LONDON — Maybe it’s fitting that the first FBS football game played in England featured such a powerful testament to the importance of punting. The Kansas defense — what thankless work those Jayhawks did on Saturday — had forced Arizona State off the field in the final minute of the first half, thanks in large part to a sack by David Santiago that had pushed the Sun Devils out of field goal range. So in ...
WESTMINSTER, England — Amid a crimson-and-blue crowd that sang along with the Rock Chalk chant and clapped to the beat of “I’m a Jayhawk” were some local onlookers who had little idea what was going on. Andy Lobban had made the trip on the tube from 25 miles outside of Central London for his son’s birthday and entirely by coincidence stumbled upon the Union Jack Classic festivities that had created an ...
LONDON — Kansas coach Lance Leipold was a graduate assistant at Wisconsin in 1993 when the Badgers played in the Coca-Cola Classic in Tokyo. They won, rather decisively in fact, which is why Leipold knows firsthand that the memories of playing in such a unique game take on an even greater value when the outcome goes your way. “(That) is when you really get to think about what you did, and something that ...
ISLEWORTH, England — Kansas punter Matt Gill, who is from Australia, had his father in attendance for his debut on Sept. 4 against Long Island. Well, at least it was supposed to be his debut — the Jayhawks’ offense was so effective as to render Gill’s services unnecessary. That made for a “bittersweet” result for the family, as Gill put it. A larger contingent with two aunts and an uncle was on ...
ISLEWORTH, England — Shortly after Kansas lost 38-21 to Missouri, in a fairly grim performance from the Jayhawks’ offense that featured a turnover-prone quarterback and no real running game, associate head coach Andy Kotelnicki told his charges, “I am excited to see how we will respond.” “Because I think we all know it’s easy to respond when things are going well,” he said on Wednesday, “but ...
An experienced Kansas women’s basketball team looking to find its way back to the NCAA Tournament learned on Thursday morning exactly what sort of challenges await it this year. The Big 12 Conference announced its 18-game conference schedule, which begins before the new year and concludes ahead of the league tournament on March 3. The schedule unfolds mainly on Wednesdays and either Saturdays or Sundays this ...