Thursday, November 15, 2007

3, 2, 1 (uh oh, there go the Ducks)

Kansas (10-0, #3)
Loss: What? They haven’t lost to anyone? Weird.
Wins: vs. Central Michigan (6-4) 52-7; @ Kansas State (5-5) 30-24; @ Texas A&M (6-5) 19-11; @ Oklahoma State (5-5) 43-28
Remaining schedule: this week vs. Iowa State (3-8); 11/24 vs. Mizzou (9-1, #5) in Kansas City; possible Big 12 title game – likely vs. OU

Not since the 1900s has Kansas been atop the college football world as they are now. I bet you didn’t know that Kansas was the dominant Midwest football power back then. I sure didn’t know. I mentioned Buddy Owens yesterday in talking about Oklahoma, but there are quite a few other notable Jayhawk football personalities from the olden times. Look out! Lots of ancient history – scroll down or prepare to be bored!

John H. Outland went to KU, and played both football and baseball in 1895 and 1896. Outland was the founder of the Kansas Relays. Outland is the namesake of the Outland trophy, given to the best offensive lineman in football.

Fielding “Hurry Up” Yost coached one year at Kansas in 1899 and going undefeated, Yost left to coach Stanford briefly, and then went on to coach at Michigan and start their fantastic football tradition. He was at UM from 1901-1926 (going 165-29-10). Yost invented the position of linebacker, and co-created the first ever bowl game, the 1902 Rose Bowl. He also invented that MEE-she-gan thing. He’s probably the most important American of the 20th century for coming up with bowl games.

Here’s the schedule for the 10-0 1899 team (thanks to College Football Data Warehouse, which has a fabulous collection of team results, polls, pretty much everything). Gotta love the big win over Missouri in Kansas City to cap off the year.

9/30 W 12-0 Haskell Institute (KS) Lawrence, KS
10/7 W 35-0 Washburn (KS) Lawrence, KS
10/14 W 29-6 Ottawa (KS) Lawrence, KS
10/21 W 29-5 Drake (IA) Lawrence, KS
10/28 W 18-0 Haskell Institute (KS) Lawrence, KS
11/4 W 29-0 Ottawa (KS) Ottawa, KS
11/11 W 35-0 Emporia St. (KS) Emporia, KS
11/18 W 36-20 Nebraska Lincoln, NE
11/25 W 23-0 Washburn (KS) Lawrence, KS
11/30 W 34-6 Missouri Kansas City, MO

I bet that second match-up with Washburn was exciting!

The aughts were then the time of Coach A.R. “Bert” Kennedy (53-9-4), who put together the following seasons:

1904: 8-1-1 (lost to Haskell, tied Colorado)
1905: 10-1 (lost to Colorado in Denver)
1906: 7-2-2 (lost to @ SLU, @ K-State, tied Mizzou 0-0)
1907: 5-3 (lost @ Washburn, home to Nebraska, and @ SLU)
1908: 9-0 (beat Mizzou 10-4 in KC) – Missouri Valley Champs
1909: 8-1 (lost to Mizzou 12-6 in KC)
1910: 6-1-1 (lost to Nebraska at home 6-0, won @ OU 2-0, tied Mizzou 5-5 at KC)

KU had an 18-game winning streak, which started in 1907 with a 4-0 win over Mizzou and ended with a loss to Mizzou in last game of the year in 1909.

After 1910, Kennedy was no longer the coach, and I haven’t been able to figure out why. Apparently he coached at Haskell for awhile. I can understand losing Yost to Michigan, but losing your coach to Haskell? I was hoping KU fired him after the home loss to Nebraska in 1910 so I could make up a whole curse thing. When your chasing your first title in a century, you need a good curse story right?

Kennedy was also a dentist for 60 years in Lawrence, so someone out there must have gone to him for a teeth cleaning. If you did, let me know why he quit coaching. His son Ted Kennedy (no not that one) lives in Lawrence, and Tom Keegan at Lawrence Journal World wrote a column on him, but didn’t say why he quit coaching.

KU still hasn’t played anyone this year, but it doesn’t matter, as they haven’t lost to anyone. I’m having hard time deciding on how I feel about the Jayhawks right now. Should I enjoy the fact that KU is 10-0 and will have their best season in over a decade (and there were some bad seasons in there, especially while I was attending school – 1998 to 2002)? Or do I get wrapped up in thinking about winning the whole damn thing, and risk being disappointed in a crushing manner?

I think it’s time to throw myself into it – KU will beat Mizzou! I hope.

Outlook: Win out and will be in the title game. Will it happen? Does Dorothy crush the wicked witch with a house? She does do that right?

Oregon (8-1, #2)
Loss: vs. Cal (6-4) 31-24
Wins: vs. Houston (6-4) 48-27; @ Michigan (8-3) 39-7; vs. Fresno State (6-4) 52-21; vs. USC (8-2, #11); vs. Arizona State (9-1, #8) 35-23
Remaining games: Thursday night @ Arizona (4-6); 11/24 @ UCLA (5-5); 12/1 Civil War vs. Oregon State (6-4)

Well, as I sit here the Ducks are getting smoked 24-11 to Arizona in the second quarter, with their great Heisman candidate QB Dennis Dixon injured and out of the game. Things look grim. Hopefully Dixon can get back in the game and maybe lead the Ducks back.

But if he doesn’t, here comes #2 for the Jayhawks!

Oregon is definitely a nouveau riche program, with Nike dollars pouring into Eugene from alum Phil Knight. The Ducks are also home of the oddest uniforms, but they seem to have their stride. They actually look pretty good tonight (other than the whole football playing part of the game).

Uh oh, make that 31-11 Arizona.

Oregon went to the 1963 Sun Bowl, but then was absent from postseason play until 1989, when they beat Tulsa 27-24 in the Independence Bowl. Since then, however, the Ducks have been to 13 bowl games, highlighted by a breakthrough appearance in the Rose Bowl in 1995 (lost to Penn State), followed up by a 1996 Cotton Bowl (lost to Colorado).

Oregon probably should have gotten a shot at the 2001 title, but were instead sent to the Fiesta Bowl. That was the year that Nebraska got annihilated at Colorado on Thanksgiving weekend 62-36, but still went on to play Miami for the “title”, and got smoked. Oregon finished with one loss and ranked #2.

Oregon has three good wins this year – at Michigan, and at home over USC and Arizona State. If Kansas loses and Oregon wins out (looking dimmer and dimmer as Oregon is sacked out of field goal range at the end of the first half), the Ducks would likely be in the title game.

Outlook: Barring a second-half rally, Oregon is cooked.

This just in! Ryan Leaf’s younger brother is playing QB for Oregon, and Ryan is on the sidelines! The Ducks have no chance! They do get a FG, now 31-14.

LSU (9-1, #1)
Loss: @ Kentucky (7-3, #23) 43-37 OT
Wins: vs. Miss. St. (6-4) 45-0; vs. Va. Tech (8-2, #10) 48-7; vs. South Carolina (6-5) 28-16; vs. Florida (7-3, #12) 28-24; vs. Auburn (7-4) 30-24; @ Alabama (6-4) 41-34.
Remaining games: this week @ Ole Miss (3-7); 11/23 vs. Arkansas (6-4); possible SEC title game – likely vs. Georgia (8-2, #9) or Tennessee (7-3, #20) – slight chance it will be Florida

Bayou Bengals! Death Valley! Halloween night 1959 - Billy Cannon returns a punt to beat #3 Ole Miss! They have numbers on the five-yard lines!

The Tigers have tradition. They have two national titles – 1958 and 2003 (split with USC). I don’t understand why they share both the Tiger mascot and the Death Valley thing with Clemson. I bet there’s some fun bourbon-fueled southern boy arguments over which school is the rightful owner of the “Death Valley” moniker. No offense to Clemson, but I think LSU is more intimidating over the last decade or so.

My favorite LSU game was in 1997, when they beat #1 Florida in Baton Rouge 28-21. LSU kept running over them: like 5 running backs got hurt, but it didn’t matter. Kevin Faulk was killing the Gators, and after he got hurt big fatty Cecil Collins came in and kept rolling. I think I really hated Florida, as they usually beat Florida State, which I had some weird rooting interest in for awhile. I think it was because they wear those sweet helmets with the arrows on them (I talk about uniforms entirely too much don’t I?).

So, LSU is the greatest this year, blah, blah. I don’t think they’ve played all that great, but man they have talent. Glen Dorsey is a beast on the defensive side.

Dixon is done, the Oregon coach just told Erin Andrews so. And yes, Erin looks nice.



LSU gets tons of credit from the start of the season when they killed a decent Mississippi State team and a good Virginia Tech team. Since then, they’ve seemed bored and beaten their SEC opponents, mostly at home (Florida, Auburn, and South Carolina). I’m not sure that Auburn and South Carolina are much better than, say, Texas A&M and Texas Tech. Better coached? Definitely. More talented? Not by much.

LSU better be careful with Arkansas, but they should win that one. The only real test left is the SEC championship game. Georgia’s been playing really well lately, but they may not get a shot at the Tigers. Tennessee can win out and be in the SEC title game, as they hold the tiebreaker with a win over the Dawgs (both teams have two conference losses). I think Georgia gets in though, and gives LSU a good game, but falls short.

Outlook: Win and they are in the title game. I think they’ll do it.

National Championship: LSU vs. KU.

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