Kansas Jayhawks Football vs Southeast Missouri State: The View from Section 7

It’s a beautiful day in Kansas. Sunny, 85 degrees, but cooling fast as the sun sinks lower.

They’ve re-done the parking near the Campanile.

I don’t like it. All the good spaces are gone. Replaced by a sidewalk.

Stupid “safety” issues.

Go ahead, walk in your safe space, clowns.

Anyway.

Pound a couple of drinks and head down early. Pregame sideline passes FTW.

Entering the stadium through the metal detectors.

Now that there’s concealed carry on campus, I get it.

Still doesn’t make much sense to make it MORE difficult to get into Memorial Stadium.

Moving on.

Checked in, heading down to the field. Time for some Facebook Live.

Stanley doesn’t look injured to me.

Not that I’m an expert, but I’m standing 10 yards away from him watching him throw warmups.

The crowd looks pretty similar to last year; pretty much all of sections 23-26 is completely empty.

I bet there’s 30k+ here tonight though.

FIRST QUARTER

First thing I notice is that Doug Meacham is on the sidelines to call plays and not in the press box.

Ditto Clint Bowen.

Liam Jones kickoff goes nine yards deep in the end zone. And there wasn’t a 20-mph wind behind him!

Awesome!

Defense holds three and out. Good.

Bender starts at QB, had all day on his first and second throws... and nothing.

It is noted that Carter Stanley isn’t even holding a helmet on the sidelines. Seems like he doesn’t expect to play any time soon.

But on the third play, Sims was open, caught the ball, had the first down, made one move, then torched the defense for a touchdown.

Bender is gonna get credit for a long pass play, but that was all Sims.

It was a thing of beauty.

I kinda wanna cry right now.

Jones kicks it out of the back of the end zone this time.

Taylor Martin getting most of the early carries, but true freshman Dom Williams is getting some as well.

One-handed catch by Chase Harrell! Beautiful play!

You’ll be seeing that on highlight reels for a while.

All you need to know about the state of Kansas football for the past decade is that we finally have a kicker that can put the ball into the end zone from the 35-yard line - and that it’s impressive.

KU with some early aggression on fourth down, going for it in plus territory and converting.

Ben Johnson with a HUGE drop on what would have been another 80ish-yard touchdown. 2:46 left in the first quarter.

Aqib Talib being inducted into the KU Hall of Fame and Ring of Honor between quarters.

Deserved.

SECOND QUARTER

KU’s offense is slowing way down here in the second quarter.

Bender with a terrible throw for his first INT of the season.

SEMO started on KU’s 30 yard-line but went 20 yards the wrong way. Had to punt.

Offense bailed out by the other team’s offense!

2:22 until half and starting center Mesa Ribordy goes down with an apparent leg injury.

Jacob Bragg in for Ribordy, who is moving around on the sideline and looks to be OK.

Stadium is very quiet. There’s no energy.

KU just threw a three yard pass on third-and-13. What?

Fans are getting frustrated. We’ll see how many return for the third quarter.

Ribordy back in on the next possession.

KU scores 13 seconds before halftime. Stadium energy picks up.

HALFTIME

Kansas with 17 rushing yards in the first half.

That won’t cut it against anybody - except maybe SEMO I guess.

The band performs a short halftime show.

Mark Mangino and a large contingent of the 2007 KU football squad (aka 2008 Orange Bowl champs) are out on the field.

Hence the short halftime show!

Very cool. Loud ovation for Coach.

All KU fans want is a football program that doesn’t embarrass them. He gave us that.

Is that really too much to ask?

THIRD QUARTER

KU to receive.

Bender overthrows his man by A LOT and SEMO drops the easy pick.

Bender having a rough start to the second half.

Offensive pass interference on Booker? Replay is pretty clear that he didn’t touch the guy.

Terrible call.

Dollar signs!

LoL I say that just as Mark Mangino makes a “victory lap” of sorts around the stadium where the track used to be.

Pretty cool, he’s giving out high-fives and fist bumps and getting a nice round of applause section by section as he walks around the stadium.

I’m starting the “moar Dom Williams” hype train now.

Yeah that was a big hole, but he made a nice run through it. 10:17 left in the third.

Bender to Ben Johnson touchdown, I’m guessing that was a pick play? Maybe could have been offensive pass interference.

The replay did a great job of not showing the beginning of the play.

There is A LOT of manufactured noise this year coming out of the loudspeakers and video board.

Yeah, the stadium is dead, KU is up by four touchdowns, and it’s really not that entertaining of a game, but, there’s just no “college atmosphere” here.

It just feels like an NFL game. It’s all manufactured, it’s loud, it’s blaring, it’s overdone and annoying.

I wish they wouldn’t do it.

Anthony Collins being inducted into the KU Hall of Fame and Ring of Honor.

He couldn’t be here, so the four team captains from 2007 stand in for him.

Cool.

FOURTH QUARTER

Longest.

Game.

EVERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR.

Still a long ways to go and we’ve been here for three hours.

With 8:02 left SEMO goes for it on fourth down.

Had an open man, should have been a touchdown, but a terrible throw by their QB.

KU’s O-line has been decent. Bender has been clean almost all night.

KU’s D-line hasn’t been super impressive.

They’ve had some pressure, but no sacks, no knockdowns, they just can’t get to him.

And maybe that’s something SEMO is doing, I don’t know.

But KU’s D-line just isn’t putting up numbers tonight.

Kansas being dominated in time of possession. Just 59 rushing yards with 5 minutes to play.

Bender just threw another pick. At least the INTs have been on shots downfield.

At one point, KU was 3/12 on third downs. I think they’re up to 5/14 now.

Not exactly promising.

Plus, too many dead periods on offense.

Tyriek Starks enters the game. Looks like KU will just run out the clock.

So no Carter Stanley.

He looked fine in warmups. Didn’t notice any injury.

POSTGAME

No one rushed the field.

Beaty says on the radio that SEMO is a max-protect team and they knew they’d have trouble getting pressure.

Let’s fix those drops, coach.

On to Central Michigan.