Jayhawks squander opportunity to end losing streaks
A positive sendoff that players no doubt wanted to give spirited, and outgoing, coach David Beaty almost materialized against in-state rival Kansas State.
Kansas was in position to end a 43-game Big 12 losing streak dating to 2008, as well as a losing streak in the series that dates to the return of veteran Bill Snyder as the Wildcats coach.
But alas, the Jayhawks committed two costly penalties to wipe out huge gains on their final possession before quarterback Peyton Bender lost an unforced fumble as Kansas State held on for a 21-17 victory on Nov. 10. The loss was the 40th in four seasons for Beaty and dropped the Jayhawks to 3-7 overall and 1-6 in the Big 12 entering Saturday’s visit to Oklahoma.
“It hurt knowing there was nothing else we could do when they jumped on the ball,” said senior wide receiver Steven Sims. “There’s nothing else we could do about it.”
Whatever the Jayhawks could do to keep Beaty in his job was taken away earlier in the week when first-year athletic director Jeff Long announced the coach would not be retained at the end of the season. The move was no surprise. Long was hired to attempt to resuscitate a moribund program that has been as bad as any in the FBS over the past decade.
During that period, Kansas State regained superiority within the state borders, doing so under Snyder, who has nonetheless taken considerable heat from his own fans for the Wildcats’ problems this season. Those issues almost enabled Kansas to end a couple of dubious streaks, though Beaty did not want to admit he sensed his players had rallied behind him.
“I simply won’t allow that. It has nothing to do with me. Never has, never will,” Beaty said. “But for them, for each other, I think that’s where their tears are.”
The rebuilding project he will not complete frankly did not get too far off the ground considering his 6-40 record includes just four FBS wins and two Big 12 victories. Yet the problems with Kansas football began with the dubious firing of a popular coach, Mark Mangino, and accusations of player mistreatment from an athletic director, Lew Perkins, who ran crossways with his coach.
From there, the hiring of Turner Gill by Perkins did nothing but begin sinking Kansas, which then sank even further under Charlie Weis. That led to the hiring of Beaty, who had been wide receivers coach at Texas A&M and has been overwhelmed at times by running a program fraught with deficiencies.
Progress is evident this season, particularly in a defense that ranks among the best in the country at takeaways. The Jayhawks, however, still lack the efficiency and discipline needed to make plays needed to win football games.
That was again obvious when Bender looked to be dumping off a screen pass to promising freshman running back Pooka Williams, only to have the ball just slip from his hand before it moved forward. A madcap scramble for the loose ball ensued and finally Kansas State recovered, ending the upset bid inside the final 30 seconds after the Jayhawks had driven, despite the previous penalties, to the Kansas State 32.
“That last play is certainly not the play that lost us the game,” Beaty said. “There was a lot of other things that I can point to that probably kept us from being able to win it.”
Probably so considering the losing streaks that remained intact and the opportunity the Jayhawks squandered before going on the road again for a demanding test against No. 6 Oklahoma (9-1, 6-1), the Big 12 co-leader with a 13-game win streak over Kansas.
