College football continues to make headlines on and off the field. After this weekend’s action, we take a look at some of the bigger stories across the country.
Jayhawks Fire Offensive Coordinator
First-year coach Les Miles is setting higher standards with the Kansas football team, so a day after the Jayhawks fell 45-20 to Oklahoma, he dismissed offensive coordinator Les Koenning.
Brent Dearmon has been promoted to offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach from his senior offensive analyst position.
Kansas fell to 2-4 on the season with the loss to the Sooners. The Jayhawks are averaging 22.8 points, though taking away their 48-point performance in a win at Boston College drops that average to 17.8 points in the other five games.
“This was a difficult decision, but it is in the best interest of our football program both now and in the future,” Miles said in a statement. “There is still a lot of football left to play this season, and I want to put our players in the best position to be successful, which is why I am making the change now.”
Kansas ranks 101st in the country in scoring, 102nd in yards, 104th in passing and 116th in first downs per game. The Jayhawks have a week off before facing Texas on the road on Oct. 19.
Wait Til Next Year
In what is starting to become a trend, a pair of players for Rutgers will sit the rest of the season in order to remain eligible to redshirt and preserve a year of eligibility. Sophomore quarterback Art Sitkowski and junior running back Raheem Blackshear asked Rutgers interim coach Nunzio Campanile to sit them out against Maryland on Saturday, the Scarlet Knights’ fifth game of the season.
Campanile was recently named the interim head coach after Chris Ash was fired four games into his fourth season with the school.
“Am I disappointed by it? Incredibly. Do I understand it? I guess so. I guess that’s the way the world is now,” Campanile said following the Scarlet Knights’ 48-7 loss to Maryland. “I think that this is a game about your team, you know, and it’s about sacrificing personal accomplishment for the success of the team. But that’s the world they live in, and they have got a lot of people telling them, you know, ‘Worry about you, worry about you.’ I get it.”
There’s no word if either Sitkowski or Blackshear plans to transfer. Sitkowski and Blackshear were both starters for the Scarlet Knights and suited up for Saturday’s game, but neither played in the contest.
Two weeks ago, Houston quarterback D’Eriq King and wide receiver Keith Corbin both made the same decision to not play after the Cougars’ fourth game in order to preserve their year of eligibility.
Missouri QB Injured
Missouri quarterback Kelly Bryant left Saturday’s game with Troy with a leg injury just before halftime and didn’t return due to a leg injury.
Bryant threw a touchdown pass to Jalen Knox and was hit by Troy defensive tackle Travis Salio. Bryant immediately fell to the ground holding his knee, and Salio was flagged for roughing the passer.
After halftime, Missouri announced that Bryant would miss the rest of the game with the left leg injury. Bryant came to the Tigers prior to this season as a graduate transfer from Clemson.
