For me it was really the tale of two halves.
The first half left room for improvement and the second half the Jayhawks just flat-out started to wear Missouri State down.
The first half I really hoped the OL would push the MSU front around a little but that started in the second half. I just didn't see much mauling going on in the first half. The second quarter KU had 21 yards rushing and 17 of those came on one carry from Bean.
I will watch Illinois tonight against a good opponent but facing their front seven next week is going to be a different deal.
I felt Hishaw's fumble kind of took some life out of the team. KU had momentum and that swung it back to Missouri State who took advantage of it and made it a competitive half on the scoreboard. The second half was different and I listened to Ryan Beard (MSU HC) after the game and he was disappointed in their tackling in the second half.
I know Kotelnicki told me the whole playbook was open and they had it ready to go. I thought at halftime they would need to start using more of it but they didn't. He kept things pretty simple. They didn't show a lot of pre-snap motion compared to last year and really didn't do a lot with Bean. There is a lot more they have in the works but it wasn't needed for Missouri State.
The Missouri State OL isn't very good and that was their weak spot coming into the game. Credit the DL and LB for being disruptive. They never let Jacardia Wright get on track, which was the key to the MSU offense. Their focus was getting to him and I thought they did a good job there. They hit him several times at the line of scrimmage or behind it. That was a big positive.
I felt the big turnaround in the second half was keeping drives alive. The key number for me, was going 5-of-7 on third down in the half. If you convert those numbers you can keep the chains moving.
I got up this morning and went back over some film clips and left with a feeling of more positive than negative. It wasn't a dominant game by any means. Missouri State let the game get away from them in the second half and the two picks they threw helped the momentum. In the end it didn't feel like a 48-17 game in terms of the actual football part, but KU took care of business and did what they were supposed to do. That's the difference between a P5 team and an FCS team is depth and quality across the roster. KU had more of it and MSU couldn't keep up with them.
I liked what I saw on special teams. Two KO returns for an avg of 31 yards and Missouri State only returned one kick and got 18 yards. Seth Keller kicked short field goals but he made them. That's all that counts. We will have to wait until week two to see Greaves punt.
Now, we play the waiting game to see how things play out at QB. I watched Daniels throw pregame and he was jumping around and throwing some 10-15 yard slants and then after one throw ran over and jumped in the air to chest bump Lawrence Arnold. If Daniels injury is that bad no way would he be out going through all of the warm-ups and playing around with the guys. Leipold said after the game it came down to the fact he didn't have the snaps in practice to play.
I said on Sports Radio 810 on Friday you have to realize Bean got the first team reps in practice for 2 1/2 weeks. I don't care who the QB1 is, but if you miss that much time during offensive install it is hard to replace. And it will keep Illinois guessing. Either way, you are going to see much more creativity come out next Friday.
I thought the crowd was good for a Friday night opening the season. Everyone needs to turn out for the Illinois game and there are some early concerns. Last night every student got a free, extra ticket to bring a friend to the game. That certainly helped the student section, which was solid. But another Friday game and the word I get is that there needs to be some tickets need to be sold over the next 5-6 days for a good crowd. Another factor could be Spectrum. They are the largest provider in Kansas City with a little over 35% of the market. If they can't get things worked out with Disney those people won't be able to watch the game that is on ESPN2. Maybe that attracts people if they can't watch it.
You also have Free State and Lawrence High both playing on Friday night. I know the administration is hoping to see good support from the fan base but early numbers are a bit of a concern for this game.
The first half left room for improvement and the second half the Jayhawks just flat-out started to wear Missouri State down.
The first half I really hoped the OL would push the MSU front around a little but that started in the second half. I just didn't see much mauling going on in the first half. The second quarter KU had 21 yards rushing and 17 of those came on one carry from Bean.
I will watch Illinois tonight against a good opponent but facing their front seven next week is going to be a different deal.
I felt Hishaw's fumble kind of took some life out of the team. KU had momentum and that swung it back to Missouri State who took advantage of it and made it a competitive half on the scoreboard. The second half was different and I listened to Ryan Beard (MSU HC) after the game and he was disappointed in their tackling in the second half.
I know Kotelnicki told me the whole playbook was open and they had it ready to go. I thought at halftime they would need to start using more of it but they didn't. He kept things pretty simple. They didn't show a lot of pre-snap motion compared to last year and really didn't do a lot with Bean. There is a lot more they have in the works but it wasn't needed for Missouri State.
The Missouri State OL isn't very good and that was their weak spot coming into the game. Credit the DL and LB for being disruptive. They never let Jacardia Wright get on track, which was the key to the MSU offense. Their focus was getting to him and I thought they did a good job there. They hit him several times at the line of scrimmage or behind it. That was a big positive.
I felt the big turnaround in the second half was keeping drives alive. The key number for me, was going 5-of-7 on third down in the half. If you convert those numbers you can keep the chains moving.
I got up this morning and went back over some film clips and left with a feeling of more positive than negative. It wasn't a dominant game by any means. Missouri State let the game get away from them in the second half and the two picks they threw helped the momentum. In the end it didn't feel like a 48-17 game in terms of the actual football part, but KU took care of business and did what they were supposed to do. That's the difference between a P5 team and an FCS team is depth and quality across the roster. KU had more of it and MSU couldn't keep up with them.
I liked what I saw on special teams. Two KO returns for an avg of 31 yards and Missouri State only returned one kick and got 18 yards. Seth Keller kicked short field goals but he made them. That's all that counts. We will have to wait until week two to see Greaves punt.
Now, we play the waiting game to see how things play out at QB. I watched Daniels throw pregame and he was jumping around and throwing some 10-15 yard slants and then after one throw ran over and jumped in the air to chest bump Lawrence Arnold. If Daniels injury is that bad no way would he be out going through all of the warm-ups and playing around with the guys. Leipold said after the game it came down to the fact he didn't have the snaps in practice to play.
I said on Sports Radio 810 on Friday you have to realize Bean got the first team reps in practice for 2 1/2 weeks. I don't care who the QB1 is, but if you miss that much time during offensive install it is hard to replace. And it will keep Illinois guessing. Either way, you are going to see much more creativity come out next Friday.
I thought the crowd was good for a Friday night opening the season. Everyone needs to turn out for the Illinois game and there are some early concerns. Last night every student got a free, extra ticket to bring a friend to the game. That certainly helped the student section, which was solid. But another Friday game and the word I get is that there needs to be some tickets need to be sold over the next 5-6 days for a good crowd. Another factor could be Spectrum. They are the largest provider in Kansas City with a little over 35% of the market. If they can't get things worked out with Disney those people won't be able to watch the game that is on ESPN2. Maybe that attracts people if they can't watch it.
You also have Free State and Lawrence High both playing on Friday night. I know the administration is hoping to see good support from the fan base but early numbers are a bit of a concern for this game.
