“KU has lost 26-consecutive true road games and 29 games away from Lawrence overall.”
This is not from a Texas Tech Red Raider fan site lobbing
bricks at the Kansas Jayhawks in anticipation of Saturday’s meeting in Lubbock between two
teams that are 2-4 and 0-3 in the Big 12 (it’s a 2:30 pm CT kick on Fox Sports
Net, I know you’ve already set the DVR).
This is also not a quote from any media outlet that covers
KU, who in the interest of fairness and journalistic integrity note all
relevant statistics, warts and all.
No, this quote is from the one place that is basically
required to spin everything that happens to Kansas football in a positive
light, the weekly media release. By the school. Approved by the program. It is
entirely possible that it is seen by interim head coach Clint Bowen before we
get a chance to see it. And that’s in the weekly media release.
Believe it or not, there is actually some positive spin in
that quote. Did you spot it? It’s the part where it implies that KU really hasn’t
lost 29 consecutive away games, because three of those games are considered “neutral
location” contests.
This, clearly, is the positive spin of a program that if it
isn’t at rock bottom, it can positively reach out and touch it. “We’ve really
only lost 26 road games” is flat-out delusional talk. You’ve lost 29 straight. I
speak now as an alum, owning up to the truth. We’ve lost 29 straight.
I looked it up. KU last won on the road- okay, fine, “away
from Lawrence” on September 12th, Two thousand and NINE. In El Paso,
against UTEP. The final score was 34-7. On
9/12/09, Mark Mangino was still KU’s head coach (it was his last season). Todd
freaking Reesing was the starting QB. And get this- KU was actually ranked. They
were 24th. The win, in the second week of the season, was part of a
five-game win streak to start the ’09 campaign, and coming off their second
consecutive bowl season and win (they beat Minnesota in the Copper Bowl in ’08,
and of course won the Orange Bowl the season before), there was of course
plenty of hope that this was part of the Jayhawks resurgence.
It wasn’t, as you well know. After winning five straight to
start ‘09, KU lost seven straight to end the season. Mangino resigned under
threat of being fired for “conduct detrimental to the university,” although
apparently treating players like dirt is okay when you’re winning.
Then they hired Turner Gill. You may recall how well that
worked. Then they hired Charlie Weis. You know how well that worked. Now we’re
on Clint Bowen. It has been more than five years since KU has won a road game.
This is their last real chance to break the streak this year, because KU’s last
three road games are against currently ranked opponents. And not just ranked
teams, but Top-15 teams (#4 Baylor, #11 Oklahoma, and #14 Kansas State.
Although how the Mildcats are ranked 14th is beyond me. They came
close to Auburn, sure, but they’ve played awful teams otherwise. They’re at
Oklahoma this week, so they oughta be out of the Top-15 the next time the polls
are released). It’s not looking good.
Not to add insult to injury (don’t forget this started with
a quote from a KU-sanctioned press release), but can you recall those three
neutral site games that KU lost that makes Jayhawk staff claim the losing
streak is “really” only 26 games? They weren’t bowl games, obviously. They were
the final three contests against Missouri, at Arrowhead Stadium. To which I
say: Screw Mizzou! (Any excuse to say “Screw
Mizzou!” is a good one.)
Barring some sort of offensive firepower miracle, KU will
lose their 30th consecutive “away from home” game in Lubbock. I don’t
know what the NCAA record is for longest away losing streak, but I feel
confident that the KU media guide will not tell me how close they are to owning
that record. But I’ve been surprised before.
Our proverb around here: Where there's Clint, there's Julie. |
photos courtesy: kansas.com, celebritybabyscoop.com (don't judge, that's where Google search led me)
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