October 14, 2007

Jayhawks just perfect after storm
KU waits out weather delays, then bashes Baylor to go 6-0 and become bowl eligible.

By J. BRADY McCOLLOUGH
The Kansas City Star

LAWRENCE | Justin Thornton expected it would be a long day, but this?

Thornton, a Kansas safety, knew that Baylor would try to throw the ball 50 or 60 times. After all, that’s what the Bears did last year when they came from behind in the fourth quarter to rip out KU’s heart in Waco.

“I remember almost every play that happened that game,” Thornton said.

Turns out, the Baylor passing game wouldn’t be a problem. The Jayhawks intercepted four passes and held the Bears to just 154 yards through the air. It was Mother Nature that made the Jayhawks’ 58-10 drubbing of Baylor on Saturday afternoon feel like it would never end. Two weather delays spanning 2 hours and 15 minutes made a game scheduled to start at 11:30 a.m. end at 5:03 p.m.

“It’s a marathon,” KU athletic director Lew Perkins said during the fourth quarter.

Perkins sounded exhausted. But really, he should be thankful for Mother Nature’s efforts. Something or somebody has to stop the Jayhawks’ momentum at some point, right? And if she can’t do it, who can?

Kansas improved to 6-0, 2-0 in the Big 12 and came out with its best defensive performance of the season. As the Jayhawks leave town for back-to-back games at Colorado and Texas A&M, their faithful have every reason to believe they could come back 8-0. The Jayhawks, with their latest blowout at Memorial Stadium, are already bowl eligible. Not that it matters.

“The kids don’t care,” KU coach Mark Mangino said. “They’ve set their sights so high I don’t even think it entered their mind.”

The Jayhawks prepared all week to erase the memories of last year’s 36-35 loss to Baylor, a game that highlighted their ineptitude against the pass more than any other. KU allowed five passing touchdowns, three in the fourth quarter. The Jayhawks watched film of that game this week, and they could hardly recognize themselves. Same guys, sure. But not the same defense, they swore.

Well, they’d have to wait a while to prove it. It rained all morning in Lawrence, and as game time approached and the thunderstorm showed no signs of going away, a delay was announced. So KU had no choice but to take the pads off and wait. Some players slept. Some listened to their iPods. Some played tic-tac-toe. Despite the 1-hour, 45-minute wait, Mangino didn’t worry about his players letting down.

“This football team’s got a lot invested,” Mangino said. “It’s a mentally tough bunch of kids that have worked hard. They’ve got too much invested.”

At 1:15, the game finally began. But at 1:51, after KU junior Marcus Herford returned a kickoff for a touchdown with 4:08 left in the first quarter, lightning struck again. And no, it wasn’t Herford, though the guy sure can run. KU had just taken the lead 10-3, and it had to leave the field again, this time for a half hour.

“I was kind of frustrated myself,” Thornton said. “It just killed our momentum when we came in.”

The lightning gone for good, it was Thornton who gave the Jayhawks the jolt they needed when they returned. Baylor had the ball at the KU 19, threatening to tie the game. But Thornton picked off a Blake Szymanski pass at the goal line on second-and-4, the Jayhawks’ first of four.

“Most of the day, he stared down his receivers,” Thornton said. “I was able to read his eyes and come up with one.”

Would Thornton, a sophomore, have been able to recognize that last year? Probably not. The experience gained by the KU secondary in some brutal defeats is paying off now.

So is the addition of true freshman Chris Harris as the cornerback opposite Aqib Talib. Like Thornton, Harris read Szymanski’s eyes and intercepted a pass in zone coverage. Safety Sadiq Muhammed and cornerback Gary Green also had picks.

By the end of the longest day they’ll experience all season, the Jayhawks’ defense had proven its point.

“We’ve worked hard for this,” Thornton said. “Last year we thought we could have been in the same position. But this year, we’re really putting the pieces together.”

To reach J. Brady McCollough, Kansas reporter for The Star, e-mail jmccollough@kcstar.com

J. Brady McCollough - jbrady@coveringsports.com (email) - 816-868-2621 (cell)