Weis, Jayhawks turn focus to Baylor
- Oct. 30, 2012
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For the Kansas Jayahwks football team, Sunday is not a day of rest.
After every loss this season, the Jayhawks have been able to use the Sunday practice to wash away the negativity of the previous week and get back to work. But after losing to Texas on a last-second touchdown, this loss was a little harder to shake off.
“There’s no hiding this is the most disappointed we’ve been all year,” coach Charlie Weis said on Monday’s teleconference call. “That was the feeling walking in the building and at least by the time they left practice they had gotten that kind of out of their system.”
With a clear system it becomes easier to look back on a game that should have been won. James Sims continued dominating Big 12 defenses, gaining 176 yards on Saturday. Redshirt freshman quarterback Michael Cummings made some big time completions under pressure, and the Jayhawks’ defense forced two turnovers, while limiting the Longhorns to just 21 points.
Weis and the team only care about wins and losses though, but if they were looking to see progress out of this year’s squad, they don’t need to look any further. After all, Kansas got whipped by Texas last year, losing 43-0 and only gaining 46 yards in Austin.
“Are there silver linings? Yes there are,” Weis said. “But it still comes down to you lost 100 in a row in the Big 12 and you need to beat somebody so you can start moving that trend in another direction.”
Texas coach Mack Brown said he fully expects the Jayhawks to beat somebody at home this season. With Iowa State the only remaining game at Memorial Stadium, Brown didn’t need to be any more clear. Yet before the Cyclones visit Lawrence on Nov. 17, Kansas has to make two trips to the state of Texas, starting with Baylor.
The Bears might be on a four-game losing streak, but it’s not because they aren’t scoring. Baylor averages 44-points per game and has the nations best passing game. For good measure, Kansas ranks 58th in pass defense. Instead the problem for the Bears is a defense that has taken the Jayhawks’ title of being the worst in the FBS, allowing more than 550 yards per game.
“The games they’ve lost has been greatly attributed to a large number of turnovers,” Weis said. “If we can’t get turnovers we’ll be in a little bit of danger, cause we haven’t exactly been lighting up the scoreboard.”
It would seem that Dave Campo has more work to do than Weis this week. Kansas may have caught it’s first break on offense, but the threat of Baylor’s passing game should be enough to keep the Jayhawks focused.
Even though Baylor and Kansas are both searching for conference wins this season, the Bears ability to put up a lot of points makes them dangerous to every opponent. Just ask West Virginia and Texas, who allowed 63 and 50 points respectively to Baylor. The difference is that those teams had the offensive firepower to overcome it. Meanwhile Kansas is only averaging 17 points per game, and will need to be able to keep up with Baylor if they score in bunches.
“They’ve got such great offensive firepower and there’s been a lot of shootouts,” Weis said. “Shootouts really aren’t advantageous to us. We’re going to have to change the mentality of the game for us to have a chance of winning.”
