Wiki Law School

TOLEDO — After a year of planning, the Imagination Station’s newest exhibition, Grow U, opened Wednesday morning.

Imagination Station says its new exhibit combines the newest in technology with the world of agriculture and farming.

Grow U features a number of interactive features, including ”FARM 101: Know It to Grow IT!,” where participants can sit down in the tractor seat and test their knowledge on anything from seeds to soil, satellites to sun and everything agriculture in between. High scorers can achieve the “Master Farmer” status.

“As a science center in the heart of the Midwest, Grow U is a natural fit for Imagination Station,” said Lori Hauser, executive director of the science center. “Educating children about where their food comes from is a valuable lesson that will impact them for a lifetime.”

Grow U also features science and technology content from the Ohio Achievement Assessments and is aligned to science academic content standards ion both and Ohio and Michigan. Teachers are able to access Grow U exhibit guides available at to more effectively help them plan their visit to the science center.

Twenty-five teams down, 99 to go. When you put it that way, it’s hard to find the light at the end of the tunnel. Perhaps Id be wise to take a cue from the triple-digit portion of this summer’s Countdown, which carries a different feel than in years past. I can think of one clear reason why: For many of the bottom 25, the coming season brings with it tremendous reason for optimism. Not optimism in the traditional sense – in the idea that despite the odds, a program feels it can challenge for a major breakthrough – but in the sense that come win, lose or draw, a program is playing with house money. This is somewhat a result of the four new F.B.S. programs that came off of the board in April: Texas-San Antonio, South Alabama, Texas State and Massachusetts.

These teams don’t care for wins as much as they care simply about the games themselves: whether the Roadrunners go winless doesn’t matter, but the fact that the Roadrunners are in a position to go winless does – the program has joined the party, and that fact, not the final standings, will define its first season on the F.B.S. level.

Another six schools are in the same body of water, though not the same boat. Akron, Memphis, U.A.B., Florida Atlantic, Tulane and Colorado State realize that the tide won’t immediately turn, but these programs are happy to take on another downtrodden finish under a new coaching staff if it means better days lie ahead. The new staff brings hope; for now, hope is as good as wins.

Kansas has Charlie Weis, but B.C.S. conference programs are less willing to accept more of the same – another last-place finish – than their non-B.C.S. conference counterparts. For evidence, look no further than Kansas itself: the Jayhawks jettisoned Turner Gill after two dreadful seasons, though Kansas seemed to get worse as Gill’s tenure progressed, leading to his dismissal.

So this has been somewhat of a feel-good bottom 25: not feel-great, mind you, but there’s less negativity surrounding this cellar-dwelling portion of the F.B.S. than in the recent past. More than a third of these teams – those mentioned above, and even Kansas, to a degree – carry enough excitement about the future into the fall to ignore the looming specter of a rebuilding season. Or simply a building season, when it comes to the fresh-faced, wet-behind-the-ears Roadrunners.

The negativity is focused in one spot: Chestnut Hill. The Eagles are a train wreck on the field and off, thanks to mishandling of the program on a large scale and smaller, day-to-day missteps by those charged with leading B.C. back into A.C.C. contention. Don’t blame the players; instead, find fault with those in charge of the football program.

But there’s a difference between B.C. and the vast majority of the bottom 25: the Eagles have a chance. Not a chance at winning 10 games, or even challenging Florida State and Clemson for the Atlantic division title. But the Eagles have a so-so chance at reversing this current three-year slide and moving back into bowl play – actually improving, which is something this program hasn’t done since Jeff Jagodzinski’s first season.

B.C. is one of three triple-digit programs with the wherewithal – if the program can get out of its own way – to surge back into the postseason. The second is Ball State, which despite a moderately difficult schedule and some personnel issues seems poised to be a perennial factor in the MAC under Pete Lembo. The third is Troy, which needs only to button up defensively to move back into the Sun Belt’s good graces.

Consider each in turn. What does B.C. have? A new offensive coordinator in Doug Martin, formerly of New Mexico State. A quarterback growing into the position – growing on the fly, which has led Chase Rettig to hit more than a few speed bumps along the way. Talent in the backfield. Returning experience along the offensive line. Promising youth along the back seven on defense.

In my mind, Ball State has one of the best young coaches in college football – even if Lembo remains completely unknown on a national level. The Cardinals will be better offensively in their second season in Lembo’s season. The defense has holes, true, but as on offense, there’s reason to think that the added experience with the new coaching staff will lead to an improved performance.

And Troy is Troy: the Trojans dominated the Sun Belt for so long as to make last season an aberration, even if the swoon carries over into this coming season. All the Trojans need to do, even if this sounds easier in theory than in action, is become more physical in the running game and limit the number of big plays in the passing game.

So why so negative about the Eagles, seeing that the team does have the ability to surpass its preseason expectations? One is the program’s location: expectations differ when you move to the B.C.S. conference landscape, and doubly so when Frank Spaziani and the current staff – with a few new additions on offense – are set to enter their fourth season.

A second reason is harder to define. Think of like this: Boston College’s decline was of its own making. The Eagles were there, winning eight or more with ease, for more than a decade. Then the program spit the bit, slowly but surely self-destructing following its decision to fire Jagodzinski early in 2009. The first error was hiring Spaziani, since that hire was motivated solely by the desire to avoid another broken heart; B.C. didn’t like getting jilted at the altar, and knew that Spaziani was never, ever going to leave the program for greener pastures.

How many programs in college football would kill to experience the sort of run B.C. went through from 1999-2008? Kent State hasn’t won more than six games in a season in 25 years. Tulane is 52-103 since Tommy Bowden left after the 1998 season. Things are looking up at Eastern Michigan, but that program remains more than two decades removed from its last winning season. Northwestern? Vanderbilt? U.A.B., Akron, Duke?

Think any one of that group – or countless others in the F.B.S. – wouldn’t kill for a run like the one B.C. experienced for 11 years? Or even half of that run, or a third of that run, or just one eight-win season? That’s why it’s so easy to be negative about the Eagles: because they were the envy of so many, without even knowing it, and threw it all away. It wasn’t taken away; it was given away. Twenty-four of the bottom 25 can find one reason or another to be excited about 2012. At B.C., there’s enough negativity to go around.

Philadelphia is about to take a fateful step. Thomas Knudsen, the recently retired chief executive officer of the Philadelphia Gas Works and now temporary CEO of the school system, has released a plan that will lead to the dismantling of public education in Philadelphia. The plan, or “blueprint,” was written by a business strategy organization called Boston Consulting; it recommends the closing of 40 of the city’s 249 schools in the coming year, with additional school closings in the years to come. The goal is to have a school district where the central district is phased out and a large portion of the students are enrolled in privately managed charter schools.

The most comprehensive (and alarming) account of the disestablishment of public education in Philadelphia is Daniel Denvir’s article “Who’s Killing Philly Public Schools?” As Denvir concludes, “If Knudsen’s proposal goes through, the country’s eighth-largest school district, in its fifth-largest city, will no longer exist in any meaningful sense. And neither will any remaining pretense that America offers everyone, regardless of race or class, an equal shot.”

As Denvir reminds his readers, the public schools have been under state control since 2001, and privatization is not a new idea. For the past decade, the Philadelphia schools have been managed by a five-member School Reform Commission, with three members appointed by the governor and two by the Philadelphia mayor. In 2002, the reform commission hired Paul Vallas, the former superintendent in Chicago, to run the school system. Vallas launched a dramatic experiment in privatization, handing schools over to for-profit organizations, nonprofits, charters, and universities. One of designers of the privatization experiment was Edison Schools, which took over several public schools in Philadelphia, as well as the school system in Chester-Upland (also under state control).

In Philadelphia, the district schools competed with charter schools and other privately managed schools that had a contract with the city. RAND Corp. studied the privatization experiment in Philadelphia and concluded that neither the charters nor the privately contracted schools were getting better results than the district schools. By 2009, it was clear that the privatization experiment had failed. Meanwhile, Paul Vallas left for New Orleans, where he was able to work with a blank slate in a district where public education had been wiped out by a hurricane.

The bottom line, which neither the reform commission nor the mayor nor the governor wants to confront, is that Philadelphia’s public schools have never been adequately funded by the state. Pennsylvania relies on property taxes, and poor cities have less money to spend on education than wealthy suburbs. Philadelphia parents and students have protested against privatization, but their protests have fallen on closed ears. Helen Gym, the Philadelphia leader of Parents Across America has been a vocal protest leader.

I happened to be in Philadelphia on the day after Boston Consulting’s “Blueprint” was released, and I talked with reporters. They told me that the Philadelphia plan was based on New York City’s “achievement networks.” I must say I was stumped because I couldn’t find anyone in New York City who could say for sure what these so-called achievement networks are or what they do. Everyone had a different idea of what Philadelphia was trying to copy. I asked if the School Reform Commission intended to double its spending on its schools, as New York City had done, and the reporters were taken aback: “Of course not, this is supposed to be a budget-cutting plan.” I pointed out to them that New York City’s school budget had gone from $12.5 billion in 2002 to about $24 billion today. They didn’t know that.

I also noted that New York City’s phenomenal state test scores had collapsed in 2010, when the New York state education department acknowledged that the state scores were wildly inflated. And New York City had seen some gains on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, but not so much as other cities. So why was New York City a model? No one knew.

But this is the puzzle: Philadelphia is a city that ran a bold experiment in privatization that failed. A number of charters in Philadelphia are under investigation for corruption. Philadelphia had five years of the services of the nation’s leading turnaround superintendent, Paul Vallas, and it remains in deep trouble. Philadelphia has had state control of its public schools for a full decade. Now the leaders of the city think that public education is the problem.

One of the local journalists explained the problem succinctly. He said, “The kids of Philadelphia are mostly poor and black. The people in the state capitol don’t want to take responsibility for those kids. They cost too much.”

Mr. Knudsen was asked how his plan would address the deficit, the layoffs, and the lack of adequate resources. He replied, “The things that other networks do in other parts of the country is that these networks attract resources.” Ah, that’s the answer. With enough privatization, wealthy donors will make contributions. The noble rich can be counted on to take care of the deserving poor.

I can’t help being reminded of the origins of urban education in cities like Philadelphia and New York City. The earliest schools for children of the poor were charity schools supported in part by public taxes, but subsidized by the benevolent rich and managed by private boards of trustees. It seems we are now going full circle to recreate the charity schools of the early 19th century.

As we abandon public schools, we abandon any sense of public responsibility for a basic public service. That’s worse than a mistake. It’s a tragedy. What will be privatized next? Police protection? Fire protection? Clean air? Potable water?

Diane

Go ahead. Make his day. Try him. He’ll be your huckleberry. See that line in the sand? Cross it, if you dare. All that’s missing is a gun, a holster, a wide-brimmed hat and a six-shooter: Charlie Weis, the new sheriff in town, won’t take any of your sass-mouth, your weak-kneed cowardice, your yellow-bellying. He’d be the Man with No Name, but Weis is far too recognizable a figure to go anywhere, anytime and go unnamed. Instead, he’s rode into Lawrence like Wyatt Earp, bestride his transportation device of choice and with an incalculable degree of confidence self-christened or otherwise. How has Weis decided to reverse the apathy that has crept up and invaded every nook and cranny of Kansas football? He’s combined two parts schematic advantage, one part N.C.A.A. graduate-student loophole and four parts no-nonsense accountability. Want to challenge the new sheriff in town? Then draw, pardner. But you should pack your bags first.

Conference
Big 12

Location
Lawrence, Kan.

Nickname
Jayhawks

Returning starters
12 (6 offense, 6 defense)

Last year’s ranking
No. 100

2011 record
(2-10, 0-9)

Last years
re-ranking
No. 112

2012 schedule

• Sept. 1
  South Dakota St.
• Sept. 8
  Rice
• Sept. 15
  T.C.U.
• Sept. 22
  at N.I.U.
• Oct. 6
  at Kansas St.
• Oct. 13
  Oklahoma St.
• Oct. 20
  at Oklahoma
• Oct. 27
  Texas
• Nov. 3
  at Baylor
• Nov. 10
  at Texas Tech
• Nov. 17
  Iowa St.
• Dec. 1
  at West Virginia

Last years prediction

Year two feels suspiciously like year one, as I noted in a post earlier today. And that’s not a great feeling for Kansas, though there’s still hope that this rebuilding project — and this is a rebuilding project happening — won’t last beyond this season. The Jayhawks have a number of issues to address before turning that corner, however. So it’s not as if Kansas is ready to take a leap forward in 2011; even if it was, the schedule is going to make things a struggle. Welcome to life in the new Big 12, Jayhawks. Welcome to yearly tilts with Texas, Oklahoma, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Oklahoma State and Baylor. It won’t be easy, especially when you’re trying to rebuild on the fly.

2011 recap

In a nutshell When you combine a historically bad defense with the weakest offense in the high-test Big 12, you get one of the worst teams in program history. Last fall’s Jayhawks greatly resembled Mark Mangino’s first team, back in 2002; unfortunately, this was Turner Gills second year with the program. Still, it was at least somewhat surprising to see K.U. jettison Gill so quickly into his tenure, especially when given his reputation as a program builder, not a coach who can walk right in and turn a perennial loser into an immediate winner. Perhaps the university was alarmed at the rate of the program’s decline: Kansas had won 12 games only four years before, remember, and eight games a year later. What went wrong off the field? Not much, if anything at all. As Notre Dame once famously said of Ty Willingham, Gill was one of the finest coaches in college football from Sunday to Friday. His weakness lay on Saturday, when the Jayhawks found a way to hit new lows every seven days from Sept. 17 through the end of the regular season.

High point It’s rare that a win by a Big 12 team over a squad from the MAC would qualify as an upset, but here you go: Kansas, in its final victory on the season, knocked off the eventual MAC champs, Northern Illinois, by 45-42 on Sept. 17. The defense was terrible this would be a theme but the offense was superb. After knocking off the Huskies, the Jayhawks were 2-0. The good times wouldn’t last.

Low point It doesn’t get much worse than losing by 38 points to Kansas State. Then again, it doesn’t get any worse than losing to Missouri in the final Border War. Those two losses made a 31-30 overtime defeat to Baylor one where Kansas held a 24-3 fourth quarter lead feel like a moral victory.

Tidbit In 2011, Kansas finished last in the F.B.S. in total defense, scoring defense (43.8 points per game), yards allowed per play and yards allowed per carry. The Jayhawks ranked 119th in rushing touchdowns allowed and yards allowed per pass attempt. The Jayhawks ranked 118th in pass efficiency defense, opposing completion percentage, first downs allowed and sacks. More: 117th in tackles for loss; 116th in total rushing yards allowed and third down defense; 115th in giving up plays of 10 or more yards. What else? The K.U. defense was on the field for 866 plays, which ranked 52nd nationally. So this defense allowed 516.4 yards per game despite being on the field for an average of 72.2 plays per game. If the Jayhawks’ defense had been on the field as often as was Oklahoma State’s an average of 83.7 plays per game it would have allowed just shy of 600 yards per game. As it was, K.U. fell shy of Maryland’s F.B.S. record for total defense (553 yards per game) and Louisiana-Lafayette’s record for scoring defense (50.3 points per game).

Tidbit (winless edition) Kansas was not the first team in Big 12 history to go winless during conference play. In fact, this wasn’t the first time K.U. had gone winless in the Big 12 since the conference was formed in 1996; the Jayhawks were held winless during Mangino’s debut season in 2002. Baylor went 0-8 four times: 1999-2001 and 2008. Iowa State has gone winless twice, in 2003 and 2008. But last year’s team became the first to go 0-9 during Big 12 play — remember that the league added a conference game following the loss of Nebraska and Colorado. How long the Big 12 maintains this nine-game conference schedule depends on the league’s future expansion plans. I’m sure something is in the works.

Former players in the N.F.L.

7 WR Dezmon Briscoe (Tampa Bay), OT Anthony Collins (Cincinnati), CB Chris Harris (Denver), WR Kerry Meier (Atlanta), LB Mike Rivera (New England), S Darrell Stuckey (San Diego), CB Aqib Talib (Tampa Bay).

Arbitrary top five list

Direct branches on the Dean Smith coaching tree
1. Roy Williams.
2. Larry Brown.
3. Billy Cunningham.
4. George Karl.
5. Doug Moe.

Coaching

Charlie Weis (Notre Dame ’78), entering his first season at Kansas. Most famously, Weis went 35-27 in five seasons at Notre Dame, his alma mater. Let’s start with the positives: After inheriting a program in disarray following the firing of Ty Willingham, Weis led the Irish to back-to-back B.C.S. bowl appearances from 2005-6. Following the debacle that was the 2007 season – which took much of the shine off his tremendous two-year run – Weis needed a big year in 2008 to completely quiet his critics. He didn’t get the comeback season he needed, though the Irish did return to bowl play; nevertheless, Weis was again placed on the hot seat entering his fifth year with the program. He didn’t deliver, if you can recall. A longtime N.F.L. assistant before taking on the Notre Dame job, Weis coached 10 years under Bill Parcells (1990-92 with the Giants, 1993-96 with Patriots, 1997-1999 with the Jets) and another five under Bill Belichick (2000-4 with the Patriots). He won four Super Bowls as an assistant (1990 with the Giants, 2001 and 2003-4 with the Patriots) – including the last three as offensive coordinator – and participated in another (1996 with the Patriots). After one season with the Kansas City Chiefs and a disastrous year running Will Muschamp’s offense at Florida, Weis was a shocking choice as Gill’s replacement at Kansas. He’s a name, but he does not, as Kansas believes, immediately grant relevance to an irrelevant program. Wins grant relevance, not big-name head coaches.

Tidbit (coaching edition) Meet the new gang. Weis retained only one of Gill’s assistants: Buddy Wyatt will continue working with the defensive line, though he’ll drop the co-defensive coordinator title he carried last season. K.U.’s defensive coordinator will be Dave Campo, who we all know. Weis also brought back former K.U. assistant Clint Bowen, who coached under Terry Allen and Mangino from 2001-9, serving as defensive coordinator over his last four seasons. While Weis will call his own plays, as expected, he did bring in Rob Powlus as his quarterbacks coach and Tim Grunhard, an 11-year N.F.L. veteran, as his offensive line coach. His best hire might be wide receivers coach and recruiting coordinator Rob Ianello. He was wholly overmatched as the head coach at Akron, but there aren’t many better recruiters in college football.

Players to watch

Here he comes to salvage the day. Don’t ask him to save the day, because Dayne Crist is no superhero. What he is, however, is a proven college quarterback with starting experience under the brightest of bright lights. After two years as Notre Dame’s starter — with his 2010 campaign cut short due to injury — playing at Kansas might allow Crist to breathe, relax and realize his still-sizable expectations. Crist won’t get booed off the field in Lawrence, even if fans grumble under their breath when one of his passes sails above and beyond his intended target, or when his lack of mobility has another promising drive end under a cavalcade of quarterback sacks. But don’t be fooled: Crist can play, and he’ll play better without most of South Bend calling for his neck.

And if Crist is ever going to play like a five-star recruit, it’ll be under Weis. He was a terrible fit for Brian Kelly’s offense at Notre Dame, which demands some degree of athleticism from the quarterback position — not necessarily blazing speed, but the ability to make throws on the run, outside the pocket. Forget that, says Weis. He’ll have Crist in a decidedly pro-style offense that plays well to his strength, which is delivering from between the tackles.

The biggest issue surrounding Crist, K.U.’s unquestioned starter, is whether he can stay healthy. He’s had significant knee issues in the past, furthering diminishing his mobility, so the Jayhawks’ offensive front must keep him clean. If Crist does miss an extended period of time, Weis can turn to either sophomore Blake Jablonski or JUCO transfer Turner Baty, who enrolls over the summer. And don’t forget the other major quarterback transfer, Jake Heaps, who will sit out this season before taking over for Crist in 2013.

Kansas will be without last year’s leading rusher, James Sims (727 yards, 9 touchdowns), for the first three games of this season. Sims broke the programs new cardinal rule: don’t break any cardinal rules. The Jayhawks will be without last year’s second-leading rusher, Darrian Miller, for all of this season and beyond: Miller was one of 10 players dismissed from the team in mid-January. So it was good to see incumbent, non-suspended running backs like Marquis Jackson, Tony Pierson (396 yards) and Brandon Bourbon (190 yards) step into the vacuum atop the depth chart during the spring.

Based on the way Jackson played in March and April, it might be hard for Sims to reclaim his starting role — that’s if Jackson carries his strong spring into September, which remains to be seen. But Pierson and Bourbon, two sophomores, did a nice job in limited duty last fall, though the sample size is too small to indicate an ability to lead this running game if given the opportunity. K.U. actually has some nice depth here, even if Sims’ springtime replacements lack adequate experience. If Weis learned anything from his time at Notre Dame, it’s that his offense needs a running game to be successful on the college ranks. Hopefully, he’ll balance out Crist and the passing game with Jackson, Pierson, Sims and a dedication to the ground game.

The offensive line is a major concern. It’s been an issue at K.U. for years, in fact, and two factors contribute to this worry reaching a fever pitch heading into the summer: one, the wide majority of the Jayhawks’ depth comes in redshirt freshmen; and two, the transition into a new offensive scheme is always accompanied by growing pains along the offensive line. The key to the whole line — and, perhaps, the entire offense — is senior Tanner Hawkinson, who will move back to left tackle after shuffling between the left and right side over the last two seasons. He’s protecting Crist’s blind side; Hawkinson must give his quarterback time to deliver.

He’s one of three seniors pegged for starting roles, joining Trevor Marrongelli and Duane Zlatnik. Both are likely headed into new spots in 2012: Marrongelli, last year’s left guard, was moved to center during the spring; Zlatnik was moved from right to left guard. Juniors Gavin Howard and Riley Spencer will hold down the strong side. Not an imposing group, no. And this line could fall apart if any of the starting five miss an extended period of time, which would thrust a redshirt freshman — like Bryan Peters or Dylan Admire — into a starting role. The bottom line: K.U.’s offensive line is the key to the whole deal. The offense will fall apart if Crist isn’t give time in the pocket. As of now, the line is a major question mark.

It’s going to take years to fix this defense. Those expecting an overnight turnaround will be severely disappointed: Kansas has none of the things needed to turn a once-in-a-generation defense — not in a good way — into one capable of limiting the sort of offensive attacks it will face on a weekly basis during Big 12 play. For at least another year, opposing quarterbacks, running backs and receivers will salivate at the idea of facing the Jayhawks. Perhaps, with time, K.U. can bring in enough talent to run with an Oklahoma, Oklahoma State or West Virginia without suffering the sort of red-faced embarrassment that defined last season’s defensive efforts.

Don’t expect miracles. Instead, ask for baby steps. Try to hold the Sooners to, say, 42 points. Limit West Virginia to 350 yards passing. Don’t let any game get out of hand. Mount some semblance of a pass rush, don’t turn invisible against the run, force a few more turnovers: just improve, even if by the slimmest of margins. Kansas simply cannot afford to play defense like it did last fall — the Jayhawks must make things more difficult for the opposition.

Campo will run a 4-3 defense, but it will have one 3-4 quirk. As in the latter system, K.U. will use a hybrid linebacker-defensive end as a pass rusher. This hybrid role will give sophomore Matt Reynolds and senior Toben Opurum (42 tackles, 9.5 for loss) ample opportunities to put their athletic ability to good use; you saw this from Reynolds during the spring game, when he put on a pass-rush clinic. Getting a stronger pass rush — K.U. couldn’t get to the quarterback at all last fall — will be a big first step for this defense.

Again, don’t expect any miracles. But the defensive line, an abomination last fall, could take a nice step forward if five linemen play up to their potential. On the interior of the line, K.U. needs a full season from juniors Randall Dent and John Williams, both of whom can provide some much-needed bulk. Pat Lewandowski, a promising sophomore, has added about 25 pounds since the end of last season, which means he should remain inside in 2012. While it’s probably fair to include Opurum at end, the Jayhawks also need snaps from the pair of Kevin Young and Nebraska transfer Josh Williams, who is eligible immediately.

Anthony McDonald’s arrival might change the entire layout of the linebacker corps. McDonald, yet another Notre Dame transfer, could slide into a starting role in the middle or, if he proves nimble enough, on the strong side. If possible, McDonald would be a nice fit on the strong side; that’s because the incumbent starter in the middle, Darius Willis (78 tackles), lacks the speed to play outside. K.U. feels comfortable with junior Huldon Tharp on the weak side, and Reynolds will also factor into the mix in his hybrid role — I’m not sure where he’ll line up, but he’ll make a difference.

The K.U. secondary is beloved in Norman, Waco, Stillwater and Lubbock. Fort Worth and Morgantown can’t wait to be introduced. Last year’s numbers tell the story: K.U. allowed opposing quarterbacks to complete just shy of 70 percent of their attempts, allowed 8.9 yards per attempt and gave up 28 touchdowns against 9 interceptions. Crooked numbers. The conference won’t be any kinder in 2012, not with Casey Pachall and Geno Smith joining the fold.

The coaching change has provided an opportunity for a few holdovers to shake off the rust. One, senior Lubbock Smith, started 15 games over his freshman and sophomore seasons but disappeared last fall. He’s the likely starter at strong safety, alongside senior free safety Bradley McDougald (81 tackles), the only defensive back assured of a starting role. K.U.’s cornerback rotation should look surprisingly like last year’s rotation — Greg Brown, Tyler Patmon, Corrigan Powell and Dexter Linton — which, again, is good news for the rest of the Big 12. Perhaps JUCO transfer Nas Moore can step right in and make a difference.

Position battle(s) to watch

Wide receivers One sign that Kansas feels good about its depth at wide receiver: News that former Oklahoma transfer Justin McCay would not be granted a hardship waiver by the N.C.A.A. was greeted with frustration, but not nail-chewing worry. While McCay would have certainly added some athleticism to the receiver corps, the Jayhawks remain confident in the amount of talent, experience and potential currently on the roster — on the roster and eligible, rather. McCay, like Heaps, will be a major part of this offense in 2013; through December, however, he’ll be limited to scout team duties.

Kansas has a top three at the position: Kale Pick (34 receptions for 343 yards), D.J. Beshears (team-best 40 catches for 437) and Daymond Patterson — all seniors. Pick, a converted quarterback, is entering his third full season at receiver. In addition to serving as the team’s top returning receiver, Beshears has shown an ability to make a difference in the return game. Patterson, a former defensive back, led the Jayhawks in receptions in 2010 but missed all but one game of last season due to injury. There’s your top group, and the group most likely to land Crist’s undivided attention: it’s not a superb group by any stretch, but there’s experience, production and, in Pick, some intriguing potential.

The battle for snaps behind this trio will continue through the end of August. Here’s where McCay’s inability to land his hardship waiver hits home: at worst, he was viewed as a nice compliment to K.U.’s senior receivers. So the snaps headed in his direction are now aimed elsewhere, whether at the lankier targets — Chris Omigie, Christian Matthews and JUCO transfer Josh Ford, for instance — or towards younger, more nimble receivers like JaCorey Sheppard (15 receptions for 252 yards), Connor Embree and Tre Parmalee. Seeing that Patterson and Beshears are on the smaller size, K.U. is probably looking for a bigger receiver to round out the rotation. That bodes well for Omigie, Matthews and Ford, not to mention former Notre Dame tight end Mike Ragone, who transferred into the program near the tail end of spring ball.

Game(s) to watch

The entire season hinges on four games: South Dakota State, Rice, Northern Illinois and Iowa State. These look winnable, even if K.U. won’t enter each game as the favorite. But if the Jayhawks make a clean sweep of this quartet, perhaps they can make a push for bowl eligibility. On the other hand, a 1-3 mark in these games should lead to another double-digit loss season. The Big 12 is incredibly deep.

Season breakdown & prediction

In a nutshell You’d be wise not to judge K.U.’s debut season under Weis on the merit of wins and losses, because the Jayhawks are going to be short on the former, long on the latter. To be clear: I see Iowa State — at home, against a weaker offense — as the only conference foe Kansas can beat. That’s why they play the games, of course, but when you weigh what Kansas brings to the table against the rest of the conference, it’s difficult to imagine this team climbing out of the Big 12 cellar. This statement does reflect poorly on K.U., but it’s also a reflection of just how good this league can be: even improved — and the Jayhawks will be better — K.U. stands far removed from the second tier of the league, let alone teams like Oklahoma, T.C.U. and Texas. So don’t judge Weis’ debut on wins and losses; there are no breathers to be found once the Jayhawks reach the third Saturday of September, and barring a significant upset or two, this team is locked in the three-win range.

Now, about Weis. It’s too easy to dismiss his college career to this point; you do have that information at your disposal, to be fair, thanks to his disappointing finish at Notre Dame and last year’s dismal turn at Florida. But I don’t think he’s done a bad job to this point. K.U. may have been too reliant on quick fixes — Crist, Ragone, McDonald, Heaps — but remember: Weis is on a limited time frame, and at this point, transfers give him the best chance at immediately turning K.U. from a laughingstock into a tougher out in Big 12 play. And the Jayhawks will be a better team in 2012, even if they couldn’t get any worse than they were a season ago. How much better depends on Crist, the offensive line and the defense’s ability to mount a consistent pass rush. Don’t expect miracles: just expect a better team. And ignore the standings.

Dream season Kansas sweeps South Dakota State, Rice, Northern Illinois, Iowa State and Texas Tech and Baylor, and nets one major upset — Kansas State? — to win seven games for the first time since 2008.

Nightmare season K.U. lost to North Dakota State in Gill’s debut. Weis loses to South Dakota State in his debut. The Jayhawks rebound to top Rice, but that’s the only win on the season.

In case you were wondering

Where do Kansas fans congregate? As you’d expect, there are a lot of options out there. For message boards, check out Phog.net, KUSports.com, Jayhawk Slant and The Shiver. For a blog’s take, visit Rock Chalk Talk. In addition, Matt Tait does a great job covering all K.U. sports for the Lawrence Journal-World.

Kansas all-name nominee RB Brandon Bourbon.

Word Count

Through 20 teams 66,162.

Up Next

Who is No. 104? Tomorrow’s program has had 10 head coaches since 1956. Of those 10 coaches, eight have or had first names comprised of four or fewer letters.

Rice Owls coach David Bailiff, center with fist raised, reacts to his teams success against Texas. Credit: Bob Levey / Getty Images.

The Orlando Sentinel has ranked all 120 Football Bowl Subdivision teams in the country. We’ll take a closer look at a new team daily, counting backward from No. 120 to our projected No. 1 team. We will not be including the four teams the NCAA lists as still reclassifying to the Football Bowl Subdivision level.

Today at No. 97: Rice

Coach: David Bailiff (23-38 in six year at Rice, 44-53 overall in eight years at FBS level)

2011 record: 4-8 (3-5 in Conference USA, fourth in Western Division)

Look back: A combination of injuries and turnovers thwarted what at times appeared to be a promising 2011 season for the Owls. Rice opened the season with a 34-9 loss at then-No. 24 Texas, turning heads with the close performance against the Longhorns. The Owls followed it up with a 24-22 win against Purdue. Then Rice dropped a pair of tough road games, falling 56-31 at then-No. 17 Baylor and 48-24 at eventual Conference USA champion Southern Miss. Rice bounced back for a 28-6 win against Memphis, but then it dropped three consecutive games – 24-20 at Marshall, 38-20 at home against Tulsa and 73-34 to rival Houston then ranked No. 18 nationally. The Owls recovered from the demoralizing blowout, earning a 41-37 win over UTEP. Rice then lost 28-6 at Northwestern and beat Tulane 19-7 before closing out the season with a 27-24 loss at SMU.

Star running back Sam McGuffie, a Michigan transfer who was on the preseason Doak Walker Award watch list, missed most of the season with a variety of injuries. Starting quarterback Taylor McHargue struggled to take care of the ball early and ultimately was replaced by senior reserve Nick Fanuzzi in the starting lineup.

While Freshman All-American Bryce Callahan tied for seventh nationally with 0.5 interceptions per game and six total interceptions during the season, the Owls’ defense struggled. The group ranked No. 111 nationally out of 120 teams in total defense, allowing 462.08 yards per game. Rice’s tepid offense likely contributed to the defensive problems, with opposing teams’ offensive units getting more time on the field to pick apart the Owls’ defense.

Offensive starters lost/returning: 6/5

Defensive starters lost/returning: 6/5

Key losses: DL Scott Solomon, DL John Gioffre, DL Michael Smith, RB Tyler Smith, P Kyle Martens, QB Nick Fanuzzi, LT Jake Hicks, LG Davon Allen, C Keshawn Carrington, RT Tyler Parish.

Top returnees: RB Sam McGuffie, LB Cameron Nwosu, DB Paul Porras, DB Bryce Callahan, K Chris Boswell, OL Drew Carroll, PR Mario Hull, QB Taylor McHargue.

Strengths: Rice returns five starters on offense, five starters on defense and another three former starters who were sidelined due to injury. The coaches have high hopes for McGuffie, a strong and elusive rusher who has the ability to be a playmaker for the Owls. McHargue is back in the lineup as the Owls’ starter and told reporters during spring practice he is more focused than ever about doing a good job leading Rice’s offense.

On the defensive side of the ball, Callahan is back in the secondary after a dazzling freshman season. Fellow defensive back Paul Porras and linebacker Cameron Nwosu are also expected to be key contributors on the defensive side of the ball. The Owls boast a tremendous weapon in kicker Chris Boswell, who hit three field goals 50 yards or longer during the 2011 season. He has tied the school record by connecting on five career field goals from at least 50 yards. Boswell has 28 career field goals and needs six more to break the school record for most career field goals (33).

Weaknesses: The Owls have to rebuild up front after losing most of their top offensive and defensive line performers. Linemen happen to be among the toughest players to replace in college football, so this could be a major challenge for Rice. The Owls must replace prolific defensive linemen Scott Solomon, John Gioffre and Michael Smith and experienced offensive linemen Jake Hicks, Davon Allen, Keshawn Carrington and Tyler Parish.

Outlook: Rice is working to get back to the success it had during the 2008 season, posting a 10-3 record and winning the Texas Bowl. The Owls followed it up with losing seasons, going 2-10 in 2009, 4-8 in 2010 and 4-8 in 2011. With a challenging schedule, a quarterback who has yet to prove he can consistently take care of the football and new faces in the trenches, it will be tough for Rice to snap out of the slump and post a winning record in 2012.

2012 Schedule Aug. 30 UCLA Sept. 8 At Kansas Sept. 15 At Louisiana Tech Sept. 22 Marshall Sept. 29 Houston (Reliant Stadium) Oct. 6 At Memphis Oct. 13 Texas San Antonio Oct. 20 At Tulsa Oct. 27 Southern Miss Nov. 3 At Tulane Nov. 17 SMU Nov. 24 at UTEP

Rest of the countdown:

No. 98 Ole Miss

No. 99 Colorado

No. 100 New Mexico State

No. 101 Duke

No. 102 Idaho

No. 103 Army

No. 104 Maryland

No. 105 Colorado State

No. 106 Miami (Ohio)

No. 107 UTEP

No. 108 Troy

No. 109 Fresno State

No. 110 Central Michigan

No. 111 Indiana

No. 112 Memphis

No. 113 Middle Tennessee

No. 114 UAB

No. 115 Buffalo

No. 116 Tulane

No. 117: FAU

No. 118: UNLV

No. 119: Akron

No. 120: New Mexico