Kansas City, Mo. ? Kansas University football coach Mark Mangino thinks his team has that much-needed attitude.

Good thing. It’s going to be crucial if one of the program’s big aspirations is going to be attained.

Speaking at Big 12 Conference media days at the Marriott Country Club Plaza on Tuesday, Mangino and a couple of his players admitted being puzzled by the inability to win on the road in past years, despite overcoming the deficiency and reaching two bowl games.

Nobody, though, seems to be sweating the road woes quite as much in 2006, because of an attitude born in KU’s first winning season in a decade last year.

It’s the attitude of a team expecting to win instead of hoping to.

“This group of kids we have this year, they really have a swagger to them,” Mangino said in front of scores of media members from throughout the region. “They believe they can win every time they line up, and I’m not going to disagree with them.”

KU is just 3-19 on the road in Mangino’s first four years at KU, with just one of those victories – a 17-point win over Missouri in 2004 – coming in conference play. Taking care of business on the road has been made a point of emphasis around the program this season, and with good reason: Five challenging games – Toledo, Nebraska, Baylor, Iowa State and Missouri – are on the road, and Kansas was 0-5 away from Lawrence last year.

“I’m as dumbfounded as coach about that,” center David Ochoa said. “The field is the same length, the same width and everything else. We haven’t changed anything we do in terms of preparation.

“It might be one of those mental things where getting young fresh blood in there, maybe that will help it.”

So long as that new blood has the right mindset, Ochoa could be right. Mangino seems to think so.

“I think this group here has a little bit of that mental edge as a team that you need to get out there and get road victories,” Mangino said. “I think this team is a little bit different maybe in its makeup in some respects than we’ve had in the past.”

They certainly don’t seem to lack in confidence. Ochoa thinks the offensive line, being as experienced as ever, is ready to have a great year. Freshman quarterback Kerry Meier is described as “the man” by one teammate and “special” by his coach. Senior Jon Cornish has hinted at a goal of surpassing 1,000 yards rushing, something no Jayhawk has done since June Henley in 1995. Cornish had 780 yards in part-time duty last season.

“I like that he’s confident,” Mangino said of Cornish. “As long as he’s respectful – and he always has been – I like that he’s got a little swagger.”

Asked about Cornish’s 1,000-yard goal, Mangino chuckled and said, “if he’s going to talk the talk, he better walk the walk.”

Not all the players are talking the same bold talk, but team members seem eager to do some walking, anyway. The Jayhawks start practice in 10 days, and will have a little less than a month of work before the Sept. 2 season opener against NCAA Division I-AA foe Northwestern State.

For now, though, it was meet and greet time with the media. Mangino, Ochoa, tight end Derek Fine and defensive tackle James McClinton were hot commodities Tuesday, shaking hands, answering hundreds of questions and sharing their prospects of the ’06 season with print, Internet, radio and television reporters. They left tired – and starving – a little before noon, while representatives from Texas, Oklahoma State and Colorado stayed behind to tend to the hungry press.

The preseason talking will wrap up soon. Then the four-month walk for Kansas begins.

“Our kids think they’re better than they really are,” Mangino said. “And you know what? That’s good.”