So it was a bit calculated, after all.

Kansas University football coach Mark Mangino was in Dallas last week speaking on a panel as part of the National Football Foundation’s football forum.

One of the issues brought up was the relationship between college football coaches and the media – which led to Mangino being asked about his infamous 2004 rant after Kansas lost to Texas, 27-23, on a last-minute touchdown.

“I had a reason to do it,” Mangino said. “My reasons are such that we had lost some difficult ballgames that year, and our kids after that game were just crushed. I had never been around a team that had been so disheartened about a loss.”

What followed was a postgame tirade in which Mangino called out a questionable penalty and accused the officials of favoring Texas because of BCS implications.

“I just warned people, some administrators on my way to the pressroom, what I was going to do, and it was to save the team,” Mangino said. “I knew I was going to get criticism for it and take some bullets, but Kansas hadn’t had a winning program for many years, we were trying to get it on its feet, we were getting close but just couldn’t get over the hump. So I took a bullet for it.”

Mangino apologized later that evening and was fined $5,000 by the Big 12 Conference, but the tirade must have worked – Kansas beat Missouri, 31-14, the next week, and hasn’t had a sub-.500 season since.

“I learned a lesson that there’s other ways to get that done,” Mangino said. “But at the time I felt that was the best way to do it.”

Texas will play in Lawrence on Nov. 15 for the first time since that memorable day.

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Lucky 13?: Preseason rankings will be of great interest to Kansas fans this year, particularly coming off the Jayhawks’ 12-1 season a year ago.

It’s that time of year, where pundits rushing to be first are coming out with their premature preseason top 25 polls.

Athlon Sports wins the race, ranking Kansas No. 13 about 15 weeks before the season begins. Of course, CollegeFootballNews.com did a pre-preseason top 25 in January and ranked Kansas No. 13, as well.

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Television games: The Big 12 and ESPN released a preliminary list of televised games, and KU is included.

It’s old news, though: Kansas and South Florida will move their anticipated nonconference game to Friday, Sept. 12. It will start at 7 p.m. and be televised by ESPN2.

In all, 13 Big 12 television selections were announced, mostly nonconference games. KU is certain to have more conference games televised, but those usually are announced 12 days ahead of time.

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Gordon walks: Among those walking down Campanile Hill on Sunday as part of KU graduation festivities was a guy who’s already making plenty of money – former KU standout Charles Gordon.

Gordon left school early in 2006 to declare for the NFL Draft. He went undrafted but signed with the Minnesota Vikings and eventually became a fixture on their roster at cornerback. He had 39 tackles and an interception for Minnesota in 2007.

Gordon is a business administration major.