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#2

Once again our #2 performance for 2008 comes to us from Arrowhead in Kansas City and the Border War.  One of the big questions going into the game was how would the Kansas defense, one soundly beaten by some of the better spread offenses all season long, would respond against the potent Missouri spread led by Chase Daniel.  While it’s hard to say the Jayhawk defense shutdown Missouri they did do enough and force enough mistakes to give pull out the win.

The #2 performance brings our 2^nd defensive performance of the countdown and one that came from a player very familiar with this rivalry.  A local product out of Kansas City, Kansas who grew up near Arrowhead and in what one would have to assume a dream scenario for him was the fire under a strong defensive outing for the Jayhawks.

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#3

Performance #3 on the 2008 countdown comes from our fearless leader.  Two years ago in a game against the Colorado Buffaloes in Lawrence a short kid out of Austin Texas took the field at quarterback and provided a much needed spark for the Jayhawks leading them to a win and changing the course of events for Kansas football.

Todd Reesing would never fully be implemented as a starter until 2007 but on that Saturday in 2006 we saw a calm and cool true freshman lead a team to a victory and wonder what might be to come.  In 2007 Reesing exploded onto the scene and has never looked back since gaining the starting spot over Kerry Meier.  Passing records have fallen, season scoring records, yardage records, an Orange Bowl and for the first time in school history back to back bowl games.  So which of his many strong performances earned him a spot at #3?

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#5

At the halfway point in our countdown of top 10 Kansas football performances of 2008 there will be a bit of a theme developing.   Namely the reoccurrence of performances associated with rivalry games.  At #5 comes our first of several from the Border War.  A game that had the potential to make up for some of the disappointments early in the year, the Border War game against Missouri would be a huge one for the direction of the program.   Kansas had already clinched back to back bowls for the first time in school history but it sure is nice heading into a bowl with a 7-5 record instead of 6-6.  The only thing standing in the way would be a top 25 opponent on a neutral field in a game that few gave the Jayhawks a chance.

Due to the several memorable performances in the Border War it was difficult to select the order in which these would check in.  Each was so critical in ultimately winning the game on a cold snowy day at Arrowhead, but I went with my heart on this one as opposed to my head.  I sat in the stands for this one and didn’t see it on television and while stats, replays and all that can make it easier to judge a game the feeling I got from the atmosphere ultimately determined how I ranked these.  Checking in at #5 was a familiar face on the countdown and he stepped into an unfamiliar role for this one and his impact was huge in the outcome of this game.

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via 2.bp.blogspot.com

Obviously, there will be plenty of internet space used up on this game in the coming days and weeks, as there won't be much else for us to talk about, football-wise. But for now, simply bask in all its glory.

We were the better team today, and I don't think anyone will really dispute that. And that had more to do with our improvement from week-to-week, and the coaching staff's preparation using the bye, than a not-so-hot performance from Mizzou. Sure, the Tigers didn't play fantastically, particularly in the first quarter, but they still played a really good football game. And they are a damn good football team.

And in a better place, overall, with their football team. However, the gap isn't nearly as noticeable as plenty would have you believe. We need a couple more athletes on defense and POOF, we are right in their league year-in-and-year-out. But again, that is what we can talk about more later.

For now, just enjoy the aftermath of the game. One of the best games of the season, easy, and one of the best games in the history of the Border War. Absolutely incredible.

Rock Chalk, baby.

Here we go.

This is the game that we have been waiting for since last year's not-so-fun finish.

Of course, even an upset win, and it certainly would be an upset, does little to diminish last season's monumental win by the Tigers. So, it isn't like this is a revenge game. Just a good, ol' fashioned rivalry game. Any time Missouri and Kansas get together, there is hatred and reveng and anger and desire and all of that fun stuff involved. That goes without saying.

And we will have to take advantage of those qualitative categories to win, because let's be honest; the quantitative numbers don't stack up. Not by a longshot. We are still a good team, and we still possess plenty of damn good football players that were around last year that made the game what it was, Armageddon at Arrowhead.

Todd Reesing. Kerry Meier. James Holt. Dezmon Briscoe. The list goes on and on. But we clearly aren't the same team as last year, as is painfully obvious, and while we can get into reasons later, Missouri is just about as good as last year. Not as good, no, but closer to last season's team than we are to ours.

So, given last year's loss, this year's chances don't look so hot. I will certainly be watching and cheering actively, it is the Border War afterall, but don't expect a profound showing from our football team.

Not to be negative and piss on the parade, but I just don't see it adding up. And still, just because I can't pull myself to actually pick the Tigers to beat our Jayhawks, I'll still take Hot Toddy and Company to pull off the upset. And, just for the record, it wouldn't be a tremendous upset. I would probably give us, oh, about a 38% chance of winning today. not incredibly long odds by any stretch of the imagination, but not exactly confidence-inspiring numbers either.

Kansas 35 Missouri 34

Rock it. Chalk it. Talk it.

Oh, and I'll be here for the duration of the game, so check on in.

A look at news and notes about Jayhawks and upcoming opponents...

• A look at early reports from the Sharp and Meier injuries.
• Talk of the Insight Bowl begins at Kansas.
• We talked about the biggest losses here earlier in the season and it looks like Mangino would have voted for Talib.
• Kansas regroups and prepares for Missouri.
• OT: Derek Fine feature on his career with the Bills.
• Showdown draws near.
• Border War notes...

My Thoughts...Well I wouldn't be able to consider myself a Kansas fan if I ever picked against us in the Border War so don't expect an unbiased opinion on this one. 

Against Texas the Kansas defense came out inspired and performed admireably against an impressive and balanced attack led by Colt McCoy.  This week in the final Border War for this linebacker corps I expect and equal showing but what will make this week different is the offense will be there to support it. 

Missouri's defense is by no means the Longhorns and Todd Reesing and the Jayhawks will get back on track, back up their defense and give them the support they need to maintain a strong showing throughout the game.  Make no mistake your not going to shutdown Chase Daniel but Kansas needs to find a way stop the big play and create a couple turnovers. 

All said and done Kansas is a better team than their record indicates and they put together their first complete four quarter performance of the year upsetting the Missouri Tigers.

Final Score: Kansas 35 Missouri 31

Full List of Supplemental Notes and Quotes after the jump...

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			VS.
Conf	National	Actual	Category	Actual	National	Conf
Rank	Rank				Rank	Rank
8	71	134.91	Rushing Offense	161.27	49	6
5	11	295.73	Passing Offense	349.36	4	3
7	21	430.64	Total Offense	510.64	6	3
8	27	32	Scoring Offense	45.73	4	3
5	33	120.91	Rushing Defense	124.55	40	6
7	75	129.09	Pass Effic. Defense	129.02	73	6
8	90	395.27	Total Defense	392.73	89	7
7	T-86	28.82	Scoring Defense	23.27	55	3
10	96	32.64	Net Punting	37.04	20	4
3	24	12.33	Punt Returns	9.48	53	8
12	119	15.74	Kickoff Return	22.50	38	8
6	T-54	.18	Turnover Margin	.18	T-54	6
11	114	274.36	Pass Defense	268.18	111	10
7	19	145.40	Passing Efficiency	167.93	6	4
6	46	2.09	Sacks	2.36	34	4
4	32	6.45	Tackles for a Loss	7.91	11	2
10	T-92	2.36	Sacks Allowed	1	10	3

Kansas' Identity has seemingly been determined.  A very good offense in a league of great offenses and a less than great defense in a league that's full of them.

The weeks opponent Missouri brings a very similar defense to the table as the Jayhawks, but does boast a better offense and a style of play that has been bad news for Kansas this year.

Where this one might be decided is in the turnover department where both teams arrive with identical turnover margins.  However, perhaps the best news of all is you can throw all this out the window for the Border War this is going to be a game of will, heart and who wants it more. 

Rock Chalk

Head Coach Mark Mangino

Opening remarks:

“This Saturday we are preparing for our border rival, Missouri. It is a game that everybody in both states looks forward to and all of the fans look forward to. The players look forward to it as well. We have been off for a week and it seems like it has been a month since we have played a game. Our players are very anxious to get back on the field and play again. We have had about a week and a half of practice. The practices have gone very well and they have been very spirited. They have been very fast paced. Our players are looking forward to getting back on the field and finishing the season on a high note.”

“Missouri is a very good football team. They have a very explosive offense led by their quarterback, Chase Daniel. He has a lot of quality people around him, people like Jeremy Maclin, Chase Coffman, Derrick Washington and others. They can run the ball, as well as throw the ball. They haven’t changed much on defense. They have a good group up front, led by Stryker Sulak. He is very active against the run, as well as the pass. They have good linebackers, led by Sean Weatherspoon, who runs very well. He makes a lot of plays sideline to sideline. Their secondary is led by William Moore, who is one of the best safeties in our league. He is a sure tackler, a good cover guy and a very physical player.”

“This is a very good challenge for us. We look at it as an opportunity and we are looking forward to playing a very good Missouri team on Saturday.”

On the Missouri offense:

“They take their time and they are very patient. They will take the short pass or run the ball when it is there. One thing I noticed about them is that they have a lot of things taking place behind the line of scrimmage. They have quick screens, reverses, wide sweeps and play action passes. That means that they have faith in their offensive line, they trust their offensive schemes and they do a good job of executing those schemes. They are a very well-coached offense.”

On the KU-MU rivalry

“The people here in this region want this to be a big game. It is being promoted in the Kansas City area very aggressively. I think the fact that both programs have been playing better football in the last couple of years has helped out the rivalry. I think it has a chance to be a great national rivalry, but both schools have to do their share of coming in with winning records and programs that are having success. If both schools can do that over a period of time then I believe this rivalry can capture national attention.”

On former KU coach Don Fambrough’s annual speech before the MU game:

“I think he enjoys doing it and we enjoy having him do it. It is fun and the players enjoy listening to him. It is something that he really enjoys and he is a part of the program. He comes to practice nearly every day. He loves the program, he loves the players and we have embraced him. He gets really excited about this game and he has earned the right to say what he wants to say about it.”

On the mindset of the team coming into this game:

“This game is against our border rival. It is the last game of the year. We want to finish strong. Emotion will be a factor, but you can’t win a game just on emotion. You have to go out and play good, smart, tough football. Emotions are great leading up to the game, but you still have to play smart, aggressive football.”

Player quotes after the jump...

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This week brings the 117th edition of the Border War.  This unique and historically rooted rivalry puts longtime foes in the Kansas Jayhawks and the Missouri Tigers against one another in a battle in Kansas City.  This years version again has two strong teams in this rivalries history and this year pride is a stake for both teams.

Why Kansas?	Edge	Scenario	Edge	Why Missouri?
Kansas and Todd Reesing will have an opportunity to redeem themselves in a matchup against the 111th ranked pass defense in the country.  Look for Reesing and the receiving corps to have a strong game against the Missouri defense and expect a possible Jocques Crawford siting from time to time.		KU Offense vs. Missouri Defense		Missouri can win this matchup in a few instances.  First, if it's poor weather.  Reesing has struggled in cold or rainy weather and hopefully we don't have a repeat of last years forcast.  Second, Kansas was disrupted by Texas and if Missouri keeps Kansas down early doubt could creep into the huddle resulting in another poor performance.
The inspired Senior day performance was impressive, but with little help from the offense it couldn't last.  If the KU defense plays equally inspired and get's some help from the offense, even an early lead, they could force Daniel out of his normal groove and win this matchup.  At least somewhat.		KU Defense vs. Missouri Offense		Different week, same story.  Another top 5 offense on the agenda for Clint Bowen and the Jayhawks.  Chase Daniel and company will be highly motivated in this final Border War appearance and I expect the Missouri offense to ulimately win this matchup.
Kansas needs to put some serious emphasis on this area in the offseason and look to regroup in 2009.		Special Teams		Two names:  Jeremy Maclin and Jeff Wolfert
I still say Mangino is a great coach because he has done more with less than anyone and that certainly includes Pinkel Mangino does have a knack for these rivalry type games.		Coaching		Even with my biased view of coach Mangino I sitll had to call this matchup a draw because Missouri does boast two of the most sought after Coordinators on the market this year

This anlaysis looks very familiar as all year it seems Kansas has been prepared to handle the game from an offensive standpoint but not from a defensive or special teams stance. 

This game will come down to how well Kansas can contain Chase Daniel on offense, Jeremy Maclin on special teams and if the offense can get back on track after struggling to score against a stout Texas Longhorn squad.

This week begins a two week stretch culminating in the Border War at Arrowhead Stadium.  While this year’s contest clearly doesn’t have the significance of last year this is in my biased estimation one of the greatest rivalries in the country.  When I say that it isn’t necessarily just from a football standpoint, you’ve got your Florida vs. Georgia’s, your Oklahoma’s vs. Texas but this rivalry is different.  This rivalry is from an all everything standpoint.  If you’ve been a part of this rivalry you know that there is tension.  Tension between the fans, tension between non fans and quite simply tension between the folks in these two states and it comes to a head when these schools face off in sporting events. 

Last year Kansas and Missouri played in the most meaningful game ever in the rivalry and this year while not as meaningful does mark another chapter and I thought it would be worthwhile to take a little look at the history between these two teams, schools and states.  First I would like to reference back to my post earlier in the year and stir the pot about the Myth of Missouri Football.   The post quite simply addresses the recent belief by Missouri fans that they have some sort of rich football tradition that puts Kansas to shame.   The reality is yes they have a solid team this year and they may be a step ahead of us in the long term building of a program, but not by much and to think differently would simply be a biased opinion.  With that myth settled and my opinion out in the open let’s look back at how it began, where it’s been and the current state.

The intense rivalry between the two universities can be traced to the open violence involving anti-slavery and pro-slavery elements that took place in the Kansas Territory and the western frontier towns of Missouri throughout the 1850s. These incidents were attempts by Missouri (a slave state) to influence whether Kansas would enter the Union as a free or slave state. The term Bleeding Kansas is often used to refer to the pre-war conflict, which continued into the Civil War and culminated with the Lawrence Massacre. SI.com supervising producer Dan George summed up the rivalry by stating "It's more than the schools -- it's a state thing going back to the Civil War, when William Quantrill's Confederate guerillas burned Lawrence and murdered nearly 200 people. Neither Missouri nor Kansas folks have forgotten it."  Those on the Missouri side are quick to point out that the Jayhawkers were guilty of the same things - crossing into Missouri, leading brutal raids and burning towns, and that Quantrill was part of a group that almost burnt down Columbia due to it being a Union stronghold.

The early athletic matches between the University of Kansas and the University of Missouri helped to aid both states in the healing process following the civil war.

Moving on to football, the tradition began with the winner of the football game receives the informally arranged Indian War Drum Traveling Trophy.

The drum trophy originated in 1937 when MU's Kansas City Alumni Association in cooperation with the Kansas University Lettermen's Association decided to present an authentic Indian tom-tom drum each Thanksgiving to the winner of the Kansas-Missouri football game. The MU Kansas City Alumni Association made arrangements for the drum to be built by Osage Indians, because they were more representative of the two states than any other tribe. The drum remained in Missouri's possession for the first few years until the trophy was briefly forgotten during war time. The tradition resumed on an annual basis in 1947, and the MU and KU circles of Omicron Delta Kappa served as caretakers of the drum throughout most of its history.

When the trophy disappeared in the 1980s, the Taos Indians of New Mexico built a new one. The original trophy was later recovered in a Read Hall basement in Columbia under a pile of boxes and it is now in the College Football Hall of Fame.

In 1999, at the urging of Kansas the drum was replaced again with a bass drum and the second drum became the property of the Missouri Alumni Association.

The Kansas and Missouri athletics and alumni associations’ logos are on opposite ends. While in Missouri the Alumni Association and Student Board now keep the trophy. While in Kansas it is now kept by the Student Alumni Association there.

Although officially the series stands with Missouri leading the series at 54-53-9 (1891–present; not played in 1918 due to an epidemic), there is an ongoing dispute about whether another win should have been counted for Kansas. In 1960, Kansas won the game, but later had to forfeit the game due to the use of an ineligible player, Bert Coan. Though Kansas counts the 1960 game as a win, Missouri, and the NCAA do not.

Through 2007, Missouri has an all-time football record of 594-503-52 (.541), with 11 bowl victories, while Kansas has an all-time record of 545-535-58 (.504), with 4 bowl victories.  Once again see:Myth of Missouri Football.  These overall records are just another indicator of the fairly equal historical success between the two teams.

The Tigers and Jayhawks first met on the gridiron on October 31^st in 1891 in Kansas City, Missouri. The Jayhawks pulled out a 22-10 win in that first game.

In 1909–1910, both squads entered the game undefeated (Missouri at 6-0-1, and Kansas at 8-0). Two dropkick field goals propelled the Tigers to a 12-6 victory, an undefeated season, and a Missouri Valley title.

19 of the first 20 games were played in Kansas City, with the 1907 contest played in St. Joseph. In 1911, the game began to be played on the respective college campuses, where it would be played (with the exception of 1944 and 1945, when it was played in Kansas City, MO) for the next 94 years. The 1911 game was played in Columbia, Missouri, and alumni from MU were asked to "come home" to Rollins Field, giving rise to the tradition of homecoming. That first homecoming game resulted in a 3-3 tie between the schools.

Kansas held the early advantage in the series, with a 14-4-4 advantage from 1891 through 1922. The Tigers rebounded with a 10-5-1 record in the next 16 years, but Kansas led 5-0-1 during the next 6 years (1939–1944), holding the Tigers scoreless each year.

The Tigers controlled the series for several years through 1979, holding an advantage over Kansas of 24-8-3. During that period, Kansas only had two 2 game winning streaks, while Missouri held winning streaks of 5 games, 4 games, and 3 games (3 times).

The series has been relatively even since 1980, with Kansas holding a 14-13 edge. The last six years, 2001–2006, have seen the squads split, with both picking up 3 wins apiece. With their 36-28 victory in 2007, Missouri won the latest and possibly most memorable matchup between the two teams.

On November, 24 2007 the two teams entered the game both ranked in the top five in the nation. Kansas was ranked #2 and Missouri was ranked #4. Missouri won the game 36-28 at Arrowhead Stadium, in Kansas City, with a near-record 80,537 people in attendance; the second-highest crowd at the stadium since its opening in 1972.

Which brings us to this year and while both teams have had a somewhat disappointing result to their year, this game can salvage a lot for both fan bases.  Missouri had aspirations of a BCS Title game appearance which were put to rest with back to back losses in the middle of the season.  Kansas had goals of competing for the North title only to drop 4 of 5 in conference play pushing them out of contention going into the Thanksgiving weekend matchup.  This will not damper the hopes of the fans or the importance of the game as once again the border war is headed to Arrowhead.