unKool Kliff Kingsbury

On Thursday night, I was repulsed by a totally classless, inexcusable action.  Texas Tech was hosting perennial doormat Kansas (Oh, where have you gone, Mark Mangino??).  There were less than 2 minutes left in the game and, typically, Kansas was being outclassed 55-19.  Not that the Jayhawks were not used to being on the short end of the stick.  The rout in Lubbock would prove to be the 40th consecutive road loss for hapless Kansas (One has to go back to a 2009 game at UTEP to find a Jayhawk road victory).

Tech has a 4th and 13, on, very roughly, the Kansas 40.  The call on the next play simply should not have happened.  The QB throws a bomb into the end zone.  Thankfully, the pass was not completed but the total lack of sportsmanship shown by the play call was appalling.  Perhaps one could rationalize that maybe Kliff Kingsbury was trying to give a backup QB a rare shot for glory.  But even that lame rationale would not hold water here as the backup QB, Nic Shimonek, had ALREADY thrown for 4 TD passes (Patrick Mahomes had been injured earlier in the game).

Football can be a dog-eat-dog sport but that call was so classless and unsporting given poor Kansas’ unparalleled woes.  The Kansas football players are human beings and to try to needlessly tack on another score was the type of action only a bully or a twisted mind would contemplate.

Kliff Kingsbury no doubt wanted to add to his team’s always gaudy passing statistics.  To try to remain #1 in the country.  But some sportsmanship should govern here.  If Kingsbury spent less time reading about his team’s passing stats and more trying to buttress an always pitiful defense, perhaps that would be a better use of his time.  Media types have raved about Kingsbury’s good looks and how hot he is.  In that context, I think of the Temptations’ Motown classic, “Beauty is Only Skin Deep.”

As College Football Odyssey always prefers to end on a positive note, look for South Alabama coach, Joey Jones, to have some intriguing coaching offers for 2017.  South Alabama dumped #19 ranked San Diego State, 42-24, even with the handicap of having to go with a backup QB.  The upset was the 3rd large upset over the past 13 months for Jones.   Congratulations, coach!

Nic Shimonek