College football and
the Big 12 is in its third week of the season. This week I went to see KU versus TCU at
Memorial Stadium in Lawrence, Kansas.
The game was close all day long until near the end. KU put up a great fight against the 16th
ranked TCU. I have included a photo of KU welcoming TCU to the Big 12.
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In the first quarter, KU won the coin toss and decided to
start on defense first. In the
beginning, it looked like KU was about to let the game get out of hand early with
the way TCU started on offense. KU lined
up against TCU near the goal line and TCU’s center, James Fry, hiked the ball
low to quarterback, Casey Pachall. This
resulted in a fumble due to Pachall not being able to handle the ball, which
resulted in KU recovering the ball. This
was a great momentum shift for the start of the game for KU. KU took the ball down the field and kicked a
field goal to make it 3-0 at the 8:45 mark of the first quarter. After the field goal, KU’s defense came out
on the field and held TCU on the drive.
This was great to see, because KU prepared well for TCU all week and it
showed. After the defense of KU game
back on the field, they forced a fumble and recovered the ball. The momentum looked like it was in KU’s favor,
but then the offense came back on the field for KU. Quarterback,
Dayne Crist, threw an interception and gave the ball right back to TCU. After that, the momentum started going back
to TCU. This is something KU cannot do
against the other Big 12 teams, because they have to make the most out of the opportunities
that are given to them. This is where KU’s
defense could not handle the quickness of TCU and TCU quickly scored a touchdown
to make it 7-3 at the 4:20 mark of the first quarter. Then KU went back on offense and started a
drive. The end of the first quarter came
and KU had to make the decision to go for it on 4th and 1 or kick
the ball. At the end of the first
quarter the score was 7-3 TCU.
At the start of the second quarter, KU decided to go for
it on 4th and 1 and they converted it to make it 1st and
10 at the TCU 26 yard line. KU had a
great drive, but then started going the wrong way. I say this because at the 14:33 mark of the
second quarter, KU committed a holding penalty.
KU just could not keep the drive going and quickly it was a fourth down. KU tried for a 45 yard field goal and did not
score. TCU’s offense got the ball back
and started to drive the ball down the field.
I have to say that KU’s defense was doing a great job of open field
tackling on the TCU drive and only let them get minimal gains. KU forced TCU to two fourth downs in this
quarter and they converted on the first one.
KU needs to work on stopping teams going for it on fourth downs, so the
offense can get the football back. On
the first fourth down, KU forced TCU to kick a field goal. KU’s special teams put enough pressure on
TCU’s kicker, which forced the ball right, resulting in no points, making the
score still 7-3 TCU. On the next KU
offensive drive, quarterback, Dayne Crist, and running back, Tony Pierson,
helped take the ball down field in a hurry.
KU looked like they would get a touchdown out of this drive, but they
did not get one and settled for a field goal once again, making the score 7-6
TCU.
The
bad thing about KU in the first half was how they would have things going their
way, but would end up going backwards by committing penalties. I could see the KU coaches on the sideline
were not happy with their players in the second quarter. This is something for KU to improve on and
even though this happened, KU was able to at least score points. KU’s defense then came onto the field and let
TCU drive the football down the field, but KU forced them to make a field
goal. This made the score 10-6 TCU,
which was stunning at halftime. I do not
think the fans of either team thought this game would be as close as it was at
halftime. Charlie Weis and the other KU
coaches deserve a lot of credit, because their team was ready to play. I could tell in this game that KU played
together and never gave up, which is something not seen from this team often.
In the third quarter, KU started with the ball and could
not do anything with it. The same happened
to TCU at the beginning of the third quarter as well. This is where the game started to slip away
from KU, because their offense could not do anything with the football and had
to punt several times. The defense for
KU started getting tired, which was evident when TCU took the football and
scored a touchdown at the 5:12 mark of the third quarter. At the end of the third quarter the score was
20-6 TCU.
The fourth quarter is where it started getting strange
for KU. The offense kept coming off the
field quick and the defense was able to make plays. TCU’s quarterback, Casey Pachall, was running
for the end zone, when right before he got to the end zone, Toben Opurum, for
KU forced a fumble and the ball went out of the end zone for a touchback. It was a great break for KU, but they could
not capitalize on this and gave the ball back to TCU. At the 3:11 mark in the fourth quarter, TCU
fumbled again. KU’s offense went down
the field and fumbled the ball to end the game.
The final score was 20-6 TCU.
This was a game to watch, because it showed that Charlie
Weis is taking KU in the right direction.
This is evident because KU’s defense has improved a lot. If the defense plays the way they have been
so far and keep improving, they will be in a lot of games until the end. For KU to win these games though, they will
have to play better and not waste possessions, so the defense can have a rest
between the drives. If they can do this,
I see them being able to win against some of the Big 12 teams in Charlie Weis’
first year as KU’s head coach. If you
want to see highlights of this game, then here is a link for you. http://www.big12sports.com/mediaPortal/player.dbml?catid=34330&id=1050688
I have included a slideshow of pictures that I
took while at the game, so you can see the experience you would get if you went
to a KU football game for yourself. Click on the box to be able to view the slideshow.
Brian,
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, I couldn't get the slideshow of the pictures at the end to work. Personally, it's a little bit frustrating when KU is losing so many football games. I understand that Charlie can't just magically make them better over night, but I agree that they are improving little by little each week. I heard Charlie speaking on the radio after the game talking about how the team was pretty devastated about the loss because they so badly want to win and work so hard every week. I hope to see KU to maybe be the most improved team in the Big 12 by the end of this season!
Try clicking in the middle of the little screen of it because it should send you to another page.
ReplyDeleteAlso its strange that it wont work for you because i checked it several times on different computers and had other friends of mind do it through there account and it work and i just checked it again and it works for me try it again.
ReplyDelete