🏀 KuBuckets Archive

( Keeping it as civil as I possibly can and still call myself a passionate KU fan )

1) I vote STUPID

2) I hope KU never fires HCCW. I giggle every time I see him on the sidelines and realize this guy makes 40 times as much money as I do and, seemingly doesn't know any more about football than I do.

3) If James Sims and Ben Heeney played for just about any other team we'd be referring to them as All-Americans.

4) We just got shut out by Iowa State...............Wow. If we ever do get another coach, maybe we should seek one that is some kind of offensive guru. Maybe with some NFL experience. Someone who kind of specializes in recruiting and developing Quarterbacks. Wait.

How about:

1) Having 5 different sets of jerseys, pants and helmets but no cleats for an icy and hard field??

2) Dumbing down the playbook to the simplest plays and becoming highly predictable.

3) Having a coach state all week that only wind affects the play in regards to weather and getting burned by the weather? Agree that I can't believe he makes 2.5M.

4) The sun was in my eyes (Cozart running out of bounds with a first down one yard away), there was a hole in my gloves (pick any receiver here).........

Tired of seeing little to no heads up play by these so called "coached" players.

One other thing - did anyone else read the LJW article about Gavin Howard tutoring other players (props) and having Sterling state he helps him understand things better on the field. Isn't that what the O-line coach is supposed to do?

Totally frustrated by this game.

I'm going to vent too and try to keep it civil.

The announcers in pre game said we were coming out red hot. So for KU red hot is actually winning a game?!? Especially to a struggling WVU. I'm guessing that ISU is now streaking and blazing hot?

Has anyone that is playing QB or WR ever played those positions before? I watch a lot of football every weekend and I've never seen a team consistently fail to execute a simple pass play like KU can and does. ISUs WR looked like AA compared to ours.

Another problem is that the pass plays we do run are screens...

Do we need to simplify that cadence so we stop with the damn fail starts?

Cozart running out at the 12 when the 1st is at the 11 is mind boggling. The last coaching I had was in high school and I didn't need my high school coach to tell me then that running out at the 12 and not the 11 or 10 is a bad. Not really sure that's a coaching miscue since it's a common sense play!

@nuleafjhawk Love it nuleaf. You've been on a roll recently! I debated several times using one of your MOTD quotes for the frontpage, but it seemed to violate some rule of honest reporting.. I might just attribute one to you :)

@approxinfinity Lol, thanks approx. I really just appreciate that you developed and are maintaining and improving this site so I have a place to vent and practice a little bit of smart-aleckness (That's a word, right?) and to communicate with my brother (and sister) Jayhawk fans. Thanks again!!

I was contemplating the same thoughts Nuleaf as I watched the Badgers playing up in frigid Minneapolis. What if was proven to be a detriment to a team playing in cold weather? Would teams stop doing it?

In support of nuleaf's post, I agree this game was frustrating. Notice that the Defense, which has an earned swagger all its own, are the ones who came out in no-shirt for warmups (Linton+Reynolds), and Heeney and the D-line had short sleeves. Notice is was the WRs who were bundled up like 6yr olds working on making snow angels--> my point is who ended up being embarrassed the most on the field? The WRs, that's who. They cant jump to catch a ball, they cant jump to break up an interception, and they sure as fick cannot catch a ball that hits em in the hands from Jake Heaps (Cozart's arent in the same zip code yet, but he's young...). Watching the ISU WRs catch balls all day in the same weather basically put the nail in the coffin on this group of KU WRs for me (maybe not Josh Ford, and Mundine isnt a WR, and Pierson is out).

Frankly, we've been "stuck" with these WRs all year and it showed itself. Pierson's injuries havent helped. These WRs need to apologize to Weis, Heaps, Cozart & maybe to Dayne Crist as well for not performing to the college level. Dont know what they are doing on a college team, but Nick Harwell and a healthy Pierson are about to put them to shame in a few months time. For next season, we actually have a "reload", or shall I say "up-grade". The WVa win was only because of Mr. James Sims.

I'm so tired of us getting our buts beat every weekend. There's a certain coach at USC that's an interim coach who isn't wanted there, is a heck of a recruiter and wants another shot as a head coach. Anythings gotta be better than what we got now or are we to deep in salaries now to make another change? Or does our AD have to much pride to realize he made a mistake and wont pull the trigger on weis?

I for one have a huge problem with the horrendous condition of the field. I grew up playing football and competing in track and field in the 60's and 70's in winter conditions.

Nothing much you do but accept conditions at jr and sr high football- even colleges back thentried to adjust for conditions

But George Toma changed that for professional football in the 70s with the chiefs and it trickled down to college- and high school since then.

Playing on ice at ISU WAS PLANNED!!!

Tarps have been used for decades to keep water/dew or whatever off the field prior to a competition.

I got a taste of this cr*p in the 70's at a big 8 track championship at Nebraska and the high jump approach-our top rated jumpers had to run through mud because they had long approaches vs short approach Nebraska jumpers, but I won't go into that unless someone wants to have that dialog later.

No way the field has that much ice unless they let it get wet, and very wet and freeze.
Yes, we played badly. But the field was in terrible, terrible shape. As a guy who played in many winter games with old style football shoes- ISU made the field that way on purpose. Yes ,we played poorly, and yes, we should have adjusted prior to kickoff. But I can't remember seeing a field with so much ice on it.

Can anyone else? And with so many games being played every year in the cold by so many teams, doesn't anyone else wonder about these ice rink conditions?

The state of Iowa has the worst weather of any state in the union. I went to school in Minneapolis for awhile, and I had to drive through Iowa whenever I went home to KS to visit. The state had it in for me. Every trip, either going down or coming back I'd hit the worst weather imaginable for the time of year going through Iowa...torrential downpours, fog, sleet, snow, or ice. The ice was the worst; fishtailing going 15 mph on I-70, stopped and slid sideways without any forward motion, just on the grade of the highway. Could not walk back to my truck when I got out to check the conditions. I just couldn't get there...too slippery even to walk. No traction whatsoever. Spent the night at a truck stop, curled up on a doormat like a dog (of course I could have stopped earlier and found a hotel, but I was immortal in my youth).

People in Iowa must be used to such horrible conditions. They must know how to prepare for it, and know how to take advantage of it. @JayhawkRock78, I would not be surprised at all if KU fell victim Saturday to some field prep shenanigans.

Thanks tundra. This morning when I read my rant I realized I came off like I was all sour grapes so I yanked my post.

I will just state again. Yes we stunk it up AGAIN.

BUT, why didn't they use a tarp to keep the field dry before the freezing weather hit?
Because they wanted ice on the field. Such a bush /league move.

Im sure some will disagree with me, but Weis isnt the one dropping balls in "must-catch" situations. When your 5star QB actually had time, and he delivers it on the hands...while the opponent is catching balls in the same weather all over the field...your time is OVER as a WR in this conference (and if you cannot make it as a WR at a dumpster-leg school like KU, then get a degree, son, as you can give up any dreams of earning $$ as a WR. Anywhere.) Turzilli bundled-up like a mother-superior...seems he was most 'sensitive' to the weather. Did he see Linton & Reynolds out there with no shirts? At least they had some swagger on the defense coming off the WVa win. And credit that W to Mr. Sims, not the WRs.

@ralster - It would be hard to disagree with you, even if someone wanted to, because you're right on the money. You know what bothers me the most? I'm getting to the point where I don't really care who our coach is. THAT bothers me. Every year I get jacked up for football and (almost) every year I get bummed out after the second or third game. I'm not even bummed any more. I want my passion back! Two years in a row of 5 star QB disappointments and a stable of what has got to the best running backs in the league aren't really helping us a bit. It's very disheartening.

@JayhawkRock78, you must have yanked your rant when I was composing mine! Sometimes a few sour grapes are hard to avoid.

@nuleaf - Agreed, very, very disheartening. Even with 2 A-rated RBs...there are plays that get blown up or stopped (even happens to a team with 1 Jamaal Charles), and at that point you've got to complete a critical 3rd down by passing--> and that is the point where dozens of our drives (both last year, and this year) have stalled out: no passing game. I think wholesale WR-change is in order...cannot wait to see this Nick Harwell kid on one side, and a healthy Pierson on the other, along with Cox, Mundine...and maybe Coleman or Josh Ford as WR #3. And this year's green O-line will have experience, along with the 5 frosh O-linemen this year who are studying and beefing up...the Defense needs help on the scoreboard from our offense...as they have stopped every opposing team we have played multiple times this season, only to have KU lose games because we couldnt score. The OU game was a 1-possession game until the middle of the 4th qtr. We couldnt say that under Gill. But we are tired of moral victories too. Im hoping we show some fire against KSU. What I dont want to see, is the whole Weis-era cornerstoned on the "talent" of guys like Turzilli, who havent gotten it done in 2yrs. What happened to Heaps vs. IowaSt was exactly what our worst problem all season long has been: No passing game because of WR dropsy. That wont work at any level of football. To quote some KU players' tweets shortly after Weis' arrival: "...damn! He's cutting people (off the roster) like its the League...". Well, I think it is time for round 2 of roster trimming. If you cant produce, you're gone!

Ralster, I agree with you. I dont know any collective group of receivers can be this bad. I think we need to dump almost all of them.

We also need a new receviers coach. They been pretty much worthless for the past 2 years.

@JayhawkRock78, Tom Keegan must have read your post before you yanked it. He has come up with the same conspiracy theory regarding Iowa St icing the field...

<a href="http://www2.kusports.com/news/2013/nov/26/opinion-isu-didnt-conspire-against-kansas)

Was that article written at a bar?

I would add there was a solid white snow/ice lines several inches wide running the length of the field just outside of the hash marks. Those were visible, and you could see players slipping on both sides all over the field. I would fire the grounds keeper,but maybe he had his orders.
Terrible conditions that should not have been there...but ISU executed.

@tundra,
Did I read that you lived in Alaska?

Canada. I'm familiar with ice and snow. I actually live in the city, but do work up on the Arctic tundra a few weeks each year.

ESPN thinks I'm in Alaska, though.