired (Crist 19-39-1; 303-yards) it was noticeably better than what we’ve seen the previous two weeks. Crist moved around more in the pocket (not always by design) and was less gimmicky in the play-calling.
Though RB’s Tony Pierson and Taylor Cox each made their presence felt in the running game (Cox 11-49; Pierson 9-35) it was Pierson’s new role in the passing game that surprised nearly everybody Saturday.
Pierson finished Saturday’s contest with 6 receptions for 99-yards and at times seemed to be Kansas’ only option offensively.
Though it may be stating a bit of the obvious, after a receiving game like Pierson had against TCU you can count on seeing Pierson as a more versatile weapon in the offense. Pierson too agrees.
“In the future you should expect more of that,” said Pierson after the game. “I’m very comfortable catching the ball because I caught it a lot in high school. I’m very confident in myself {catching the ball}”.
RB/WR Tony Pierson Postgame:
New and Bigger Targets
With the loss of who Coach Weis referred to as his “best player” in the Fall Camp portion of the preseason, Kale Pick, the Jayhawks got the opportunity to look at some different receivers in the passing game Saturday.
I’ve been clamoring for several weeks to get a look at both Chris Omigie and Andrew Turzilli due to their size and down the field potential and we saw against TCU why. Both of these guys are nearly 5-inches taller than the Jayhawks #1 receiver Daymond Patterson (valuable but prefers to be in space) and are better in stretching the field and red-zone situations. Saturday both made their presence felt with Turzilli finishing with 3 catches for 100 yards and Omigie with 3 for 51. The scary thing is both admitted afterward that they let a couple more slip away.
With Pierson likely getting a larger role in the passing game with the return of RB James Sims this week, the Jayhawks now have a lot of different offensive weapons.
Both spoke to TheShiver.com after the game.
WR Andrew Turzilli Postgame:
WR Chris Omigie Postgame:
3rd Down, again
What had started as a concern has quickly turned into a major problem for the Jayhawks when it comes to 3rd down efficiency. The Jayhawks converted just 2 of 13 third down opportunities Saturday giving them a grand total of 10 of 40 which means after 3 games Kansas is converting just 25% of their third down opportunities.
To me this is the essence of the Jayhawks struggles offensively. Sure Weis has gotten away from the running game at the oddest of times but this is caused by bad/poorly executed play-calls on 1st and 2nd down leading to way too many 3rd and longs.
But there were several times Saturday that Kansas had 3rd and short and went to low percentage pass plays that made little sense odds wise. I get that Coach Weis was trying to hit a home run but just moving the chains would have been enough at times Saturday.
Not extending drives takes the timing out of the offense and as we saw again Saturday completely kills any momentum the defense might have handed them. But as long as the play-calling continues to leave us scratching our heads we will continue to see the same problems.
Weis is a great offensive football mind but at times is guilty of over thinking things. As former Kansas grad Paul Rudd once said, “Do less”.
Quarterback Dayne Crist
