Big 12 Report: Turner Gill Already Feeling Heat at Kansas

The sense of Kansas Jayhawks fans jumping overboard is real.

There couldn't have been a more disastrous way to begin the Turner Gill era than with Saturday's dud of a 6-3 home loss to Football Championship Subdivision power North Dakota State. It's possible Turner may never be forgiven for such an embarrassing defeat.

"With us losing this week, a lot of people may have jumped off the boat," junior linebacker Steven Johnson acknowledged Monday.

Some will argue the biggest splash of all came from athletic director Lew Perkins, who moved up his previously planned retirement a whole year Tuesday and made it effective immediately.

The Perkins issue aside, Gill is certainly feeling the pressure in his first big-time head coaching job after his opening week. The Jayhawks, who experienced enormous success under ousted coach Mark Mangino, had become accustomed to scheduling teams like North Dakota State for confidence-builders as they head into Big 12 play and harder competition.

But now the Jayhawks and even the new coaching staff have to be questioning themselves with No.15 Georgia Tech heading to Lawrence on Saturday. Instead of talking this week about fine tuning or tweaking areas, offensive coordinator Chuck Long and Gill are trying to figure out whether sophomore Kale Pick or redshirt freshman Jordan Webb give them the best chance to win at quarterback.

Not the issue you want with a team like the Yellow Jackets coming to Lawrence on Saturday.

"We didn't play very well," said Gill. "We've got to get everybody focused and ready to play better. Then you've got an outstanding opponent in Georgia Tech coming to town.

"Those two things gets all of us more focused, more in tune. I think also going from your first ballgame to your second ballgame is where you make your biggest improvement. We hope that will take place for us."

The biggest improvement will obviously have to come at quarterback, where Pick was ineffective as the starter. He was eventually pulled in favor of Webb, who showed some flashes. Gill said Monday he wasn't sure which quarterback would start Saturday.

"We are trying to figure what's best for us to move the football and score touchdowns and ultimately who is that right person to do it," Gill said. "Maybe we find out, maybe we don't. But we are right now going to evaluate that position to give us the best chance to be successful."

As for his team's psyche, Gill insists it will be fine. But keep in mind this is the same team that lost seven straight to end last season after starting 5-0 and then went through the investigation and ouster of its coach for mistreatment of his players.

This might be a much tougher job than Gill realized and one that might require getting worse before it gets better.

"You have to keep everything in perspective and you've got to keep everything going in the right direction," said Gill, who inherited a team that lost its top quarterback and top two receivers.

"We know we have to implement our offense, implement our defense and all those things of that nature. It takes time and obviously it's going to take a little bit more as far as getting things going in the right direction, particularly on offense, which is usually the phase where it takes a little bit longer particularly when you are trying to find your quarterback. All those things combined, unfortunately we have to do a little bit better job of teaching and we've got to get the right people in the right places to make plays for us."

Newton to Start for Longhorns

It took just one week and maybe a sprained ankle for Texas coach Mack Brown to realize he picked the wrong back to lead the charge on the ground.

A week after Brown shocked everyone and picked short-yardage specialist Cody Johnson as the fifth-ranked Longhorns' starting tailback for the season opener, he said Monday that sophomore Tre' Newton (right) would be in the starting role this week against Wyoming.

That move makes a lot more sense because of the burst and speed Newton displays. He showed a great deal of potential last season as a redshirt freshman, and during Saturday's game seemed like he was ready to pick up where he left off.

Newton, the son of former Dallas Cowboys All-Pro offensive lineman Nate Newton, ran for 61 yards and three touchdowns during the Longhorns' 34-17 win over Rice in the season opener. That was enough to convince the running backs coach Major Applewhite and Brown that Newton deserved the nod this week.

Newton, however, downplayed the significance of drawing the starting assignment.

"To be honest, I don't really put much emphasis or thought into that," said Newton, who led the Longhorns on the ground last season with 552 yards and six touchdowns on 116 carries. "I just approach each week just trying to be the best I can be and listen to coach [Major] Applewhite and see ways I can improve. Us as running backs, we all do that because you never know when your number's going to be called, so you approach each week the same, whether you're the starter or not."

Johnson, meanwhile, didn't look nearly as explosive and at times looked hesitant, even in short-yardage situations. Brown says a major reason for that was Johnson sprained his ankle on the second play of a the game – an 18-yard run – but he didn't tell the coaching staff or trainers so that he could keep playing.

Johnson, who finished with 59 yards, played through the fourth quarter, though Fozzy Whittaker and Newton handled most of the load late in the game.

Pelini Goes With Redshirt Freshman at QB

Nebraska coach Bo Pelini had kept his starting quarterback decision under wraps through fall camp and didn't reveal it until just before kickoff against Western Kentucky last Saturday.

It turns out he might have had a good reason. Then, in hindsight, all the secrecy before meeting Western Kentucky should have given it away.

Pelini started redshirt freshman Taylor Martinez over incumbents Zac Lee and Cody Green. Pelini defended keeping his quarterback decision quiet until just 30 minutes before game time.

"I also didn't want the guys who weren't going to be the starter who played well throughout camp to go through that, either," he said. "I wanted them to be able to concentrate also.

"I don't know whether it was right or wrong or indifferent, that's just how we thought it was the best way of going about it as a staff."

Martinez certainly didn't disappoint when given his opportunity, making explosive plays with his feet and arm in the Cornhuskers hybrid that's half spread and half West Coast offense. The dual-threat quarterback exploded for 127 yards on seven carries while scoring touchdowns on runs of 46, 19 and 15 yards. He also completed 9 of 15 passes for 136 yards in the Huskers' 49-10 rout.

The Cornhuskers were so successful in Martinez's debut that they jumped up two spots in the AP poll this week to No.6.

"He's a really explosive athlete. He'd be very similar ... I feel real good about all three quarterbacks," said Pelini, who played all three quarterbacks last week and appears determined to do the same this week against Idaho. "It's not like we'd have to dramatically change what we are doing offensively for any of them. I think that is a good situation, plus it keeps the competition going, it keeps continuity in the offense. They can all run, they can all throw, they are all pretty multi-purpose guys. They've all proven to be that."

Back to Reality

One of the Oklahoma players declared the Sooners were on top of the world after getting past Utah State, 31-24, on Saturday.

His coach begs to differ.

"I don't know of top of what world they are talking about. We are far from that," said OU coach Bob Stoops, whose team dropped a few spots in both polls this week after the uninspired season-opening win. "I've sure tried to explain that to them. It doesn't take much to be off or one play or two here or there or a technique error and you are going to be in a bad way."

Particularly troubling was how Utah State moved the ball through the air against the Sooners' inexperienced cornerbacks. Led by quarterback Diondre Borel, Utah State managed 341 yards and two touchdowns through the air to put a scare into OU.

Not only did cornerbacks Jamell Fleming and DeMontre Hurst struggle, but so did senior safety Jonathan Nelson, who was briefly benched Saturday.

If this continues to be a weakness, you can bet that when 17th ranked Florida State and quarterback Christian Ponder come into Norman on Saturday, the Sooners will be under even more assault.

"We've just got to get some things polished up, but in the end it's a totally different style of offense compared to what we dealt with last week," Stoops said. "You are working some coverages and some things you don't play all year because of all of the triple option and everything they are doing.

"When we have opportunities to make plays we've got to make them. We had guys in position that are there and lose track of the football, turn their back on the quarterback and can't make a play. Those kind of things just should be natural. There are guys I've seen them do it before so I have confidence that they will be able to do it."

Return of Wrecking Crew?

Texas A&M has been in search of the swarming and attacking defense it has been accustomed for more than 10 years.

Well Tim DeRuyter, in his debut as the Aggies defensive coordinator, gave the fans at Kyle Field reason to believe Saturday as he unveiled his attacking 3-4 scheme with great success.

The Aggies held their opponent to 266 yards, 61 of which came on the final drive, without the services of star defensive player Von Miller for much of the game. Okay, the opponent was just Stephen F. Austin. But it was a start.

"I thought we tackled well, we chased the ball real well," coach Mike Sherman said. "That was a marked improvement.

"I felt pretty good about defense. We still have a ways to go, there is no question about that. But I thought it was a good first game for them."

Unfortunately, we won't know how good DeRuyter's defense is until the Aggies face their first real challenge on Sept. 30 at Oklahoma State.