Oklahoma/Kansas Football Q&A With Rock Chalk Talk

Everyone is well aware of the problems the Kansas Jayhawks have faced on the football field the last couple of seasons. However, there is only one person on SBN we can reach out to in order to truly get an insider's take on Jayhawk football. We'd like to welcome in Owen from SBN's popular Kansas fansite Rock Chalk Talk.

 CCM: Alright, we have to start with Turner Gill. At the time of his hire it seemed like KU had their hands on a really good up and coming coach. Why hasn't it worked out at Kansas for him yet and do you think it ever will?

RCT: This is the $6 million dollar question right now as people are actually beginning to question the feasibility of a buyout.  Last year was awful and we all made it through under the premise that this year we would need to be able to compete, not necessarily win more, but compete.  Now we're still not competing and while one side of the ball is definitely improved we look to be SO FAR on the other side that it might never matter.

I think if Gill could ever get the ball rolling he'll be a homerun because of his values and the way he carries himself as a person.  It's just hard to tell if maybe those same positives are big time negatives right now when he's in a situation where he needs to be a control freak trying to build a program.

CCM: If you could go back in time (and you had the power to decide) would you have kept Mangino or was it time for a change?

RCT:Here's the thing.  99% of KU fans never wanted Mangino gone.  In fact it never even crossed most of our minds until the smear campaign was launched.  Once that happened, the damage was done and a change had to happen.  Mangino did a great deal for Kansas football and I'm not suggesting that he would be doing any better than Gill but I don't think you'll find too many Kansas fans that were leading the charge to fire him until the damage was done and it looked like a situation that couldn't continue to exist.

CCM: The Jayhawk defense is allowing opponents to score an average nearly 50 points per game. Are they young, inexperienced or overwhelmed? Putting you on the spot here, who scores more points against the Jayhawks - Oklahoma's football team or basketball team?

RCT: Yes we are young, yes we are inexperienced and while I won't speak for players and say they are overwhelmed I will say that we lack some depth on the defensive line and that hurts us in a lot of ways.  As bad as it is I can't see any way to blame anything but some sort of coaching deficiency on the defensive side of the ball.  Whether it's how they prepare, how they scheme or whatever the case may be, this is a historically bad defense. 

As to the second part of your question...hmmmm.  I'll take the easy way out and say that in a full round robin we play you twice in basketball so the basketball team scores more.

CCM: We're big fans of Kansas running back James Sims. He has the Jayhawks with the fourth best rushing attack in the Big 12. Tell us a bit about his running style and supporting cast.  

RCT: James Sims is a smart football player and it's fun to watch.  He's patient, makes good reads, and he has a burst when he hits the hole.  He also has a physical running style which helps him get a few extra yards.  All in all he's a fun back to watch.

Behind him we have Darrian Miller, Tony Pierson and Brandon Bourbon.  All three are freshman and all three bring a little something different to the backfield.  The group is by far the best thing Kansas has going when looking at the future and a lot of that credit has to go to the offensive line and their improvement from last year to this year.

CCM: Score prediction time. Tell us how you think the game will shake out and what the final score will be.

RCT: Pretty nervous about this one.  Home game and a fanbase that is a bit on the ropes so to speak.  I'm afraid that this gets out of hand early and we end up with empty seats on a National broadcast.  I do think the Kansas offense plays well which will help.  It's also at home so I'm hoping we avoid the 70 point level that we saw a week ago.  Still I think Oklahoma has a fairly comfortable lead at the half and if there is any doubt, they blow the doors of in the 3rd quarter.  Final score 63-28.  Small victories...we keep it below 70.