SOONERGUYS Blog

So Kansas players and former players are all upset because Coach Mark Mangino poked a player in the chest because he was laughing during practice and yelled to a player that he would send him back to a violent life with his “homies” if he didn’t stop talking back.

One former player alleges Mangino gave him a speech asking him whether he was going to become a lawyer like he planned or become an alcoholic like his father. A former player at Kansas State said Mangino pushed him out of his seat because he was sleeping in a team meeting.

And now KU Athletic Director Lew Perkins is investigating alleged “abuse.”

See:  http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=4669621

Well, Jayhawks, if Mangino’s actions constituted some “abuse”, then wait until the Texas Longhorns get a hold of you on Saturday.

Mangino may be out as KU coach. Mostly because he’s lost five games in a row. Saturday night in Austin will make it six. The purported “abuse” of his players is a pretext to the AD wanting Jabba The Hut Mangino to pack up. It’s just now Perkins has some other reason to boot the 2007 Associated Press Coach of the Year.

What this really says, though, is that the complaining football players on campus in Lawrence are weak. Their response to adversity is to whine about it. These are the guys who got into a physical fight with their own basketball team (and likely lost).

It also says these players aren’t taking their “job” very seriously. Yes, I said “job”, because that is what they do in return for a free education. Laughing? Sleeping? Talking back at coaches?

And, who is to say that a college football coach, who may well be the first person to challenge a ghetto kid to make something of himself (like becoming a lawyer) rather than repeat the steps of his father and wallow in a world of alcohol and despair, is not doing the right thing for that youngster in the long run?

Of course it may well be that Mangino is a time bomb about to explode. He may have some anger management problem. But, has this just developed? As Mangino said this week he is not doing anything he hasn’t always done.

The KU athletic director wasn’t eager to investigate his coach when KU was 5-0 and 16^th in the AP Poll earlier this season. I guess yelling at players is only bad when you’re losing.

And, don’t forget, those effete national sports writers (Eg., Jay Mariotti) who are all aghast at the alleged Mangino antics are the same ones who crowned Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame member Robert Montgomery “Bobby” Knight the “General”. Now you want to see anger issues?

Early on Saturday the offense looked like a team without any drive.

But coming out of the locker room at halftime the Sooners completed their best offensive drive of the season.

Former-backup-now-starting QB Landry Jones launched a nine-play 75-yard drive in which he completed six passes – the last for a 9-yard touchdown – and, most surprisingly, found a sure handed receiver who had been the goat of the early season: Adron Tennell.

The Sooners went up 21-6 and never looked back, going on to defeat Kansas 35-13 and dispelling any naysayer notions that the three-loss Oklahoma would fold their tent after last week’s loss to Texas.

And in so doing Offensive Coodinator Kevin Wilson called plays that capitalized on a height mismatch – Tennell’s 6-4 frame against much shorter Kansas secondary men.

Jones had the hot hand. And Wilson called the hot plays, culminating in another impressive scoring drive later in the third quarter. Jones found Senior RB Chris Brown for an 8-yard touchdown and the Sooners went up 28-6.

And, this game was over.

Tennell finished the game with six catches for 47 yards. But this is what the coaches had expected of Tennell all year long.

“It’s been pleasing to see him make some plays that we’ve known he is capable of making,” Coach Bob Stoops said after the game. “It’s exciting to see him do that today and make some big plays for us.”

It helped that Ryan Broyles had another great game. His 11 catches for 121 yards placed the Norman High grad firmly among the ranks of recent Sooner receiver greats like Mark Clayton.

And, it helped that the Sooner defense has developed into a championship calibre unit.

Oklahoma is now 4-3. Although it seemed unlikely the Sooners would have any chance to play in the Big 12 Championship this season – after the Red River Rivalry game – stranger things have happened. Like, for instance, Texas A&M defeating Texas Tech 52-30 in Lubbuck. Or, lowly Iowa State beating Nebraska 9-7 in Lincoln.

Meanwhile, Oklahoma just needs to take care of its own business.

“We just need to be making improvement,” Stoops said. “Keep chopping wood and getting better. And I thought we did. It was a huge game. Our back was against the wall.”

– Mike