Coaches working with CB Davis

While Clint Bowen was not exactly a fan of the penalty-prompting ways of sophomore cornerback Anthony Davis in last weekend’s season-opening victory over Northern Colorado, Bowen, the second-year Kansas University defensive coordinator, pointed out Tuesday that things could have been a lot worse.

“He came out in good position,” Bowen said. “It wasn’t like one of those where you’re rallying to catch up to a guy and cover your butt. The ones that discourage me are when the guy runs right by them, and they have to run to catch up, and they run into them. Those ones are like, ‘Holy cow, with a good ball, that should have been a touchdown.'”

In an unusual display last Saturday, Davis was flagged for three pass-interference penalties — two of which came on consecutive plays — and was eventually pulled in favor of transfer Calvin Rubles.

Coaches said that the issues would need to be improved before this weekend’s road matchup with Texas-El Paso, however, and that the necessary corrections were being made.

“You have to look at them from a technical standpoint, why they happen,” KU coach Mark Mangino said. “And you break it down. Coaches sit with the players and go over it and then work on it on the practice field about what fundamentally broke down that created those situations.”

As Bowen pointed out, improvement also will come with experience.

“The kid hasn’t played a lot of (college) football,” Bowen said. “That’s why they say experience makes a difference. And that’s one of those deals. Experience does make a difference. He’s played it right a million times in his life, but when things happen, they happen quick, and they don’t always work out perfect.”

Stuckey fine after late-hit penalty

A post-play shot to the knee sustained in last week’s victory won’t limit KU senior safety Darrell Stuckey against UTEP, the player said Tuesday.

The incident occurred during the third quarter of the UNC game, when Bears lineman Alex Shapiro was flagged for a 15-yard personal-foul penalty after diving into Stuckey’s legs following a play.

“Sometimes you wonder what possesses players to do certain things,” Stuckey said. “It was the same guy that was trying to block me all game and couldn’t manage to get his hands on me, and then I guess he saw an opportunity and got really focused in, channeled in, and didn’t hear the whistle at all, obviously.”

“But it’s something that happens,” he added. “Its a part of the game. (I’m) just glad that nothing severe happened out of that.”

UTEP bouncing back from season opener

Things were a little rough around the UTEP football offices this weekend — “Sunday, you could hear a pin drop in our meetings,” said Miners coach Mike Price — but players and coaches said Tuesday that the team had moved past its disappointing season-opening loss to Buffalo, which ended when an apparent game-tying touchdown was negated in the final moments because of a penalty.

The Miners wound up losing 23-17.

“I’m looking at this in rose-colored glasses today, but it was definitely a bitter pill to swallow on Saturday night and Sunday, and even today when we got to work,” Price said. “I was disappointed in myself after the game and on Sunday for not preparing our team well enough to start the game really well. But after looking at the game tape several times, I realized that we started the game very well.”