Keegan: Despite defense, Kansas will fall / LJWorld.com

Archive for Friday, November 4, 2005

November 4, 2005

Young hotshot assistant coaches will get head-coaching jobs this coming winter, and they'll be looking for experienced coordinators to help them ease their transitions.

Even before Saturday's blow-your-mind performance against Missouri, the Kansas University football defense had gained national respect. The defense is directed by a veteran of 36 coaching seasons, 19 as a coordinator. Better put a leash on him.

Bill Young will be at or near the top of many wish lists of new head coaches. It's imperative KU keeps him.

"I love it here," said Young, who also is the defensive-line coach. "We're looking to continue to upgrade our recruiting to take the program to the next level."

He downplays the notion other schools will try to steal him.

"No, they won't," he said. "They'll look at what our defense did a couple of years ago, and they'll realize the players are responsible for what we're doing this year. It's not me."

It's a combination. Coachable players are wasted if they don't have a brilliant football mind teaching them.

Young has one selling point many competitors don't when recruiting defensive linemen: He knows how to help players get to the NFL, having coached for the Detroit Lions and having coached 33 players in college who went on to play in the NFL.

OK, that's enough NFL talk.

This week's picks:

Nebraska 14, Kansas 13: Both punters will need a foot massage after this one. The Red Sox waited 86 years for another World Championship. The White Sox waited 88 years. Will KU wait even longer to beat the Cornhuskers? If the Jayhawks don't get it done Saturday, it's not a stretch to believe it could be centuries before they top Nebraska, winner of each of the last 36 meetings.

Texas 38, Baylor 10: Vince Young cemented Big 12 Conference Player of the Year honors and tightened up his Heisman candidacy by running and passing the Longhorns back from a 28-12 halftime deficit against the pitiful Pokes of Oklahoma State. Baylor's defense has been solid, but the talent disparity is too much to think the Bears can compete.

Kansas State 24, Iowa State 21: Will this be the year K-State finally beats KU in basketball? No. The Wildcats need to reach the conclusion that the only way they are going to beat their in-state rivals is to get one of their coaches to join them, namely Bill Self assistant and K-State grad Tim Jankovich, no doubt described as a "heady" point guard in his day because all white point guards are described as "heady." The streak stands at 31 in a row in the rivalry. Speaking of streaks, the K-State football team has lost three in a row and four of five. Why the upset pick? Good question.

Colorado 44, Missouri 24: Given the way the Buffs bullied KU a couple of weeks ago, it wouldn't seem as if they would want to study film of the Jayhawks to see how they do anything. Yet, you can bet they have dissected every second of the KU defense's phenomenal effort in making Brad Smith play like a freshman.

Texas Tech 48, Texas A&M 28: What happens when the most prolific passing team in the nation faces the worst pass defense in the Big 12? Cody Hodges throws for 700 yards.