I planned on taking most of this week off from blogging. But Tuesday’s bizarre shitshow of a football game that was the Guaranteed Rate Bowl[1] required me to share a few words about the mighty Kansas Jayhawks winning nine games for the first time since the 2007 season. I mean, I was up until 1:45 AM, and then struggled to sleep, because of this stupid game and its aftermath. I’m going to have some thoughts.
The lead up to the game should have been a hint of where we were headed. First Dominick Puni announced he would not be playing in the game to prepare for the NFL Draft. What a rise for a kid who was barely recruited to Central Missouri then got hurt and received an offer from KU based on one game’s tape. He was first team All Big 12 and is going to have a long NFL career if his body cooperates.
Also out was Bryce Cabeldue because of injury. So KU would be missing both offensive tackles. But the team actually had depth on the line for the first time ever, and a month to prepare. That did not worry me.
Then my Indy homie Austin Booker, also a first team all conference player, announced he would not be playing. Again the assumption is he is declaring for the draft, although there are rumors he could come back. He was KU’s best and really only consistent pass rusher and I thought his absence could be huge against a very good offensive team like UNLV.
Finally, hours before the game, news broke that Devin Neal had told coaches he would be coming back for his senior year. Huzzah! More on him in a bit.
Then the game.
I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a game like it.
KU played amazing for roughly two-thirds of the game, good enough to rack up 49 points on six Jason Bean touchdown passes, with Lawrence Arnold and Luke Grimm both catching three. Grimm ripped off 160 yards on four catches. FOUR! Arnold making one of the best catches you’ll ever see for his first touchdown, only to be topped by Quentin Skinner one possession later. KU had touchdown drives that went for 98 and 99 yards. They had four scoring plays of 40 yards or more, two coming on fourth downs.
When KU was good Tuesday, they were awesome.
But KU also set school records for most total penalties and penalty yards in a game. A team that had been penalized 55 times through 12 games got hit for 18 accepted penalties for 210 yards. Which would have been fine, if it weren’t for several of those calls being very strange. A personal foul when there was no contact between anyone on KU and UNLV after a Cobee Bryant interception. A face mask call against KU that came very late and when replay showed it wasn’t close to a face mask. Then a non-call when Devin Neal had his face mask grabbed and the official literally laughing in his face when he complained. Another personal foul when replay showed two UNLV players hitting a KU lineman, who was flagged for responding. There was a stretch in the second quarter when it seemed like every play was followed by a flag, usually on KU.
What made these calls even worse was the absolutely awful ESPN coverage, which rarely showed a replay of the alleged offense. Even when they did show a replay – like on the phantom face mask against KU – the announcers somehow agreed with the call. “There you see he grabs his face mask and doesn’t let go…” when the replay shows the Jayhawk with a handful of jersey and no part of the helmet. Just maddening.
Now that you can gamble on everything, there were degenerates all over the country who had no loyalty to KU other than their money riding on a KU win screaming on Twitter about crazy, inexplicable calls going for the team from Las Vegas. One guy from Ohio took it very seriously and claimed it was one of his best gambling wins ever, overcoming the “crooked” refs who tried to steal the game. We live in weird times.
When the announcers kind of suck to begin with, the production of the game is a C- at best, and your team seems to be getting screwed, it takes all the fun out of watching. I had to switch TVs and chairs. A few friends I had been texting with totally stopped. I eventually muted the TV and had the KU radio broadcast on my phone. I couldn’t get it exactly synced up, but it was better than listening to the ESPN fools.
Switching to radio was a true revelation. They actually broke down plays, provided context, and explained to listeners what was going on, unlike the banal chatter you heard on ESPN. KU analyst David Lawrence suggested that the refs had got into the entire KU team’s head, and they needed to calm down and just play when a 21-point lead shrunk to just four points. Which they finally did and blew the game open. I would suggest the refs got into all our heads. Hell, I think they got into their own heads.
Thank goodness this game was meaningless or I might really have been worked up!
The game kind of summed up Jason Bean’s career. Some brilliant throws in the first half, followed by three horrible throws that were all picked off and let UNLV back into the game. Then a stunning fourth quarter where he picked the defense apart with three surgical throws. The knock on Bean before this year was his inaccuracy and his lack of instincts. He made himself a hell of a lot better this year, dialing in the location on his throws and rarely missing guys by ten yards the way he had in the past. He has a highlight reel full of pin-point deliveries this year. His instincts were still a little suspect, but the KU coaches learned how to put him in positions where success was much more likely. Like so many KU fans, this kid became one of my all-time favorites this year with how he battled, how he shook off failure, those big moments, and how emotionally and honestly he handled moments like beating OU and winning a bowl game. A true Jayhawk legend.
So nine wins, which is pretty awesome. The first bowl win since 2008. Eight of eleven staters on offense return, although the departing players all played huge roles and will not be easily replaced. But fill in those holes on the offensive line, find a pass rusher, let the depth in the secondary fill in for Kenny Logan (another KU legend), bring Cobee Bryant back, find a kicker, keep any key contributors from being poached by higher level schools, and get Jalon Daniels healthy and the Jayhawks are a legitimate Big 12 contender next year.
To be sure, those are a lot of To Dos for the offseason. For the first time in decades, though, KU’s list of questions for next season are no longer than the teams they’ll be playing against each week in the Big 12.
Finally, this lady stole my shirt idea. I really need to find one. She knows what’s up.
