 "Photo: N/A")
What a wild ride the Big 12 season has been in 2009.
The conference many thought could have multiple national title contenders coming into the season has disappointed thus far but continues to provide compelling games week in and week out.
One of the storylines that has emerged this season has been the struggles many Big 12 offenses have been fighting through.
From a conference that saw more than half of its teams put up video game-like offensive numbers a year ago, the Big 12 now boasts only one squad that consistently lights up the scoreboard: No. 2 Texas.
One of the teams suddenly searching for answers on the offensive side of the ball is Kansas. The Jayhawks, who were averaging nearly 37 points per game going into their Saturday matchup with in-state rival Kansas State, were able to manage only 10 in their loss to the Wildcats, which made it four defeats in a row for KU.
Head coach Mark Mangino said he has an idea of what the Jayhawks need to fix going into a pivotal bout with North Division rival Nebraska this Saturday.
"I think number one: turning the ball over," Mangino said at the Big 12 media teleconference Monday. "I mean we're just turning the ball over. We're turning it over sometimes very early in the game, getting ourselves behind and creating a tough hill to climb in some cases. But the turnovers are the key that's really set us back."
KU turned the ball over three times against Kansas State, and the Wildcats seem to have already gotten back to their ways of old with a castaway quarterback and hard-nosed running back under Bill Snyder. Following the victory, KSU, who was the popular preseason pick to finish last in its division, sits at 4-2 in league play and resides atop the North standings.
With each game comes the added pressure of potentially playing for a conference championship in Cowboys Stadium Dec. 5. But Snyder said he and his team aren't worried about the extra attention, and are building the program one day at a time.
"One of the things that we haven't had, which is a difficult thing for all coaches to be able to establish, is consistency within your program in all phases of it," Snyder said. "And we have shown some inconsistency in our play. But nevertheless, the approach remains: stay consistent. We try to prove ourselves today and look at tomorrow when it comes."
Tomorrow can't come soon enough for Mangino and Kansas, who have been pleased with their defensive effort lately, but have only losses to show for it.
"We're very encouraged by our defense," Mangino said, "Because all along, that was an area that we had targeted that needed a lot of work, a lot of repetitions, getting people in the right spot. Our defensive effort Saturday was good enough to win. Now, was it perfect? No, it was not. But it was pretty good, and it's good enough to win most times for us."
The defense may continue to look good Saturday against a bumbling Nebraska offense, but KU's young offensive line will certainly be put to the test by what Mangino says "may be one the best front fours in college football." Either way, he knows it will be the KU offense that will need to step up in order to win the game.
"I'll put it to you like this: I don't know how many points it'll take to win," Mangino said. "But we've got to protect the football. If we protect the football and do the things that we're capable of doing on offense, you know, perhaps we'll be in a low-scoring game, but we can score enough to win. But those are big ‘ifs' and those are things that we have to focus on as a staff and as a team this week."
EVANCOTTEN@DAILYNEBRASKAN.COM
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