(Promoted to the front page because it is, after all, Front Page Friday.)

after last week's terd at arrowhead, this week I've been trying to figure out how I feel about this year's team.  i generally stay pretty positive and avoid the urge to cliff-jump, but that crap was hard to take.

i had originally planned to go to the game as part of my annual pilgrimage across kansas from colorado, but my cousin's high school team was playing in the state final in st louis so we went there instead.  i'm glad now since i would've been plenty mad in kc and my cousin's team won.  good choice even if it did add 4+ hours of driving thru 'wintry mix' to our trip.

going into last week, i had the feeling that we would come out flat and ku would be jacked up.  so the close game didn't really surprise me, but i didn't think we would actually lose.  while i'm always optimistic that mu will play well, the lack of defensive awareness on this squad is extremely frustrating.  too many times this year, we've had the opportunity to make a play at a crucial moment and had it backfire.  willy mo dropping an easy int last week is a good example.  for the most part they do a good job against the run and *at times* can generate a decent pass rush.  it would be nice if every now and then one of our blitzers wasn't swallowed up by the scrum and actually touched the qb.  the defensive backfield has looked sketchy all year, like 4 individuals instead of a team.  i don't necessarily think its scheme problem, but there are definitely some communication and responsibility issues with that group, which ultimately falls on the coaches.

offensively, i guess there's not a whole lot to bitch about, but daniel is a bit squirrelly back there sometimes.  i think he has a tendency to let the really good teams get in his head at times.  i would love to see us run the ball more (especially on 2nd down) as i'm a big fan of washington.  the one thing that drives me nuts is throwing to the deep sidelines on 3rd down.  i actually do like most of the screens we run, because the usually work and set up the deep ball.

i tried to keep my expectations for this season under control for the most part, probably to keep from being too devastated when things don't work out.  i doubted that we could beat texas and wouldn't have been surprised to lose another (maybe illinois or nebraska or osu).  so 10-2/11-1 was what i was looking for.  9-3 and losing to ku is definitely a disappointment.  however, being one of 2 teams with the opportunity to be big 12 champs is pretty flipping cool if you ask me.  based on my expectations before last season, we are doing wonderfully and i should just shut my stupid pie-hole with the complaining.  its not hard to remember how crappy we were for so long.

anyway, nothing earth shattering here.  just thought i would share some of the thoughts i've had this week.  i hope we can win tomorrow, but even if we don't i'll still be proud of our team and coaches for even getting there.

ps- i know i shouldn't do this, but i'm actually starting to care about the bball team again.  they have at least moved past the unwatchable stage and are now fairly entertaining and easy to cheer for.