Barack Obama in Berlin / credit Matthias Winkelmann (click photo for location)

HOLD ON THERE BIG FELLA
Okay Barack, I'm know you've got a little power surge after taking the formidable John McCain down in the presidential beauty pageant. Cheers. And hey, we're all on board with a system that makes sense for determining a college football champion -- the mysteriously named "playoff system." However, why not warm up with some solveable problems like social security, immigration, terrorism or the current economy? Maybe try your luck going up against organized crime or Iran first. You know even Texas plays a weak non-con to get ready for the real season.

After such a bold claim, it's clear our hoopster president just isn't familiar with the N.C.A.A. Friend, they don't play around and they certainly aren't going to let you break their closed good-old-boy bowl network. Keep your eyes to the sky and watch for black helicopters because I'm pretty sure they're building a file on you.

It was a good call later claiming that is was a joke, that'll at least stall any type of call for a "re-vote" as pro-BCS parties are claiming a non-disclosure of a key platform. Of course, a re-vote might result in a true landslide based on this issue alone. Still, these guys aren't easily fooled. They're watching and their friend ABC/ESPN is probably putting on the foil right now. We're behind you, just tread lightly -- didn't you see Colors? You can't run down the hill after the bull.

Reference: Josh Levin / The Slate | Newsday

Talib in 2006 / credit annependleton (click photo for her site)

TALIB, WE MISSED YOU ON SENIOR DAY

“The biggest issue for us is that we were able to have a corner last year that we could put on an island and therefore help the other corner, which solidified our pass defense. And we’re not able to do that this year. And that’s the No. 1 problem.”

The new KUsports.com posted this info from Mark Mangino that we pretty much already knew. Still, the big man frames it well. I vote we get a new corner like Aqib, heck maybe even two. Who's with me? Otter? D-Day, Bluto?

Seriously, aren't you a little bit concerned about the Hawks as they head into conference play?

My simple answer is KU fans have too much of a "worried Kansas farmer" mentality. You think too much about the future and whether or not it's going to rain. We're 3-1 and we can beat Iowa State. Those top 10 games are a lifetime away and believe me -- Mangino will have us ready to play each and every one. If that's not enough consider the following four concepts:

1) This game is about execution and confidence. Our young guys are getting better at a faster rate then you think and the biggest thing right now is to take out a conference opponent and get to 4-1. Winning becomes a habit and it was good to have SHSU after that showcase game in South Florida. All the focus should be on Iowa State and getting a critical road win in the division to start the real season. I think you'll be surprised at how much a win at ISU will help the confidence of the young players.

2) Todd Reesing is 15-2 as a starter. Some people are basically saying he'll go 1-4 or 0-5 in the big games this year? On top of that a lot of people have called him the fifth best QB in the league. I think TR is pretty balanced in his approach, but this is a competitive environment and I think he likes to finish on top. I'm not betting against this guy.

3) Jeff Spikes and Jeremiah Hatch are going to be good. Jocques Crawford is going to be good. I happen to think Angus Quigley is already good. We know what Jake Sharp can do when utilized properly. It's a matter of time before the running game breaks out again. In my opinion, teams right now are absolutely committed to taking away our run simply as a mental tactic. They know our staff wants to be balanced and they want to get in Ed Warriner's head. Eventually, teams will tire of getting roasted by Todd Reesing.

4) Seems like I've been talking about the pass rush since 2006. Actually, I have. Here's where I stand right now. We underappreciate what Russell Brorsen and John Larson do as run game defensive ends. I don't want to come off negative about that pair in any way. I feel they need a pass rush specialist to compliment their game. This year, I felt like someone between Jeff Wheeler, Maxwell Onyegbule and Jake Laptad would step up. I haven't given up on that and right now I'm giving the edge to Jake Laptad. Re-watching the games it seems like he is just percentage points away from being in the QBs face on a much higher number of plays.

Why aren't the other KU sports blogs included in your KU football news feed?

Well, I used to have Rock Chalk Talk in there because they had a really nice feed specific to football. The main answer is that I'm trying to filter out non-football stories. However, both sites have been so heavily oriented to football recently that I've put them back in at least through the Big 12 Championship. Also, they're always in the Big 12 Portal feed. 

Kind along the same lines of the overall community, I had to drop a few links for SB Nation sites after they did there upgrade a long while ago. Some of them linked Hawk Digest back in but others kind of dropped the ball. 

Other Items This Week:

USC Goes Down
The Trojans lose 27-21 at Oregon State. Could be the start of another wacky season in the wonderful new world of college football parity.

39,000 Season Tickets for KU
Up 8,000 over the 31,000 season tickets from 2007. I'm ready to exand Memorial. 

“When the kids come out of the locker room and there’s people in the stands or on the hill, it really does play a factor. The crowd makes a difference. Now, if we can get them to stay here the whole time, it will be even better.”
--Clint Bowen

http://www.kansan.com/stories/2008/sep/25/season_ticket_sales_set_record/?news

Capacity Average Attendance
Tim Griffin posted a chart showing KU as #3 in Big 12 attendance based on percentage of capacity.
http://myespn.go.com/blogs/big12/0-2-178/Attendance-booming-across-the-Big-12.html

The first question was dropped in the forum by our ROWYHO editor. Actually, it wasn't so much a question as it was a beleaguered plea for justice. Apparently Fox Sports is still living in 2007 and thinks it's still the fashion to bash KU's 2008 football schedule (along with Mizzou and Ohio State among others). KU comes in with the seventh "easiest" schedule. My first thought was that I bet I could come up with at least seven BCS schools that should absolutely be on the list before throwing KU out there. I quickly went to work with the old Playbook.  I used the criteria of any BCS teams that didn't face at least one BCS non-con. Here's your result:

Arizona -- Idaho, Toledo, @New Mexico
Indiana -- W. Kentucky, Murray St, Ball St, Central Michigan
*LSU -- Appalachian St., Troy, North Texas, Tulane
Minnesota -- N. Illinois, @Bowling Green, Montana St., Florida Atlantic
Mississippi State -- @LA Tech, SE Louisiana, Middle Tennessee St
*Texas Tech -- Eastern Washington, @Nevada, SMU, UMASS
*Wisconsin -- Akron, Marshall, @Fresno St, Cal-Poly

Teams with the asterisk were already on the Fox list. With that data, KU should at least rank no higher than #11. In fact, the Jayhawks are in the following select group of BCS teams that took on at least one ranked BCS opponent:

Virginia -- USC
Ohio State -- USC
Washington -- OU
Cincinnati -- OU
ASU -- Georgia
Miami, FLA -- Florida, Florida State
Illinois -- Missouri
Arkansas -- Texas
Clemson -- Alabama
West Virginia -- Auburn
Kansas -- South Florida
NC State -- South Florida
USC -- Ohio State
Oregon State -- Penn State
Syracuse -- Penn State
Purdue -- Oregon
Baylor -- Wake Forest
Ole Miss -- Baylor
South Florida -- Kansas
Colorado -- W. Virginia, Florida State
Illinois -- Mizzou
Alabama -- Clemson

What's up with the constant parade of fans walking up and down the aisles during the game?
You said it. Listen Joe KU football fan, I understand there are basic necessities required to cheer on the Hawks. I know you've got a small bladder filled up by that trash-can sized Coke you just shot-gunned. I know about the possibility of starvation if you don't get to the concession stand for nachos, cotton candy and a hot dog. I know about needing that halftime brewsky. However, if you've got to make an exit, use the aisles between plays. It's just a quick pause, then go, go, go ...

Actually, I'll go a little farther. Can't the ushers get involved and keep the aisles clear during the play? It's not that big of a deal, they do it at pro sporting events. If we're charging $60-$85 a ticket, then I think you can act like a "pro" event staff.

KU Sells Out For Sam Houston St?
I love it when a plan comes together. Selling out for an FBS school after a tough road loss? Sure, Band Day helps, but like the Jayhawk football program, it appears that the fans are also turning the corner. Let's start talking about finishing out that bowl. 

Credit: davierae (Flickr CC)

What concerns you most about the matchup with South Florida?
Brian Hanni and David Lawrence tipped me off to this factor. USF is very tall all across the defense -- including the secondary (6-1, 6-4, 6-2, 6-0). Of course, we know that a tall defensive line means -- the o-line has to create lanes for Todd Reesing. However, the bigger concern is that the Bulls could go ahead and stack the box like FIU and LA Tech to stop the run. Those teams fell to KU, but they held the Jayhawks well under their scoring average, so the strategy isn't necessarily a failure.

That leaves the USF secondary matched up in a lot of one-on-one with our talented wide receiver unit. Bigger DBs means more tie-ups at the line. So, as high as I am on our young set of wide receivers, I think their challenge this week will be escaping their cover man in individual matchups. If they can do that, we are good. It'll be a nice test and great experience for the OU game.

Also, consider that USF may be able to slow our running game with just a base defense. Stopping the run is what they do. Oregon went crazy on them last year in the bowl game (353) but prior to that they were only allowing 112 yards on the ground per game (131 ave after Oregon). In our 2006 game with the Bulls, they held us to our second lowest output of the year at 118 yards and our lowest ypc of 3.4. That was of course, the year of Jon Cornish.

Still, I like what Angus Quigley has been doing and I expect improvement in the run game this week. I also think rotating three backs will be good for Jocques Crawford as you sometimes gain perspective from the sideline.

What's your take on the students' profanity laced kickoff cheer?
The lady that sat next to me for the FIU game asked me what the students were chanting. I told her. She seemed pretty offended. I guess it's the profanity, because no one has any problems with the "hit 'em again, harder, harder" cheer. I suppose it's not the best example of sportsmanship out there, but it is college and there is a certain level of rowdiness that all students feel the need to strive for -- I mean D-Day, Otter and Bluto set the bar pretty high. I say it's all in good fun and on occasion in life you'll be exposed to a little profanity from young kids. Try to not to let it bother you.

One thing though, I believe in the tradition of Michigan hockey, the students are supposed to add another line or word to the phrase each year -- sort of a senior class gift.

Why do I have to see a Kansas State Ringtones ad everytime I come to Hawk Digest?
For the love of all that is sacred and holy isn't that about the most disappointing item to see each day as you tune into the only website on Earth dedicated solely to Kansas Jayhawk football. It's a necessary "evil" though. Google ads key off of words in the site and "Kansas" and "football" conjure up the old KSU ringtone ad. Evidently the Wildcat fans are still into buying ringtones. Good for them, we need the revenue here ... hoping to hit 100k this year. NOTE -- You can get Nebraska ringtones on the Big 12 Portal page. 

This one arrived a few weeks ago, but it was during the season previews.

Dear Hawk Digest,

Last night Alisha was talking to her step-dad (a huge lifelong Husker fan). Alisha mentions that we are going to try to go to the KU football rally tonight, and he immediately says let me talk to Randy.

He goes on to pose the following question. “Let me ask you this. If your football program has or is a “tradition”, why would you need to advertise to sell tickets?” Apparently, he heard a KU football radio advertisement that made some reference to “join the tradition , get your KU football tickets now!”

His argument was that you can’t call your program a “tradition” after one nice season of football. “Tradition” means your football program is so consistently good that your tickets sell themselves. A “tradition” is selling out nearly 300 consecutive games over umpteen years….See Nebraska.

I was caught off guard and extremely annoyed by his blatant attempt to tick me off just because he could. But, I tried to defend anyway.

I tried to make the argument about KU football and not Nebraska, because I think we can pretty much agree that Nebraska football is a tradition. I tried to use a generic definition of tradition. “Something that you do over and over again.” Just like it might have been my childhood tradition to eat a hamburger dinner every Saturday night growing up, KU has fielded a KU football team every Saturday since what, 1890? I tried to argue that success does not make a tradition, and he argued otherwise.

Frustrated, I ask him why would you start sh*t at 10:00 at night. Then, I just went on to say 76-39, see ya later putz!

His query ticked me off, but it was thought provoking. So, I’m interested in your take?

Sincerely,
Married into the wrong family in Lenexa


Dear Married/Randy,

Your mother-in-law must be involved in one of those May/December romances as it is pretty clear your father-in-law is about 22 years old. That must be weird for you.

For starters, your defense is perfectly acceptable. Tradition is not necessarily defined by winning. Still, KU has put together winning seasons over the decades just often enough to keep a KU football fanbase viable and eternally hopeful. Plus, as bad as it has been at times, the campus stadium with the view of Campanile has always made Kansas football games an awesome experience. It's easier to see now with capacity crowds on hand rockin' the joint, but it's always been there for those that could tough out some heartbreaking seasons.

Speaking of which, the old warhorse -- Memorial Stadium, represents a pretty big part of the KU tradition for me. Without opening up my media guide, it was built in the 1920's and actually expanded to seat 50k in the 1960's. That kind of capacity is middle of the pack now, but the fact that interest was that high forty years ago says something in itself. I know other programs that were playing in 30k stadiums into the 90s before expanding to 50k. A couple more bowl trips and Memorial will expand to over 65,000.

I've seen the college football venues that Notre Dame, Michigan, Mizzou, KSU, Florida State, Northwestern and TCU play in and I still contend that Memorial Stadium is my favorite football stadium. To me, it represents everything that a football stadium should be. Of course, I am biased and I know that's debatable even among KU fans, but I'll stand by that one until the end.

I should also mention Gale Sayers, John Riggins, Ray Evans, Fielding Yost, Don Fambrough, Pepper Rodgers, Nolan Cromwell, Don Carlos and on and on as part of the KU tradition. Put up against Nebraska football though, that doesn't hold too much weight. However, throughout the years, I've always been told about how great Nebraska fans are. My contention is that it's pretty easy to be a fan when you're smoking through the conference in an unbalanced competition. Put an NFL team in Omaha and start up a Nebraska State University back the middle of the last century and then I'll buy in.

So, I do have to admit that it's been during this decade that Nebraska fans have actually impressed me. Will you show up when the team is brutal? Oddly enough, the Corn fans still showed up to games and kept the sellout streak alive.* In fact, I was probably most impressed to see scattered pockets of Husker fans at Memorial Stadium near the end of last year's 76-39 beatdown.

Or, if you want an easy out, you can tell your croquet-challenged father-in-law:

"Tradition is as tradition does, Mr. Lollapalooza."

Good Luck!

*With a little corporate help, here and there.

What do you want more -- Big 12 title or a National Championship?

Both.

Or, I could go with the National Championship because it probably means we took the Big 12 Championship along the way.

If I'm truly honest though, I'm pretty fixated on a Big 12 Championship. With the media and blog world giving us less of a chance of winning the north this year than last,* I'd really love to take the division and win that title game in Kansas City.** Plus, thinking about the MNC popularity contest, it's really so out a team's control, you obviously think about that national picture more in November (or maybe after Sept. 12 in our case). The conference title makes a lot more sense. You play some exhibition games, then you head into your conference and battle it out. A poor game here or there shouldn't knock you out of the title game.*** Anyway, I like the simplicity of the Big 12 race -- it's all decided on the field. Plus, 1968 was too long ago.

*Seriously, a 6-6 team that lost Jon Cornish, the interior of the offensive and would be guided by a new sophomore starting QB got more talk about winning the north than this 12-1 squad with 9 starters back on "D" and a proven "big-time" QB. I long for the optimism of August 2007.

**Reminds me -- I need to get my tickets.

***Actually, I think it did last year. Although, I guess I have to give Missouri some of the credit. 

Jayhawk Football 101: Why do KU football fans call Terry Allen "Gameball?"

I'm thinking the "Sound and the Fury" department is starting to serve as both a reader mailbag and a FAQ. Once it gets deep enough, it may merit a link on the left. So, we have a real softball today with the Terry Allen question. Every KU fan knows this one, but let's put it out there as a service to other college football fans.

Despite being a really nice guy with a weird haircut and excessive mucus, Terry Allen turned out to be the wrong guy to coach a Big 12 football program (maybe that's over the top, he might be able to maintain a winning record at UT). Anyway, shortly after guiding the KU football program into oblivion and being dismissed in the later part of the 2001 season, Iowa State's Dan McCarney gave the former "Northern Iowa QB Legend" a job as an assistant. Circle around to the 2002 season. Mark Mangino kicks off his era at Jack Trice Stadium. Mangino was essentially entering a knife fight with a soggy milk carton. Iowa State warmed up the week prior with a near miss against Florida State (31-38). Anyway, ISU pounded KU 45-3. Yes, 45-3.

McCarney then awarded Terry Allen the gameball -- I guess because he was treated so badly at KU. Thereafter, Terry Allen was known as "Gameball" in Lawrence.

So, do you believe in football Karma? Iowa State went 2-10 in 2003. A record that matched KU's 2002 output.