By Panjandrum, BOTC Staff Writer
Manhattan, KS - There was a lot of tension in the press room today as Head Football Coach Ron Prince gave his weekly press conference. After the heartbreaking 52-21 loss to rival Kansas on Saturday, rumors started to circulate around Manhattan that Prince had been removed from his position by University President Jon Wefald and Athletic Director Bob Krause. However, Prince showed up to his press conference, unfazed, and went into his standard, incoherent opening statement:
"Well, we had a rough day Saturday. Bottom line, we lost a big game to our in-state rivals. There really were not any silver linings or things to be happy about. We had an opportunity to go down and win a game on the road in an environment that we thought would be exciting to go in and do that. It was a large crowd and there were a lot of opportunities there that we left on the field. I thought that one of the more important drives was the first drive. We had several opportunities to get off the field, defensively, in that first drive but a couple of very good plays by KU players extended the drive and then to come back and turn the ball over very quickly. So on the road, we have a momentum issue. We went down, had a nice long drive, and then obviously had the turnover, so things did not go well in the first half and that is a team that does a very good job with the lead. They know how to manage the game, play the game, so we had a very difficult time. The second half, obviously, the score was the way it was. We were able to put a couple of drives together but, by in-large, I thought that our running back, Lamark Brown, did what we asked him to do. He played very, very hard and did not have the same kind of opportunities to run and to get his pads down and really get rolling downhill and you can see the result. So that is obviously something we will continue to work on.
"With our consistency in the offensive line we do not talk about injuries and that kind of thing, although we did have a couple that caused us to juggle the lineup a little bit. We just have to play better and play more consistent in there. The pressure on the quarterback was a factor early and our inability to get any pressure on their quarterback was a factor. They did a good job neutralizing any pressure we might try to bring by running the option, so that was very good by them and poor by us and me.
"Going into this week, it is pretty clear that this is a terrific offense, once again. It is like a broken record every week. We say the same thing every week - a terrific quarterback, very good running game. The young runner they have is doing a very nice job. I am real impressed with him. Obviously, No. 9 is one of the more dynamic players in college football and I think that their defense is very much underrated. They have a lot of really big, strong guys. I understand they have given up yards, but they have a lot of very physically impressive players and I would especially point to their safeties. They are very much like Oklahoma and some of the other teams we have faced. They are a tremendously large team. This team really makes you notice their secondary spots with how much size that they have.
"So, I think that it will be a great match up - one that we need to go on the road and win. It is a place that we did not have much success last time that we were there. Early on in the game, at the half it was 17-7 and we had some success in the first quarter. But the second half was a story of turnovers. We have gone back and looked at the last two games. The last few we had with them, clearly turnovers are a big issue and they are this year. We have to eliminate the turnovers, establish a running game, and be able to defend this quarterback who is a very good player. I was not surprised by how the game with Baylor turned out. I thought Baylor played very well. They are extremely fast, as you can see. They really upgraded their roster with fast players and they have a dynamic quarterback and that is how they were able to perform in this game. We have got our work week set and we are excited about getting out there and getting on the road to get another win."
After Prince successfully lulled half of the reporters in the room to sleep, he turned down the lights, fired up the projector, and played a video montage of ESPN's Erin Andrews:
Erin Andrews (via aruss85)
After the video was over, the lights came back on, and Ron Prince was nowhere to be found. There was simply a note left on the podium that said:
Thanks for coming. No further questions. We lifted a few dozen Krispy Kremes from the KU Football Offices on Saturday, so help yourselves to those and some of that leftover Folger's that Bob's been trying to get rid of in the break rooms.
- Yours, Ron
University President Wefald and Athletic Director Bob Krause couldn't be reached for comment. However, Wefald's secretary told everyone that they could help themselves to more Folgers and some lemon bars that Janet had left over from her church bake sale on Sunday.