In college football's battle of the trenches, bigger usually means better.
And so Kansas University's NCAA Div. I offensive line, which averages 299 pounds, hopes to rule the defensive line of NCAA Div. I-AA Cal State Northridge, on the average 10 pounds lighter than the Jayhawks' beefy group.
Kickoff for KU's home-opening clash against the Matadors is 6 p.m. Saturday at Memorial Stadium.
"Physically we've just got to beat them up. We've got to come out and show them who's the boss," said John Oddonetto, KU's 6-foot-5, 290-pound junior offensive tackle from Globe, Ariz.
"We feel since we are physically bigger and stronger, we'd like to dominate them, get our confidence up as a line and take that throughout the season."
Ideally, Oddonetto would like to see the Jayhawks run the football up and down the field. In KU's 48-13 season opening loss at Notre Dame, the Jayhawks rushed for 122 yards on 30 carries to the Irish's 363 yards on 51 carries.
"I think we should run right at them, hopefully get our running game going this week, to get confidence for Colorado," Oddonetto said.
Of course, there are no guarantees the Jayhawks will slay the Matadors' line just because of a weight advantage.
"If they are lighter, they may be quicker," Oddonetto said. "That means we could be chasing them around. Size doesn't always matter. It's who wants it most. We know they'll be fired up playing Div. I. We have to come out fired up. We have to come out and hit them hard."
Oddonetto says KU's beef up front could pay dividends as the game progresses.
"Toward the end of the second half we should be able to wear them down by pounding on them," said Oddonetto, a transfer from Eastern Arizona CC. "We have to play four tough quarters to make that happen."
The Cal State Northridge game also figures to test the Jayhawks mentally, Oddonetto said. The Jayhawks have experienced an odd time for an off week this early in the season.
"I'd rather have an off week in mid-season to let people get healthy," Oddonetto said. "It's good to get the season rolling week to week. Last week after playing Notre Dame, you want to move on. It seemed like two-a-days again."
Then there's the possible downer of playing a team that is no Notre Dame -- and not even a Div. I foe.
"It was definitely easy getting emotionally ready for Notre Dame," Oddonetto said. "With the start of practice (for Northridge) on Sunday " we came out and a few of us got the offense fired up. Monday was a sluggish day. Tuesday we had too many mental errors. It's picking up.
"We realize this is a big game for us."
It's KU's home opener -- a game that marks the debut of the new MegaVision video board.
"It's what everybody is talking about," Oddonetto said. "You'd rather make a really good play and look up at the screen. The bad part is you don't want to look up and see yourself missing a block or giving up a sack.
"That's the down side. We definitely want to have a win with the new press box and the big screen. We definitely want the university to feel they put the money into something good. We want to show the fans Kansas football is back."
-- Gary Bedore's phone number is 832-7186. His e-mail address is gbedore@ljworld.com.
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