🏀 KuBuckets Archive

Killer penalty there

Herbert looks like a beast right now.

Run game looks good on this drive.

Vegas is predicting approximately a 48-24 game today. WVU is a 24 point favorite and the over/under is 71 points.

KU just become the face of Adidas tonight with the announcement of the 14 year, $191 million extension. It's the 5th biggest per year deal and the richest Adidas deal by about $6 million per year. That's big deal figuratively and literally.

5 year plan to rebuild/renovate the stadium. Adidas is also basically doubling the annual value of the apparel contract with a $191 mil. over 14 year deal. KU now has the 5th richest per year apparel deal in the country and is the richest deal among Adidas programs which means KU is now the face of Adidas college apparel by about $6 million per year. I think Adidas is the right company for now based on being the flagship program the way UCLA is for Under Armour and Ohio St. and Texas are for Nike. Being top dog by that margin is a very deal and I'm excited to see where that partnership goes now that KU is the true face of Adidas.

The renderings for the new stadium look amazing. Thank you David Booth for your continued support of all things Kansas Athletics with your $50 million donation.

WVU over Kansas

Texas Tech over Houston

OSU over TCU

OU over Baylor

Washington over Colorado

Georgia over Mississippi St.

Beaty needs all 5 years on his initial contract regardless of W-L record. KU is still behind on scholarship numbers and firing Beaty at any point before the conclusion of year 5 resets the clock on getting scholarship numbers back to normal.

As for Zenger, if firing him negatively impacts the stadium renovation in any way, it's not worth it. Getting the stadium renovated is the absolute top priority for KU Athletics and preparing for a probable move to the B10 after the Grant of Rights expires.

@DoubleDD KU is doing that with Houston and Illinois. UH was supposed to start this year and I believe Illinois was supposed to start next year. Neither are happening until 2021 I believe.

@MoonwalkMafia The noncon games are scheduled years in advance now. These games we're playing now against Ohio and CMU were scheduled when Turner Gill was still coach. Future FBS games for KU include Rutgers and @CMU next year and home and homes Boston College and Coastal Carolina in 2019 and 2020. Beyond that, I believe there's supposed to be a home and home with Illinois and Houston as well. Everyone of these games were scheduled under Weis or Gill except for Coastal Carolina which is replacing a series KU was supposed to play with Hawaii that Weis scheduled.

As easy as it is to say that KU needs to schedule cupcakes, it's much harder to pull that off because of how far in advance nonconference games are scheduled now.

When KU's series with Duke was scheduled, they were in basically the same boat KU is now so there wasn't any reason to assume Duke was going to get good when the second game rolled around.

KU also can't schedule multiple FCS teams because that pushes bowl eligibility to 7 wins since only 1 FCS win per year counts towards bowl eligibility.

All you can really do is schedule teams that you don't expect to be good and hope they don't improve much by the time that game rolls around in a few years. The only known future opponent that KU should maybe look at getting rid of is UH, but that series has already been pushed back multiple time because it was supposed to start this year with KU coming to Houston this year. That series is now supposed to be in 2021 and 2022 I believe. The rest of these teams KU has scheduled are mediocre at best programs like KU so KU can't do much more without scheduling multiple FCS teams which again means KU would have to win 7 to get bowl eligible.

Even if KU goes 1-11 this year, firing Beaty isn't the answer because of the long term damage that does to KU football and KU Athletics. KU's scholarship numbers are still off and firing Beaty ruins this class and resets the clock on balancing the scholarship numbers. Firing Beaty also means that Zenger is most likely fired as well which would also mean likely losing whatever progress has been made in fundraising towards the Memorial Stadium renovations. Zenger supposedly already has well over $100 million secured which is more than enough to get started on the project. Conference realignment is coming again in a few years when the B12 TV deal expires, KU positioning themselves for the B10 absolutely has to be what everything the athletic department does now builds towards right now and firing Beaty and Zenger after this season does nothing but hurt that progress towards that goal.

Another question to ask is if Beaty does get fired after 3 years, who in their right mind would take the KU job knowing they only have 3 years? Clint Bowen may end up being the only applicant in that case.

Beaty needs the full 5 years of his initial contract just to get the scholarship numbers back in line and show potential future coaches that they'll get a chance to go through a full recruiting cycle.

KU football is a history of players playing for 2 or 3 different head coaches which is a recipe for failure which pretty much describes KU football history post WWII.

@kjayhawks Tech is up 21-3 on Arizona St. after the 1st quarter, they are much better than you think they are.

At least we appear to have a dependable FG kicker finally.

Chase Harrell is starting to emerge as a very good receiver.

Right now, I'd love to see a set with Harrell and Booker on the outside, and Sims and Ben Johnson inside on Booker's side to try and get Harrell some single coverage.

@mayjay That pick was a slant route on a 3 step drop, can't get a ball put much quicker than that.

@mayjay That was 100% on Bender for throwing behind Sims. Seems like every other pass Bender throws is behind his receiver.

@kjayhawks The evidence for Tech this year says they don't suck as much as last year. I'm not calling them contenders because they aren't, I'm saying they're probably going to be a bowl team this year at 6 or 7 wins. The bottom half of the B12 this year is absolute crap. OU, OSU, KSU, and TCU are all 8+ win teams this year. OU and OSU are probably 11 win teams and probably going to play each other twice. WVU, Texas, and Tech are other teams that should reach bowl eligibility this year, and Baylor, ISU, and KU will probably only beat each other and all be a 4 or fewer wins this year.

Torneden is not a D1 player.

@kjayhawks They may not be better at QB this year, but the rest of their team is better overall than last year.

@kjayhawks Have you not seen Baylor play this year? Home losses to Liberty and UTSA already this year. Tech will beat Baylor by at least 30 this season and even with how KU has looked so far this year, KU should beat Baylor this year as well.

@kjayhawks Tech will win between 5 and 7 games this year. They already beat a quality EWU team, should beat ASU today, UH will be a toss up, they're going to crush KU's defense, probably beat ISU at home, beat a god awful Baylor team, and Texas should be a toss up, but we know they're defense is crap too.

RUN A FREAKING BLITZ BOWEN!

@kjayhawks What evidence have you seen that KU's offense can score the 70 or so points it'll take to keep up with Tech's offense? The single game passing record may be in jeopardy in that one because of KU's secondary.

@kjayhawks Based on the one game Tech played, they look much improved from last year. They crushed a very good Eastern Washington program that was ranked #4 in the FCS and probably good enough to beat KU.

I like the following teams:

Ohio over Kansas

OSU over Pitt

WVU over Delaware St.

ISU over Akron

Duke over Baylor

TCU over SMU

OU over Tulane

KSU over Vandy

Tech over Arizona St.

USC over Texas

@kjayhawks That pass that was stolen from Hampton was still thrown into double coverage so it was still a bad decision by Bender to throw it in the first place.

@stoptheflop Stanley has an injured hand/wrist, that's why Starks finished off the SeMo game.

There's 3 big issues that are apparent right now. 2 of them are Peyton Bender. One is his accuracy is really bad. So many throws that are off target, either overthrown or behind receivers. When those two get combined on the same play, we've seen some really bad interceptions from Bender already.

The other issue which we all knew might be an issue this year was the secondary. Almost 500 yards through the air against CMU means it's going to be a long year on defense. Especially if Bowen keeps calling the defense as conservatively as he called it yesterday. I don't remember Bowen running a single blitz which means if he did, they were few and far between. As good as KU's DLine is, Armstrong won't disrupt much when he's double and triple teamed almost every play. Dropping 7 or 8 into coverage means Armstrong and Wise will always be double teamed and our LB's and DB's will be covering for 5+ seconds which will end badly just about every time. Bowen needs to send 5 or 6 on most plays to help out Armstrong and Wise and it should force the opposing QB into throwing before he wants to or get sacked. Thus would help the DB's in coverage because they wouldn't have cover as long and bad throws would also give them a better opportunity at some picks.

Those are the biggest issues that have to be addressed somehow otherwise KU might not win another game this year.

@jayballer54 One good thing is we don't have to worry about our run defense getting lit up this year. Our secondary is going to be torched all year long.

Call a freaking blitz! Can't keep dropping 7 or 8 guys, our secondary outside of Lee isn't good enough to cover for 5+ seconds. Send 5 or 6 and force the QB into some mistakes.

Hampton is a bigger liability than Bender at this point. I don't care if it's cheating at this point, put some stick em on his hands.

@BShark Pretty sure Sims injured his ankle last week.

Of course that ball doesn't go into the end zone.

Bender cannot make throws like that. KU simply isn't good enough to overcome bad giveaways like that.

Coaches do have penalties for leaving a school before their contract is up. They usually have a buyout clause they have to pay the school they are leaving. Occasionally coaches have clauses in their contract for specific schools, but coaches usually have to pay some percentage of their remaining contract to leave. This is why coaches get regular extensions for a long period of time or have a contract that rolls over year to year on how long it lasts. This is to reduce the temptation of a coach leaving.

Should a coach like Cuonzo Martin regularly make lateral coaching moves, they build a reputation as job hoppers and thus does hurt their recruiting. Don't be shocked if the Porters are the only high profile recruits he lands or he is somewhere else in a few years because that's now his reputation.

Coaches do have penalties for leaving schools, but they're different types of penalties since they are paid employees under contract at their school.

I could both the B12 and P12 getting left out. I think Washington overachiever big time last year and I think they lose a couple and I think USC is over rated as well. If that happens, I could see 2/3 of Ohio St., Penn St., and Michigan getting in along with the ACC and SEC champs.

For Week 2, I'll take the following:

Oklahoma St. over S. Alabama

KSU over Charlotte

WVU over ECU

Iowa over ISU

Texas over SJSU

TCU over Arkansas

Kansas over CMU

OU over Ohio St.

Baylor over UTSA

Best game may end up being the TCU-Arkansas game. OU-OSU is going to depend on which Ohio St. team shows up. If it's the one from the 1st 3 quarters against Indiana, OU should be able to win. If it's the 4th quarter OSU team that shows up, then it could be a very interesting game.

The Big 12's decline has coincided with UT's decline in 2009. Regardless of anyone's opinion of UT, the Big 12 has always needed to be competitive nationally because of recruiting. UT being bad has meant that SEC schools that aren't named Texas A&M, LSU, and Arkansas have been able to raid Texas as they please and this has taken away from UT and OU getting the majority of the elite recruits out of Texas. In the first 12 BCS title games (1998-2009), the Big 12 had 7 appearances (most of any conference during that time) and since that 2009 BCS title game between Alabama and Texas, the Big 12 did not appear in any of the final 4 BCS title games and has only made 1 appearance in the 3 College Football Playoffs and that was OU as a 4 seed.

Also, the B12 will be around until the end of their current TV deal which I believe runs through 2024. We'll probably start hearing about where teams may end up after the TV deal is up around 2022, but I don't believe any team will leave early because of the Grant of Rights which wouldn't be worth the cost or time of the legal battle it would take to overturn the GoR.

@stoptheflop When a pass first team plays a more balanced or run first team, the pass first team is rarely going to win the time of possession battle.

Texas A&M went full Texas A&M tonight, holy crap that was painful for A&M. Looks like they're probably getting a new coach after this season.

As for the Big 12 as a whole, Texas Tech probably had the most impressive win this weekend unless WVU beats VT. Eastern Washington is a very good team (#4 in FCS and beat WSU last year) and Tech hammered them.

Biggest disappointment has to be a toss up between Texas and Baylor. I think a lot of people were overestimating what UT would be this year, as 7-8 wins would have been a very good year for them, but now getting to bowl eligibility looks like it'll be a struggle again for them.

Baylor, wow! Trailing Liberty basically the entire game. I think everyone knew a decline was coming, but I don't think anybody expected it to start this year, but this is just a continuation of their fall off a cliff last season so they may be going us and ISU down in the bottom third of the Big 12.

My overall impression of the game is that the defense is about what I thought they'd be. Got plenty of pressure on the QB which is just as important as sacks because that forces a lot of inaccurate throws which we sae plenty of last night from the SEMO QB.

As far as the offense, get used to a minimal running game. KU is moving more towards the Mike Leach style of offense which means about 75% passing and 25% running. Those percentages will change based on scores of games.

Peyton Bender looked okay last night. He was making good reads which is encouraging, I think there was only 2-3 times he made ill-advised passes. The bigger issue with Bender was his accuracy. You can't overthrow intermediate routes in the middle of the field as those will get picked off by safeties playing deep. You so can't throw behind receivers on slants as those will get picked as well.

The OLine appeared improved from last year as Bender had plenty of time to make his reads, but we'll see as the level of competition improves next week.

Penalties were an acceptable level. I'll take 5 for 49 yards every game right now.

The turnovers are the biggest concern. Both of Bender's picks were completely on Bender making an innacurate pass and making a bad decision on the other. The fumble is one that should never happen and hopefully we don't see Tyler Patrick returning kicks or punts again this year.

Moos was just as solid as last year punting so no worries on that aspect. Punt coverage is another story though. STAY IN YOUR LANES! KU will give up multiple punt returns this year unless the coverage unit gets it together in a hurry. Kick off coverage was good on the one chance I saw. Speaking of that, WE HAVE A KICKER! Rui sending kickoffs through the endzone, looking very solid on PAT's and on his FG attempt. His leg also looked good enough that KU should feel comfortable sending him out anywhere within 45 yards. And the best part is that he's only a freshman so hopefully we have a solid, and more importantly, reliable kicking game for the next 4 years.

@stoptheflop With KU's defense, they're not going to be a dominant defense, they're built to be a bend but don't break defense because that's what's proven to be most effective against spread offense. Yardage is never going to be the best measuring stick of this defense. 3rd down %, Red Zone TD's, TO's, and PPG are going to be tgthe e measuring sticks.

YPG on both defense and offense has always been the most overrated stat in football to me.

How about Turner Gill about to beat Baylor!?!?

And Tyler Patrick is done as a retuner, or at least should be.

@mayjay Houston has always been the one city that UT and the Big 12 have never had a lock on because of OSU. Texas and Big 12 used to basically have a fence around the rest of the state. We need Texas to return to form to lock down the rest of the state again and SEC is limited to Texas A&M and LSU getting some Houston guys.

@kjayhawks It doesn't matter how much someone hates UT, bottom line is the Big 12 needs Texas to be good in football. It's not a coincidence the Big 12 has not been competitive on a national stage since UT started their decline after the 2009 season. That's when the Big 12 lost their dominance in recruiting Texas and the recruiting rankings and on field results reflect that as well.

The Big 12 needs UT to get back to title contender status ASAP.

Maryland's looking really good right now. I got laughed at by suggesting Texas was a winnable game for KU this year, but not looking completely unrealistic at this point. Obviously doesn't mean I think KU will win, but UT still has most of the same players from last year and they weren't a good team last year. It's going to take Hermann a couple of seasons to get UT rolling again.

@mayjay I'm from Houston, I'm a Texans fan. The QB situation here is that Savage will start until he gets injured or until DeShaun Watson is ready in a few weeks, maybe after their bye in Week 7 if not sooner. Watson will end up starting in Houston at some point this year.

@mayjay Don't you put that evil on me.