An overhead view of Kansas University's Memorial Stadium shows the new Anderson Family Football Complex, at left, and the new practice fields at the bottom. The Jayhawks were 7-0 at home last season, and their first three games at home this season are against considerable underdogs.

As a ruby-shoed Kansas girl once mused, “There’s no place like home,” and on the eve of the Kansas University football team’s 2008 season, that proclamation seems to be coming to fruition for the Jayhawks.

Since a 42-33 loss to Oklahoma State on Oct. 14, 2006, Kansas hasn’t lost a game at Memorial Stadium, reeling off nine straight victories at Kivisto Field, including wins over Colorado, Kansas State and Nebraska.

Last season, the team finished 7-0 at home, and with its next three home games coming against considerable underdogs Florida International (Aug. 30), Louisiana Tech (Sept. 6) and Sam Houston State (Sept. 20), there’s a good chance that number could jump to 12 by the time this year’s conference schedule rolls around.

“We’ve got good fan support,” coach Mark Mangino said at Big 12 Media Days two weeks ago. “The last two years, I think, we’ve set a home attendance record. So the fans are turning out, and they’re making it a hostile place, more so than it (used to be).”

That certainly seemed to be the case last season. In their seven games at Memorial Stadium in 2007, the Jayhawks outscored opponents by an average of 56-11, holding teams to seven or fewer points on four different occasions in what is widely considered to be the program’s best season in school history.

The key now, according to junior safety Darrell Stuckey, is believing that the success stems more from preparation and execution than a game’s location.

“We have to get to the point where we know we didn’t win those games because we were at home,” Stuckey said. “We won them because of the swagger and the determination that we have.”