Yes, we won by 30 points. Yes, we outgained FIU by 245 yards. But sitll, there is some negative aura wrapped around Saturday's game. It was incredibly positive, if only for the fact that 52,112 decided to show up (setting a Memorial Stadium record). Still, with all of the expectations and all of the hullabaloo surrounding the opening stanza to the 2008 season, it seemed to be a "well-but" kind of game. Sure, it was nice to demolish a 1-A team, but it wasn't nearly as impressive as last year's game against the very same team (albeit one who is incredibly more seasoned this year) or as other BCS schools' openers. Even Kansas State looked a little more dominant than we did, destroying a similar opponent in Sun Belter North Texas, 48-6. With all of that said, let's take a deeper look at what was positive, what was negative, and what was unclear.

THE POSITIVELY POSITIVE

• The first name that has to come out when discussing the good has to be Daymond Patterson, who in a matter of three short hours transformed from a hardcore fan's pick to surprise some people to becoming a name-to-know across the Big 12 and a fan-favorite in Lawrence. That is what 3 catches for 22 yards out of the slot (replacing the injured Dexton Fields) and, more notably, a 74-yard punt return can do for you. Especially considering the downright horrid play of the punt returners a season ago, the Daymond's emergence as a legitimate punt returner is all-the-sweeter. Honestly, there couldn't be any more of a positive debut for DP; I just hope he gets even better as the year, and his career, moves along.
• Another name that had a good game, although not completely and utterly flawless as DP was, is the QB, Todd Reesing. 37-52 is a pretty solid little debut from Sparky, and while he only tossed fomr 256 yards despite all of the completions (good enough for only a 4.9 YPA average), he simply took what the defense gave him. FIU essentially forced us to take the underneath stuff, dropping everyone back and completely eliminating the big play. Not a terrible strategy, and one that certainly worked well enough to keep FIU in the game for quite awhile, but it allowed for Reesing to methodically plod down the field, upping his completion percentage. So, sure, Reesing's YPA average will be negatively impacted by this game, but his comp% will benefit. Moving back to Reesing, he was positive but not spectacular. He took what the defense gave him and played well enough to put up some major points, but the INT is a killer in the kind of short-completion offense we were forced to run last Saturday.
• I only listened to the game, so I didn't see any specific player-by-player action, so I am just going to list the entire defense as positive. They played magnificent, which was evident through both the radio telecast and through the box score. 139 total yards. 2.5 yards a play. 2/14 on third downs. Not a whole lot more you can ask of your defense besides that. Major props especially go to Phillip Strozier, who picked off two passes playing only in nickel coverage. He could turn out to be quite a third safety, and maybe even start sometime throughout his college career.
• The best positive of all, even more positive than DP, is the crowd. 52,112 is a lot of people to show up and watch Kansas play football, much less in a game against Florida International. If that many people showed up (albeit it was the season opener) to watch us take on a Sun Belt opponent, I can't wait to see how many people show up to watch us take on Texas Tech or Texas. Gotta love how much support and $$'s some wins will get you.
• The biggest surprise of the game, at least to me, was the kicking game. Since Hoge left the team and Branstetter's eligibility was thrown into question (reports have him being cleared to play as early as Saturday), the kicking game has been question #1, #2 and #3. Well, one Alonso Rojas has seemed to solve all the problems. He nailed 47-yard and 37-yard field goals and performed well enough on kickoffs to appease that part of the kicking game. Oh, and the punting (y'know, the reason he was recruited to come to Kansas?) he performed plenty well enough to make most forget about Kyle Tucker. The missed extra point (by fellow JUCO transfer Grady Fowler) is concerning, but I suppose Rojas could plug that hole in the dam as well.
• Before we move on to the negatives, Dez Briscoe deserves to be mentioned really quick. Not a real great deep threat, if Saturday's game was any indication, but 3 TDs is 3 TDs. Some other positives who didn't perform quite good enough to earn a bullet point all to theirselves: Kerry Meier had quite a game with his 9 catches and fellow WR Jonathan Wilson looked fully capable of replacing Marcus Henry.

THE SHOCKINGLY NEGATIVE

• Offensive tackles. While I did not see any plays at all (save DP's punt return for a TD, which has found its way on YouTube), I heard all I needed to via online radio; the offensive tackles weren't that hot. Now, Matt Darton replaced Jeremiah Hatch in the starting lineup at RT, and that couldn't have helped, but still. I understand that FIU's defense is much-improved over last year, and that they focused on shutting down the deep passing game and the rushing attack, but 128 yards rushing still ain't a whole lot. This will need to be an incredibly improved unit by the time we have to make a trip to Tampa Bay, because George Selvie will eat Jeff Spikes for breakfast.
  
• Along with the offensive tackles, part of the blame for the lack of a rushing attack has to go to the runningbacks themselves. And while Jocques Crawford has his eyes set on a 2,000 yard rushing season, he ain't getting it by picking up only 32 yards on 11 carries. Jake Sharp didn't do much better, picking up only 29 yards on 9 carries. For some happy spin on the situation, look at Angus Quigley. Quigs looked, by far, to be the best RB on the team (47 yards on 6 carries) and while a lot of  that has to be attributed to beating up on a tired defense, it still looks damn impressive compared to the starting duo of Crawford and Sharp. He probably deserves some carries along with the duel starters; forming a possibly deadly triumvirate of runningbacks. In the very least, the rather large Angus should be considered for some goalline and short-yardage carries.

THE QUESTIONS STILL TO BE ANSWERED

Well, in the meaning of the word the 'negative' bullets are still, technically, questions yet to be determined. But moving beyond that, here are some more questions that went unanswered int he season opener.

• How will we get to the QB? More specifically, just how (and how often) will we bring in pass-happy defensive ends like Laptad and Onyegbule. While it is one thing to get by without consistently sacking the QB against weaker opponents, come September 12th we will need to force Groethe's hand, or better yet actually get his ass on the ground, for us to have a chance. Wheeler alone isn't enough to generate a competent-enough pass rush, and no one else has consistently proven to be a pass-rushing threat. This, in my opinion, is one of the biggest questions left to answer int his season.
• Who is our Tight End? Bradley Dedeaux saw almost all of the TE action, and even caught 2 passes (for 9 yards), but no one expects him to be the only TE throughout the season. It is interesting that AJ Steward never saw any real action (and if he did, they neglected to mention it in any of the postgame recaps or on the radio broadcast, so it obviously wasn't for any long period of time), as numerous accounts have him being a crucial member of this year's team. And while the answer to this question will assuredly be some kind of mix between the two, with maybe Tim Biere thrown in there for good measure, it will be interesting to see just how the tight end situation works itself out. 

In any case, amidst all of the negatives and questions left to be answered, the game was still a success. Not nearly as rousing as numerous other schools, but successful enough to comfortably defeat a FBS team. And hey, that is all that really matters.

More to come in reviewing Saturday's game, then we'll shift our focus towards Louisiana Tech.

It's finally here.

We are finally playing football.

Keys are upcoming (the post will be edited), but in all seriousness, there are basically only two keys. To get our young guys some playing time and in-game experience and to stay healthy. Sure, FIU will be better than last year, but we are better too.

With that said, I'll say it is the same, exact score as last season: Kansas wins 52-07.

I'll be back 30 minutes prior to game time...

ROCK CHALK!

Editor's Note:This is from way back in June, but it provides a halfway-decent overview look of what FIU's offense was predicted to look like, prior to fall practice. Sorry for the lack of original content. The Defensive Preview I provided will be re-posted in the morning...RCT

Last season, offense wasn't Florida International's strength. Not by a long shot. I mean, obviously they weren't world-beaters on either side of the ball; that is inevitable when you post an 1-11 season. However, their offense was clearly the weaker of the two, and the passing game was the weak point of the offense, hands down. However, much of that can be attributed to how young the team was, and they are returning eight of their starters on the offensive side of the ball. Improvement is expected, and an absolute must if they are to win more than a game-or-two this year, but how much will be the difference between another 'disappointing' year and a 'successful' one.

Last Season

Last year, using passing efficiency, Florida International had the worst passing offense in all of Division 1-A. All of it. It wasn't particularly close, either. If you would rather go by passing yards, we can do that too. 117th. The two teams that threw for fewer yards last year were Navy and Air Force. They throw about five times a game. They only got 150 yards-a-game out of their passing game, that's all. Oh, and it isn't like they were just uber-protective of the ball either. They threw 20 interceptions, tied for eighth most in all of college football. Combine all of that together and you have one of the more pathetic units you should ever see in college football. This pathetic unit was led by numerous quarterbacks, naturally. Sophomore Wayne Younger saw the most action, appearing in 11 games. However, he posted a 9:17 TD:INT ratio, and eventually wore out the coaching staff; which led to the insertion of his backup, Junior Paul McCall. McCall fared better in his time on the field, completing 10% more of his passes and posting a 5:1 ratio. McCall also averaged 15 more yards per game passing. Still, neither played well enough to clearly entrench themselves as the starter entering this season, which we will get into a little later on.

The running game was better, sure, but not much. They ranked 98th in the country in rushing offense, averaging 118 yards a pop. The running game was led by Senior A'Mod Ned, who averaged about 4 yards a rush. Considering that the passing game provided little balance, that is a pretty solid output. However, he only scored 2 TDs, for whatever reason. Younger also contributed in the running game, using his athleticism to actually lead the team in yards-per-carry with 4.2. Senior Julian Reams also contributed, carrying the ball 82 times for 274 yards.

Overall, as I mentioned, the offense is awfully putrid. Total Offense, yards-wise, FIU ranks 118th. Scoring wise: 119th. Last year was pitiful from an offensive standpoint at FIU. However, they do figure to be much-improved this upcoming season, as they are returning nearly every single one of their starters, all with an added year of experience.

This Season

As I mentioned earlier, the Golden Panthers figure to be much-improved this upcoming season. They lose just about no one on the offensive side of the ball, and they have nowhere to go but up. So, with that being said, here are who figure to be big, impact players in the Panthers' offense this upcoming season, and in the game against the Jayhawks.

Quarterback :: As previously mentioned, they are led by the dual-threat QB Wayne Younger. He walked on to the program, spent a year redshirting and on the scout team before finally seeing real-life game action last season. It was clear that he was almost learning on the job, making plenty of mistakes (17 INTs) and throwing for a pitifully low percentage. However, he also has the most potential of the FIU quarterbacks and will continue to be given chances because of his athletic ability. Still, my money is on also-aformentioned Paul McCall, a more traditional pass-only QB, to win the job entering Memorial Stadium. McCall started the final two games of FIU's year last year, after Younger was injured, and shined (relatively) in both. 23-35 against the Florida Atlantic Owls (the real Boca Raton team) with 2 TDs and only 1 INT was followed by 11-19 for 3 TDs (and 0 INTs) in the season-finale, and the Panthers' only win, against North Texas. They were the best passing performances of the season, bar none, but in those two games he only ran for a combined 4 yards.

So, it comes down to a pretty easy proposition, at least based off of last year's statistics, scouting reports and such. You either sink-or-swim with the incredibly athletic, dual-threat Younger, and live with the inevitable mistakes, or you go with the pass-heavy, mistake-free(er) McCall. I think the smart choice is McCall, and I think that, at least for the beginning of the year, Mario Cristobal will go with McCall. Of course, a monster fall practice season from Younger could make the decision a really easy one.

Runningback :: Already went over this one, but we can quickly scan over this position yet again. A'Mod Ned is the clear focal point of the running game, having received more carries each-and-every year in the FIU program. 88 freshman carries turned into 94 sophomore carries before ending in 143 carries last season; and Ned is in line for another increase this season, barring an injury. Particularly if they go McCall, they will have to ride Ned to a decent rushing attack, and it will be (at least at the beginning of the season) against a stop-the-run-at-all-costs defense. Because of the absolute pathetic qualities of FIU's passing "attack" last season, defenses should be loading up in the box to force McCall or Younger, whoever is the starter, to beat them through the air.

Ned is helped out by Julian Reams, who received 82 carries last season, but is clearly the major component in the FIU offense. Also watch out for H-Back John Ellis, as he has "become a favorite safety-valve of all three

Wide Receiver :: Naturally, considering how putrid the throwing game was last season, there were no 'breakout' wideouts last season. It wasn't for lack of options, however. 19 separate Golden Panthers caught at least one pass last season, and eight (including Ned) reached double digits. No one caught more than 21 passes, and no one had more than 304 yards receiving. For a reference point; Marcus Henry caught 54 passes last season and had more than 1000 yards receiving. And we had an awfully balanced attack. So, yea. Greg Ellingson, a sophomore, might have been the most consistent wideout they had last season. He caught a ball in eight of their games last season, including three in Lawrence. He also led the team in receiving yards, with 304. Trenard Turner is listed as a RB by ESPN, but he ran the ball all of zero times last season compared to 12 catches. He also led the team in yards per catch, exploding a couple of times (screen passes? lined up outside as a WR?) for plays exceeding 20 yards. Six times he caught a pass for more than 20 yards, including doing it twice in one game against North Texas, FIU's lone win last season. So, maybe he will factor into the game or not. The possession receiver of the bunch is probably sophomore Jason Frierson. He caught more passes than any other Golden Panther last season, with 21, but averaged only 9 yards a pop. He had himself a nice game in Lawrence, hauling in 4 passes for 42 yards. Elliot Dix, a junior who had his two best games of the season (by far) to end the year with McCall at QB, also figures to factor into the equation, as does fellow junior Jeremy Dickens, who also had a great end to the season with McCall at QB.

Tight End :: Last season, only two tight ends factored into the FIU passing game: Moses Hinton and Eric Kirchenburg. They both caught 5 passes on the year, Hinton's for 75 yards (including a 49-yard TD against Maryland) and Kirchenburg's for 49 yards, and neither caught a pass in the final four games of the season, when the offense looked most competent. So, who knows if they will factor as much into the offensive equation this season, as FIU (judging by the stat sheet) has plenty of viable options at the wide receiver positions. If I were them, of course I am not them, I would just stick with the WR's and leave the TE's for short-yardage and blocking. But I am seriously in love with the spread, so I'm not exactly an unbiased opinion on that one.

Offensive Line :: Now, I'm not making excuses or nothing, just giving you some evidence. When you google 'Florida International Golden Panthers', my introductory post is like #4 on the list. There is virtually no news on the Golden Panthers, and all of it is stats. Of course, O-Liners don't exactly have, uh, stats. So, finding out just who the starters were who last year was hard, and not exactly a fool-proof adventure. But here is the best I was able to come up with:

LT -- Junior Andy Leavine

LG --Junior Michael Alls

C --Sophomore Brad Serini

RG -- Junior Joe Alajajian

RT -- Senior Dustin Gibson

Again, those may be way off, but basing it off of their last game's starting lineup and defections and stuff, that is my best guess.

Each week here at RCT, we will go beyond simple internet research and discoveries pilfered from newspapers. We will interview a blogger for the opposition to get an insider's look at that week's opposition. This week, I asked Peter Pelegrin of the Miami Herald five questions about the FIU Golden Panthers. Peter is the beat writer for the FIU Golden Panthers for the Herald, as well as the moderator of the blog Golden Panthers Prowl. If you are looking for FIU coverage, there are simply no better places to turn to. Thanks to Peter for answering the questions.

RCT: 1) Who do you think will be the starting QB for the Golden Panthers, both against Kansas and for the season? Do you have a personal preference for who deserves it, or is it really up in the air between Wayne Younger and Paul McCall?

PP: I think Paul McCall will get the nod. When he got his chance last season against Florida Atlantic and North Texas after watching the first 10 games from the sidelines, McCall showed he had control of the offense and made smart decisions. He has the stronger arm too. I think Wayne Younger will get some series too, because he is one of the more athletic players on the team and has improved greatly as a quarterback.

RCT: 2) What do you think will be the greatest strength of this year's FIU team?

PP: FIU's greatest strength this year will be its wide receivers and secondary. They are deep, talented and physical on both units. The emergence of receivers Marquis Rolle and Greg Ellingson will be beneficial this season as will freshmen receivers Junior Mertile and T.Y. Hilton. Getting safeties Jeremiah Weatherspoon (academics) and Marshall McDuffie (suspension) back this season is a tremendous boost to the secondary.

RCT: 3) Similar to question #2, what is FIU's biggest weakness?

PP: FIU's offensive line is a big concern right now. They have been very inconsistent throughout camp. For FIU's sake, hopefully the inconsistency has been, because of the improved pass rush from the defense.

RCT: 4) What would it take for FIU to pull the shocker and upset Kansas?

PP: To upset KU, FIU would have to not turn the ball over. Stay within itself and not let the hostile environment get to them. And they need to score touchdowns and not field goals when they have the chance. FIU has had a history of settling for 3 when they've been knocking on the end zone's door. If the O-line can give McCall time, then I think the offense can move the ball and get some points.

RCT: 5) What is a reasonable expectation for this year's FIU team? In other words, what would have to happen for you to consider this season "a success"?

PP: This year 2 with new coach Mario Cristobal. He inherited a program in disarray from former coach Don Strock, who was a poor recruiter and a lazy coach. Cristobal has a great work ethic and is a great, tireless recruiter. In another 2 or 3 years, FIU will be Sun Belt champs and regularly challenge Top 25 teams, because of all the high school talent that is available in FIU's backyard. This season, if FIU can win 4 or 5 games, it will a good improvement from last season's 1-11, in which the Golden Panthers had a roster made up of 77 percent freshmen and sophomores and were within a touchdown in the second half of 5 of their last 7 games. The team improved in the latter part of last season and needs to carry that over to this year.

Thanks again to Peter. And don't forget to check out his blog, Golden Panthers Prowl, for the most up-to-date coverage on the internet regarding the FIU Golden Panthers.

ROCK CHALK!