Before the college football season began, Kansas University's David Winbush talked about his role as KU's primary running back and his run for a 1,000-yard season.
At the same time, KU's defensive backs talked about their eagerness to play man-to-man coverage.
And all the Jayhawks talked about shooting for their first postseason appearance since 1995.
Well, four games into the season, Winbush has a grand total of 249 yards and has more catches than any KU receiver. The KU defensive backs, relegated to mostly soft zone coverages, have been burned short -- not long -- in consecutive weeks and the Jayhawks are off to a 1-3 start with a bowl bid all but unattainable.
So perhaps it came as no surprise that third-year coach Terry Allen, off to his worst start as a head coach, promised sweeping changes for this week's homecoming game against SMU.
"None of us are getting it done right now," he said. "We have to go get it done."
While still tight-lipped about the promised shakeup -- "I won't tell you what I'm going to do because it's football-related stuff, personnel and schemes," Allen said -- the common theme seems to be a back-to-the-basics approach.
Take Winbush, for example, who thinks the Jayhawks hurt themselves by trying to do too much.
Through four games, Winbush has 53 carries for 249 yards and a team-high 12 pass receptions for 109 yards.
Winbush had eight catches all of last year.
"I've thought a lot about it," Winbush said. "The first years, they didn't have a problem running me between the tackles. This year, they're stretching me out. We say we emphasize the running game, but we really haven't. We've got the plays to do it but seldom are they called."
Allen admitted play-calling was largely responsible for the Jayhawks' losses to Colorado and San Diego State.
"I would have liked to have done some different things," he said. "It's probably 65 percent poor choices and 35 percent lack of execution."
While Winbush promised to work on the latter, he also planned to speak up about the former.
"We get our plays, and it's easy to sit back and say they're going to work in the game," Winbush said. "But when somebody gets creamed, that's the last time we need to run that with me. " A lot of guys need to express it more. But the way it goes with me, whenever I get on somebody, the next thing I turn around and I mess up."
Allen admitted he messed up when he convinced his defensive aides to call for the soft zone against San Diego State.
Shredded by quarterback Jack Hawley, the beleaguered d-backs were considerably more effective in man-to-man coverage after halftime.
"The zone hurt us a lot last week," KU cornerback Andrew Davison said. "But it wasn't the coaches' fault. It was our fault because we didn't execute. But we changed our whole game plan this week, with a lot of man. I like this game plan.
"I feel we can win a lot more games if we run a lot more man."
Coming into the season, Kansas' coaches planned more man coverage, but opted for the zone against CU and SDSU.
Now the defensive backs have to prove they can play man.
"If we don't execute man right," Davison said, "there's nothing else to say. We've been asking for it all year."
It's put up or shut up time for the backs, and Davison knows it.
"I think we're going to put up this week," he said. "We want to get past this week and go up to K-State and pull the upset. Kansas State showed against Iowa State that's not the same team they were last year. We can upset K-State if we stick with the game plan."
Kickoff for KU-SMU is 1 p.m. at Memorial Stadium.
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Injury update: Wide receiver Termaine Fulton, who suffered a high-ankle sprain against Cal State Northridge, returned to practice part time on Tuesday.
"He might be able to go on a limited basis," Allen said. "He's got a good chance of dressing out."
Tight end Jason Gulley (knee surgery) won't play against SMU, but backup cornerback Chad Coellner (hamstring) returned to drills Tuesday and should play against SMU.
Wideout Byron Gasaway (broken jaw) has been able to practice a little, but he still hasn't been cleared to play.
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Not dead yet: Allen said it about KU's eight remaining games: "I still think we have the athletic ability to be a pretty good football team. There isn't anybody on our schedule we can't go out and beat. Now, I'm not saying we'll go out and win every game. But we can be competitive in every game."
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No scrimmage Tuesday: The Jayhawks did not scrimmage Tuesday because they practiced inside refurbished Anschutz Pavilion.
"We would have hit today," Allen said, "but I'd rather hit on grass than turf."
-- Andrew Hartsock's phone number is 832-7216. His e-mail address is ahartsock@ljworld.com.
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