Kansas’ Whittemore dreamy again
I’d say I was daydreaming, but it was a night game, so I guess I was actually nocturnal musing at Memorial Stadium.
Kansas University had bolted to a 28-0 lead in the first quarter, and I thought I heard the Jacksonville State bus starter cranking all the way up in the press box.
Most people figured Kansas could name the score against the NCAA Division I-AA Gamecocks and, to tell the truth, the Jayhawks probably could have scored 70 on this beautiful Saturday night.
Yet that the final score was “just” 41-6 is as meaningful as, well, the fact KU quarterback Bill Whittemore wears the same jersey number (4) as former KU basketball All-American Nick Collison, a fact that bemused me while the Jayhawks were going scoreless for about 33 minutes during the second and third quarters.
Whittemore was great again Saturday. For three straight games now, the senior quarterback has helped the Jayhawks score 40 points or more. Frankly, I didn’t expect Whittemore to play as much as he did Saturday. I figured Brian Luke and perhaps even third-stringer John Nielsen would earn some PT.
Luke did, but not until 12 1/2 minutes remained. Nielsen never left the sidelines.
Whittemore’s long stint was doubly surprising when coach Mark Mangino mentioned after the game that his primary offensive weapon had played hurt during the second and third quarters.
“The coaches in the box said something was wrong, that he was changing his footwork,” Mangino said.
Looking back, Whittemore clearly wasn’t throwing as well in those quarters as he had in the first 15 minutes when he tossed two touchdowns and ran for two more.
KU's Mark Simmons, left, congratulates Clark Green during the first half. Both of the Jayhawks contributed a touchdown in KU's 41-6 victory Saturday over Jacksonville State at Memorial Stadium.
OK, if Whittemore wasn’t throwing as well, and he was injured, why didn’t Mangino pull him and save him for next week’s Big 12 Conference opener against Missouri?
“He wasn’t in any particular danger,” Mangino said. “It was just a painful situation for him, and he fought through it. But we finally had to get him off the field.”
If you’re curious what the injury was, well, by now you must know Mangino’s policy. No specifics. In fact, it was surprising Mangino even mentioned Whittemore was injured, because if Mangino hadn’t, the media never would have known it.
Whittemore certainly wouldn’t have brought it up. When told by the media that Mangino had let the cat out of the bag, Whittemore shrugged it off.
“I didn’t think it was that bad,” he said, smiling. “It bothered me a little bit, but you always have something during games.”
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Then a writer piped up as asked Whittemore if he could say what the injury was.
“No, I can’t,” he said, smiling again. “It is forbidden.”
Then asked if the injury had affected his play, Whittemore stayed in the same jolly mode.
“You mean my terrible throws?” he said. “No.”
After a shaky season-opening performance against Northwestern, Whittemore has rolled a turkey — three strikes in a row — to place himself in the top three in national passing-efficiency statistics.
Whittemore may have been slightly off the mark in the second and third quarters, but he still completed 19 of 32 passes for 319 yards and two touchdowns. No interceptions, either.
Now the question is: Can Whittemore do it at least three more times while running an eight-game Big 12 Conference gantlet? Kansas needs three more wins to qualify for the postseason, and it’s no secret a bowl is the goal.
Mangino went into this season hoping to take away some of Whittemore’s vulnerability by cutting back on his carries, but the season opener proved that wasn’t going to work. Whittemore carried just four times for seven yards against Northwestern. Saturday was more a more typical seven carries for 62 yards.
As Whittemore goes, so goes Kansas. I know it, you know it, Mangino knows it, and Jacksonville State coach Jack Crowe knows it.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen one guy have so much effect on a football team,” Crowe said. “I hope they keep him well.”
Crowe isn’t the only one.