Inside the Tent: Kansas State 17, Kansas 10

[DJ Goodwin]

FROM THE DEN IN CLAY CENTER
We've seen this game four straight weeks now, so analysis is pointless. The only thing I can say is this should be noted -- Toben Opurum, two carries, seven yards.

IS IT REALLY THAT HARD?
Eight seasons -- zero trips to the Big 12 Championship game. Bill Snyder is gone for three years and in less than a year he has the Wildcats right there. They should be able to handle Mizzou at home, then they'll battle it out with Nebraska in Lincoln. Welcome to 1997.

LAB COAT PLEASE
For KU fans, all we can really do now is start to dissect the 2009 season and what went wrong. In fact, I think football coaches, media and fans across the nation should take a look at this one as a cautionary tale. The best way to go is chronological order:

1) The Jocques Crawford/Ben Lueken incident. We don't really know what happened, but it comes just months after Kerry Meier has emphatically stated that, "championships are won in the offseason." So, right off the bat, we get a nice distraction for the spring.

2) Spring practice goes on, but Mark Mangino realizes we have problems with the defense. This will be admitted to the media sometime around the Colorado game. There's an older gentleman in Manhattan who probably felt the same way about his defense in the spring.

3) Despite the scores, once the 2009 season starts it's clear that something is off with the offense. The competition is lightweight so it's hard to see, but the cohesion is not there. Glitches occur in the red zone, penalties. Of course, there are signs that we have the usual issues in pass coverage on the defensive side.

4) Again, we'll never know all the ins and outs of the alleged conflicts with the basketball team, but I'm not sure how you could have created a greater distraction. KU survives against Southern Miss, but we start to see that the offense has lost it's killer instinct.

5) Third and two against ISU to ice the game and a short pass hits the field late in the fourth quarter. KU survives, but now the Jayhawk nation is on full alert. Most of the ire is directed at the defense.

6) Mangino makes an un-expected/un-characteristic plea for Todd Reesing to be in the Heisman race -- bizarre in the fact that with the lack of excitement in this year's race, he would have vaulted there with a pair of wins against CU and OU.

7) First half of the Colorado game. The nightmare begins. We essentially give CU 14 points with drives that start at our one- and three-yard lines. A second half comeback attempt fails (twice) and of particular note is that the defense, despite a better performance gives up the key game-winning drive in the fourth quarter.

8) From there, you pretty much repeat the Colorado game over and over, but note that the defense is starting to struggle with the run and the offense continues to decline.

So now, we have to remember that the key to our culture is to assign blame and administer punishment. It's important to quickly dis-associate yourself from failure. That's the shallow view. Mistakes were made here, but it took a collective effort. I think the fact that Kerry Meier made his statement about championships shortly after the Insight Bowl is more telling now. Meier is a competitor and I wonder if behind that statement was an implication that not all of his team-mates had put in the necessary work for the 2008 season and he didn't want that to carry over. Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but when I see the way carry Meier carries himself now, I don't necessarily see a guy that believes in this team.

Again, maybe it's not that complex. Maybe it's the simple fact that the competitive fire just isn't burning quite as bright as it did earlier for the seniors. That's not a criticism, it can just be the nature of the game. Football is built to wear you down mentally and physically. Nothing will take away the fact that these guys took us on a great ride. We wanted to see them go out on top, but sometimes that just doesn't work out. I think those guys gave us their best and they've certainly left the program in better shape than where they found it.

CONSIDERATIONS FOR THE FUTURE
-The trip to Manhattan should be a reminder for Mark Mangino that the foundation is defense. The 2007 unit was workman-like and got the job done, but we've not seen a championship grade defense here since 2005.
-Running an offense that counts on the QB to operate at an excellent level at all times is risky. We used to be a balanced unit.
-This is going to sound overly critical. I'm still on board here, but have to admit I preferred the less free-wheeling Mark Mangino approach to the media. The Heisman talk is well, you-know, a bad idea no matter what. Admitting known issues about the defense in retrospect is kind of my job. And, it's nice to know where you are focusing your attention as far as the units go, but I can't help but wonder what our high-powered assistants are doing with their time. Maybe, I'm off target on that, but just thought I'd get it out there.

UP NEXT
Senior day at 2:30 against Nebraska. Since this was supposed to be the game, this will be a bitter pill to swallow. Still, every KU fan should be on hand to witness the end of the era at Memorial Stadium.

[DJ Goodwin]

Era = Reesing, Meier, Stuckey, Sharp, Briscoe. No matter how disappointing this season has been, the accomplishments are still there.

[Chris Scannapieco]

What do you mean the end of the era?

[Kevin Eaton]

Dylan good post. Does KU have enough in them to win 2 out of their last 3 games to get selected for a bowl. 6 wins in not enough. My gut feeling is no.