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Jayhawks face much tougher conference schedule in 2008

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

LAWRENCE (AP) -- Bringing up Kansas' 2007 schedule is like picking a scab.

To this day, it remains a sore spot.

"I never thought there would ever be a time in my lifetime that the football coach at Kansas would have to defend his schedule after beating Nebraska, Texas A&M, Colorado and Virginia Tech," said Mark Mangino.

"There was a time when it was hard for Kansas to show up for those games, let alone win them."

True enough, but their pillowy-soft preconference schedule was what made the Jayhawks' school-record 12-1 mark suspect in the eyes of many. It wasn't the teams they played in the league that happened to be, through no fault of the Jayhawks, going through down years.

But none of that is a problem now. Once again, in fact, Mangino may wind up using the schedule to psyche up his troops. The road is about to get much, much tougher. Despite the loss of several key players, the Jayhawks could be better than last year and not have nearly as fine a record.

Instead of playing all four non-conference games at home against patsies, the Jayhawks will head for South Florida on Sept. 9 to take on Jim Leavitt's nationally ranked Bulls.

Instead of hosting Nebraska, an old nemesis they destroyed in Lawrence in '07, they must travel to the home of the rapidly rebuilding Huskers.

Most significantly, they've swapped the three weakest programs in the South for the three strongest. Looming ahead are Oklahoma, Texas and Texas Tech. Kansas hasn't played any of those teams since 2005, which was an entirely different era in Jayhawk football, but there's no denying the fact Mangino's record is 0-6 against them.

"We want to be able to play against all the best teams in our league," Mangino said. "And be able to beat them. That's the test for our program. We will never truly get over the hump in my eyes until we're able to defeat those teams as well."

The troops sound revved-up and ready to go.

"Last year is going to be hard to follow," said Kerry Meier, the Jayhawks' wide receiver, punter and backup quarterback. "But we are up to the challenge. We can't wait to get out there and show the fans that (last year) wasn't a fluke. We're the Jayhawks and we're for real now."

Gone are two first-team All-Americans, cornerback Aqib Talib and left tackle Anthony Collins. Talib, a first-round draft choice whose touchdown interception return keyed the 24-21 Orange Bowl victory over Virginia Tech, will be hard to replace. So will Collins, as well as the other starting tackle, Cesar Rodriguez.

The kicking game is also a big question mark. An experienced punter and an experienced place kicker must be replaced. Mangino is also determined to upgrade the punt return unit, one of the few weaknesses a year ago.

Workhorse running back Brandon McAnderson, who went for more than 1,000 yards when he finally got a chance to start as a senior, will be replaced by Jake Sharp, a junior who rushed for more than 800 yards in a backup role.

Junior quarterback Todd Reesing is by far the most important ingredient for the 2008 Jayhawks. After beating out the incumbent Meier in preseason drills, Reesing threw for more touchdowns (33) and more yards (3,486) than any other passer in school history and made possible the storybook year of 2007.

Like Mangino, Reesing sees renewed confidence rippling throughout the program.

"I think now we have a lot of confidence in ourselves," Reesing said. "Not that we lacked confidence before, but we really expect to be on the big stage now."

Another big change is in coaching. Gone is veteran defensive coordinator Bill Young, who took another job. Elevated from the staff is Clint Bowen, who's never been a coordinator.

"Our team understands everything is a process," Bowen said. "It takes a while to where we are winning some games. It's going to take hard work to keep winning games. Our (success) didn't happen overnight. We don't feel like there is any chance of a falloff because our guys didn't just luck into something.

"They worked their way into the system. They developed habits that allowed them to be successful. The one-hit wonder is a thing of the past for Kansas football. These guys have stuff invested."