After the Frogs: Kansas Jayhawks

Welcome to After the Frogs, where we'll be looking at how tough TCU's schedule actually was and how each team on the schedule fared after facing the Frogs. Grambling State was a bit of a non-entity as a FCS level school, but they only proved themselves to be a bad FCS level school, winning just a single game all year. As a result we skip to a school who also won just a single game last year, but hung tough against some of the best outfits in the Big 12- TCU's first Big 12 opponent, the Kansas Jayhawks.

The Frogs put together a dominant defensive performance against Kansas, which was partially cancelled out by an offense that refused to move its own foot from its crosshairs. The Frogs ended up beating the Jayhawks 20-6 in a game that should probably have been 48-6 if not for four awful fumbles within the Kansas 25 yard line, three within the Kansas 10 yard line. Things never really got better for Charlie Weis and the Jayhawks, as the TCU game was just the second of eleven consecutive losses for Kansas- but still there were some bright and not so bright spots.

When they played TCU they were: 1-1, coming off of a deflating home loss to Rice.

When they finished their season they were: 1-11, having their doors blown off by West Virginia to close the season. Tenth (last) in the Big 12.

Best moment: You can pick your near miss for the Jayhawks as the crowning "Almost" of the season. Do you value a double overtime loss to Texas Tech most? Kansas, like TCU, had one of those to their record where a late rally sent the game to overtime, only for the Jayhawks to come up just short. Perhaps you prefer what was almost their first football win over Texas in school history- a game that the Jayhawks led or were tied for over three quarters, only for the Jayhawks to give up a TD pass to backup quarterback (and morally bad person) Case McCoy with less than a minute left in the game. Or maybe you prefer their having a ten point fourth quarter lead on MAC champion and sad excuse for a BCS-buster Northern Illinois (There are two givens in the BCS season- Non-AQ teams acquit themselves well and the ACC loses. Boo on Northern Illinois for letting down the little guy). If the Jayhawks had been able to run the ball a little better in the fourth quarter they could have spared the nation from at least one of the abysmally awful BCS games that we were faced with this year, but alas- they were the 2012 Kansas Jayhawks.

Worst Moment: A 49 point loss in your last game of the season is bad, but it barely registers on the scale of awfulness when you lose to your hated in-state rival by 40. Losing by 40 in a game that you twice held a lead is doubly painful, as at least for those moments even the most jaded Jayhawk fan had to think "We have a chance!" only to be terribly, terribly disappointed as the Wildcats scored 7 touchdowns while the Jayhawk offense put zero points on the board after the two minute mark in the second quarter.

Next year?: Could be just as bad, but it probably won't be. The Jayhawks will have an excellent shot at ending their 11 game losing streak against FCS South Dakota State, but have to make the trip to Rice next year to attempt to avenge their loss. Louisiana Tech rounds out the non-conference schedule, providing two tough tests for the Jayhawks before the conference season even starts. Given the schedule facing the Jayhawks, if Charlie Weis wins five games next year give him the Big 12 coach of the year award.