What a weekend, filled with swings of mood and weather.

KANSAS FOOTBALL!!!!!!!

Kansas 38, Oklahoma 33. LET’S GOOOOOO!!!!!

One of the biggest wins in program history. That alone would make Saturday’s win over the #6 Sooners memorable. It just had so much of…everything, I guess, that no KU fan who watched it will ever forget it.

This feels like a game that could easily turn into a 5000 word account. So I’ll try to keep it brief(-ish) by just bullet-pointing how bizarre it was.

  • KU jumps out to a quick lead with a pick six on OU’s first possession. Apparently my cable feed was working on a 20 second delay because I saw four tweets about Mello Dotson putting KU up 7–0 before I saw the play. At first I thought it was a joke because my TV was lagging so much.
  • KU went up 14–0 and then were the victims of the worst personal foul penalty in the history of college football, Craig Young flagged for a late hit when he neither shoved nor tackled Drake Stoops, and Stoops head butted him TWICE after the play was over. KU fans were quick with “Dollar Signs” memes.
  • After Oklahoma scored and got the ball back, the game was stopped for an hour because of lightning. On a day when the temps were in the 30s. Midwest weather remains undefeated.
  • After the delay Oklahoma took approximately nine seconds to tie the game. Then KU fumbled the kickoff and OU immediately took the lead. I started having vibes of the 1991 Nebraska game when KU lead 17–0 after the first quarter and we were all losing our minds then we still managed to lose 59–23. Calvin fucking Jones.
  • Much maligned quarterback Jason Bean missed WIDE OPEN receivers in the end zone on two straight plays and KU settled for a field goal before halftime. You can’t miss opportunities like that and hope to beat OU.
  • KU forced a fumble and then Bean ran it in from 39 yards out on the next play. Only for him to short hop a ball to an uncovered receiver on the two-point attempt. KU was 0–3 on two point attempts for the day.
  • On third and goal early in the fourth quarter Bean scrambled and rather than diving into the end zone, slid, his knee touching just short of the goal line. Just a horrible, horrible mistake. KU Twitter was in full meltdown mode until we noticed the flag on the field. Fortunately Bean was bailed out by a personal foul on OU and Daniel Hishaw gave KU the lead on the next play.
  • On the ensuing kick, KU booted it short, OU fumbled, and the Jayhawks recovered. Hishaw went 20 yards on the first snap to extend the lead, literally high-stepping the last five yards. It was this game’s Monte Cozzens moment. Somewhere in the student section a kid who shares my name was nearly passing out like I did on that day in 1992. Only KU was called for holding. Three plays later came a badly missed field goal. Instead of being up 12, it was still just a five-point game, and OU seemed to have snatched back the momentum.
  • Literally seconds after Fox’s Jason Benetti said that Bean had avoided the mistakes that plagued him in big moments, he threw an interception deep in KU territory. It wasn’t entirely his fault – the ball went through a receiver’s hands – but it was a poor throw. OU took the lead a couple plays later.
  • On the next possession Bean threw a terrible ball for another pick. The game was over, as OU was inside the KU 40 with 2:52 left. I was literally throwing things and cussing. Luckily C and L were gone and S was upstairs getting ready for the party we were going to so I was the only witness.
  • Only in what may be the biggest upset of the day, the Jayhawks had all three timeouts. KANSAS FOOTBALL, which has been taking timeouts at all the wrong times for 15 years, had all three time outs late in a close game. Unbelievable. The defense got two-straight tackles for losses and held on third down. When OU lined up to go for it, a wide receiver – A WIDE RECEIVER – got called for a false start. OU punted.
  • KU had about 2:00 to go 80 yards.
  • After getting two first downs the Jayhawks faced a 4th and 6. Lawrence Arnold got open, hauled in a perfect strike from Bean, and raced 37 yards for the first down. Again, KANSAS FOOTBALL got 37 yards on a fourth down that meant the game against a Top 10 Oklahoma team. Wacky, wild shit.
  • One play later Devon Neal nearly fumbled behind the line but scampered in for the go-ahead score with 52 seconds remaining.
  • Dillon Gabriel had done this shit against Texas earlier in October. I doubt any KU fans were super confident he wouldn’t do it again. I feared the worst. Gabriel completed a 40 yard pass to get in range to take a shot at the end zone on the game’s final play. KU broke up the pass and mayhem ensued. Although even that play was a mess. Instead of knocking the ball down, Kwinton Lassiter tried to pick it off. Which he did out of bounds, but he also gave the OU receivers a shot at the ball. Never easy with this program.
  • Finally, the field was rushed and the goalposts came down.

Whew! What a fucking game. Not sure it was healthy for my heart but the result made it all worth it.

The first KU win over a Top 10 team since the 2008 Orange Bowl.
The first win over Oklahoma since 1997.
The first win at home over a Top 10 team since 1984.
Lance Leipold became the first KU coach to beat both Oklahoma and Texas since the 1930s. Granted, KU and Texas didn’t play for a long, long time. Still he did in three seasons what about 100 other KU coaches couldn’t do in nearly a century.

And the added bonus that the Fox crew was in town for their pregame show. Although no one really watches that, but, still. Urban Meyer said nice things about Kansas, Lawrence, and the program. I know most Americans find him to be of the highest character and his opinions to be unassailable, so you can’t put a dollar value on how much that helps KU going forward.

Oh, and KU will go to a bowl game in consecutive years for the second time in program history.

Pretty fucking cool way to spend four and a half hours of my Saturday.

So, where does this win rank all time?

It is certainly one of the three biggest wins of my life, right up there with winning the Orange Bowl in 2008 and beating Nebraska by 1000 points in 2007.

Honestly, if the team lays a big, fat turd in the last month of the season, much of the luster of this win gets wiped away. But grab two, three, even four more wins and this has a legitimate claim to the #1 spot on that list.

Rock Chalk, bitches.

KU Hoops

Yuck.

A seven-point loss at Illinois in an exhibition game. Illinois controlled most of the game on both ends. KU’s offense was pretty bad. I’ll chalk some of that up to not running anything super complex. But the absolute lack of outside shooting is a major concern because it confirms the biggest fear about this team.

You can’t overreact to an exhibition game, so I won’t. But my go-to complaint all year is going to be wasting a scholarship on a player who arrived with a domestic assault charge and was kicked off the team when he was charged with rape, instead of filling the clear hole that the team had. You can never, ever have too much shooting.

In super exciting news for all college hoops fans, there are now apparently more plays that can be reviewed. Which is awesome! We need to make games last longer because all action stops while the referees stare at a TV screen and try to decide if they want to overrule themselves or not. Based on the reviews in the KU game, referees still can’t figure out how to not spend three minutes reviewing a play that takes the announcers and TV audience no longer than five seconds to see a clear decision. Either go to limited coach’s challenges or just get rid of replay. It is literally the worst.

Did I mention that we beat Oklahoma in football?

NFL

Looks like the Colts are shitty again.

And I guess the Ravens are indeed the best team in the NFL for the moment. Or maybe the Bengals? But probably the Eagles. Sorry for the jinx last week, Chiefs fans.

Other Shit

Cathedral won their football sectional opener 42–2 Friday night. They will have a tougher game this week.

S and I went to dinner Friday with the families we hung out with most over spring break, the first time we had all been together since graduation party season. It was a gorgeous night and we were able to sit outside.

Meanwhile I wore a coat this morning when I took L to school.

The Cathedral boys lost in the state soccer final Saturday, 2–0 to the, now, three-time defending champs.

L’s team had a scrimmage Thursday night. She played about 19 minutes, all in the second half, against a varsity team. She didn’t do much. 0–3 from the field. A rebound and a turnover. Offense was pretty ragged. Not sure she was on the court very much with the girls she’ll play with when the real games start. They have another week of practice to get ready for that.

We went to S’s sister’s house Saturday for their annual Halloween party. It was very odd going without any of our kids. S spent a lot of time on Pinterest coming up with our contribution to the spread.