• In case you’ve been
under a rock, you should know that KU (7-5 overall, 4-4 Big 12) will
take on the Minnesota
Golden Gophers (6-6, 3-5 Big 10) at the 20th
Annual Insight Bowl in Tempe, AZ. The New Years Eve affair will kick
off at 5 p.m. Central.
• The game will be televised on
the NFL Network. Don’t ask me – I can’t
explain it, either.
• The Jayhawks are playing in
consecutive bowl games for the first time in school history. It's also
their fourth post-season trip in the last six seasons.
• Kansas is 5-6 in
post-season
bowl games. The Jayhawks won just one out of the first six but have won
four out of their last five.
• With seven wins this season,
it marks the first time since 1960-61 that the Jayhawks have won seven
or more games in consecutive seasons. It’s also the first
time KU has had four straight six-win seasons since 1903-06.
• 19 wins in back-to-back
seasons is the most in school history. The old record was 18, set by
the 2006 and 2007 teams and the 1904-05 squads.
• A combined record of 32-17
over the last four seasons ties the KU record for the most wins in a
four-year period. The 1896-99 teams were very strong at 32-6.
• KU has won 22 of their last 29
games dating back to October 2006.
• KU is 22-7 against noncom foes
under coach Mark
Mangino. That includes a 15-2 mark against the last 17
non-Big 12 opponents they’ve faced.
• The Jayhawks’ lone
loss to an unranked team this season was to the Nebraska
Cornhuskers.
Prior to that loss, KU had beaten 16 consecutive unranked opponents.
• Jayhawks coach Mark
Mangino’s 44 wins tie him with Jack Mitchell (44 wins in nine
seasons) on the all-time KU coaches’ list. Grinnin’
Glen Mason
won 47 games in nine seasons at Kansas, and A.R. Kennedy won
52 games in seven seasons.
• Mangino and Mason are the only
two coaches in KU history to win two bowl games.
• Kansas is 3-1 in games played
in the state of Arizona, site of the Insight Bowl. All four of those
contests were against the University of Arizona in Tucson. The Jayhawks
have not played a game in Arizona since a 35-13 win over the Wildcats
in 1966.
• Kansas is 3-3 against the
Gophers in six previous meetings. The teams last played in 1973, a game
in which the Jayhawks defense sparked a 34-19 win in Lawrence. RB Delvy
Williams scored three touchdowns and Ring of Honor member QB David
Jaynes
connected with WR Bruce Adams for a TD pass.
• I've got 153 Scout points for
anyone who can tell me – without googling – who
quarterbacked the Minnesota team the last time KU played them. The
answer is below.
• The Big 12 Conference is 7-3
all-time in the Insight Bowl. Most recently, Oklahoma State
beat
Indiana
49-33 last season.
• KU QB Todd Reesing has
thrown
a touchdown pass in 17 straight games. He also needs five more pass
attempts to break Frank Seurer's career record of 934 and 33 more
offensive plays to break Seurer's career mark of 1,181.
• In the last two years, Reesing
has thrown for 7,061 yards – 833 yards more than the total of
KU's passing leaders from the previous fours seasons combined (6,228).
• He owns the top two season
marks in school history in a number of passing categories, including
attempts, completion percentage, yards, yards per game, 300-yard games,
200-yard games, touchdown passes and consecutive games with a touchdown
pass.
• Reesing, who was an all-Big 12
second-team selection in 2007, did not receive an honor this year,
despite improving most of his statistical numbers. Special thanks go
out to Sam Bradford,
Graham Harrell
and Colt McCoy.
• WR Dexton Fields
needs four
more catches to pass Brandon
Rideau for third on the all-time KU
receptions list (131). Six more will move him past Willie Vaughn for
second (133). Just 23 receiving yards will put him in 11th
eighth place on the KU receiving yards list, past Harrison Hill (1,535)
and 87 more would pass Marcus
Henry (1,599) for eighth.
• One more TD catch will tie
Fields with Mark Simmons for fourth on the KU TD receiving record list
at 16. He has caught a TD pass in three straight games.
• WR Dezmon Briscoe needs two
catches to pass Clark
Green (122) for fifth on the KU career receptions
roll. A 78-yard game will move him into fifth place on the KU receiving
yardage list ahead of Bobby Johnson (1,779) and 107 yards will pass
Emmett Edwards (1,808) for fourth.
• If Briscoe has a 100-yard
receiving day, he will take sole possession of the KU record for
consecutive 100-yard games. He is tied with five other players,
including teammate Kerry
Meier, with three.
• Speaking of Meier, four
receptions will put him in seventh place on the KU career receptions
list, passing Richard Estell (117). If he makes catches for 68 yards,
he will become the fifth KU receiver to catch for over 1,000 yards in a
single season. A 100-yard receiving game will give Meier five for the
season, tied for second on the single-season list behind Briscoe (who
already has six this year). Two other Jayhawks have five.
• Under-appreciated LB James Holt has had
at least one sack in the last five games.
• LB Joe Mortensen will
start
his team-high 38th consecutive game in the Insight Bowl.
• KU's 302.3 passing yards per
game is a new school record. Their 431.2 yards of total offense per
game is #2 all-time behind last year's 479.8. Finally, Their 32.6
points per game is #3 behind the 2007 team (42.7) and the 1968 squad
(34.5).
• Kansas has 60 plays of 20
yards or more this season (52 passes, eight rushes). Briscoe leads the
team with 20 “explosives.” Meier is second with 13.
Nine different Jayhawks made the list.
• The Jayhawks have 23 touchdown
drives lasting shorter than two minutes this season. They have also
produced 22 touchdown drives of 70-plus yards, including nine of at
least 80 yards.
• Holt leads the team in tackles
with 97. If he holds off DB Darrell
Stuckey (94), it will means that
all three starting KU linebackers will have led the team in tackles for
a season. Mike Rivera
led the team with 90 as a sophomore in 2006, and
Joe Mortensen led in 2007 with 106.
• Before the Border War, KU had
just four kickoff returns of 25 or more yards in their first eleven
games and had averaged just 17.4 yards per return. Mangino decided to
give Briscoe a shot, and the sophomore responded with four returns of
25-plus yards, including two 40-yarders. On the day, he had 195 yards
on seven returns for a 27.85 average.
• Everyone knows KU played five
ranked teams this season, but not everyone knows that KU's schedule
included seven teams who are playing in bowl games this season. Those
teams are Oklahoma,
Texas, Texas Tech, Missouri,
Nebraska, South
Florida and Louisiana
Tech (of all people).
• KU will make a school-record
11th TV appearance this season when the Insight Bowl kicks off on the
NFL Network, if you count the NFL Network as real TV.
• Congratulations and Scout
points to everyone who knew that Indianapolis
Colts head coach Tony
Dungy was the Gophers' QB in 1973.
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