Woodling: Kansas likely headed to Tangerine Bowl
After a seemingly endless string of Novembers to forget, Kansas University football has a November to remember again.
On a steel gray November day, KU played and won a meaningful football game. OK, it was over Iowa State, one of the Big 12 Conference’s worst teams, but it was Win No. 6, and it made the Jayhawks eligible for a bowl game.
A week ago, after being bulldozed by Oklahoma State for their fourth straight loss, the Jayhawks looked like the only bowls they would see in December would be full of cereal, soup or chili.
Only in America with its cornucopia of postseason football games can a squad that has posted only one victory over a ranked team all season (Missouri) and whose only wins in the last seven weeks were over two teams (Baylor and Iowa State) that have dropped 16 consecutive games combined go to a bowl.
Not that a happy KU coach Mark Mangino was counting his chickens in the postgame euphoria of the 36-7 triumph over Iowa State.
“You know how it is when it comes to bowls, seeing is believing,” Mangino said. “You’ve got to get it in your hands before it’s a done deal.”
Actually, it is a done deal. Nobody will come right out and say it yet, but unless an earthquake destroys Florida Citrus Bowl Stadium in Orlando, the Jayhawks will meet an Atlantic Coast Conference foe Dec. 22 in the Tangerine Bowl.
One of the schools Kansas might play in the Tangerine Bowl is North Carolina State, interesting because the Jayhawks met the Wolfpack 30 years ago at the Liberty Bowl in Memphis. Still, opponent talk is premature. Site talk isn’t.
I felt sorry for Tom Starr, the executive director of the Fort Worth Bowl. Starr is an old friend from the days when he was at Iowa State and with the Big Eight Conference office.
Kansas University's Charles Gordon (3) upends Iowa State quarterback Austin Flynn in the Jayhawks' 36-7 victory. KU floored ISU Saturday at Memorial Stadium.
Starr didn’t come right out and say it, but he would love to have Kansas for his inaugural bowl Dec. 23 at TCU’s stadium because, other than the Kansas City Metro area, the Dallas-Fort Worth megalopolis has more KU alumni than anywhere else in the country. But the Tangerine Bowl has the hammer, and the Tangerine people aren’t interested in a return visit by Texas Tech.
Tangerine Bowl rep Alex Tandy played it close to the vest when asked by reporters about his bowl’s leanings. He did say they would scout Friday’s Colorado-Nebraska game in Boulder, Colo.
“We have no preferences at this point,” Tandy said.
Talk is talk is talk. The whole idea of a bowl game is to lure a large number of fans who will spend lots and lots of money and boost the local economy.
Orlando is, as you know, one of the nation’s top tourist destinations, yet it’s no secret the Tangerine Bowl can’t expect to attract thousands upon thousands of fans from the Big 12 Conference schools because of the geography gulf, so they do the best they can.
In Kansas, they’re probably looking at the novelty factor. They must be figuring KU fans should be hungry for a bowl because the Jayhawks haven’t been to one since 1995, and that game was in Hawaii, a place inaccessible to the common fan. Kansas hasn’t been to a mainland bowl in 22 years.
How many Kansas boosters will go to Orlando nobody knows, but at least the Tangerine folks realize the Jayhawks are exciting. KU darned sure can score, and the defense is inconsistent enough that a shootout is a possibility, and the bowls love high-scoring games.
Victory over Cyclones makes Jayhawks bowl eligible
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Photo gallery: KU v. Iowa StateWith versatile Bill Whittemore at quarterback, Kansas can be dynamite. The Jayhawks compiled a 6-3 record when he was on the field. They were 0-3 when he wasn’t.
Did you know that Saturday was only the second college football game Whittemore ever has played in November? The last one was five years ago when he was a freshman at Tennessee-Martin.
“It was against Wingate,” Whittemore said with a smile, “and we won that one, too.”
Now he will play his first game in December.
“I’m glad I’ve got one more game,” Whittemore said. “I love these guys, and I love it here. That was my last game at Memorial Stadium, and I loved it.”
The feeling is obviously mutual. Whittemore left with about 3 1/2 minutes remaining to a standing ovation and an outpouring of emotion on the sideline as well.
I’ll never forget linebacker Gabe Toomey’s broken-field run through his teammates just so he could embrace the senior signal-caller who has done so much for KU football and who has gone through so much because of injuries.
“I felt like I ran about 200 yards,” Toomey said. “He’s such a great leader and role model for the team and the community. Everybody loves Bill, and I just wanted to congratulate him.”
Now Whittemore, Toomey and the rest of the Jayhawks hope to have a December to remember, too.