Kansas confident it can end road football streak at Duke

LAWRENCE – The tape was revealing. In the days after a 34-28 victory over Southeast Missouri State in the season opener, Kansas football coach Charlie Weis began showing his player some film of Duke.

There were specific takeaways — like how the Jayhawks may exploit Duke’s secondary — but the most important parts were psychological.

“I think that our players have visual evidence on tape,” Weis said, “that they have a legitimate chance of winning.”

The implication from this statement, of course, is that this has not always been the case. Kansas has lost 24 straight road games, and sometimes the film room can be a sobering place. During Weis’ first two years at Kansas, the Jayhawks would sometimes look at tape and know: A victory would require crafting a miracle performance.

Not anymore.

“They should go down there with the anticipation of winning the game,” Weis said, “not just hoping to win.”

This sort of Weisian confidence is not new, but it perhaps comes with more substance this season. But the question remains: Is KU really ready to go on the road and beat a team that won 10 games last year?

Even for a football program like Kansas, some things are not supposed to happen. Losing streaks happen, sure, but 24 straight losses on the road? How about 27 consecutive defeats away from Memorial Stadium — including three neutral-site games? How do you explain five years without a road victory?

“An eternity,” Weis said.

Even Iowa State, a program that has seen its share of struggles, is 5-11 in true road games during the same period. Using Iowa State’s record as a reference, the odds of a 24-game road losing streak are close to 0.01 percent. But as Kansas, 1-0, prepares to travel to Duke for a 2:30 p.m. matchup Saturday, the numbers and odds are mostly immaterial.

“It’s obviously part of the story right now,” KU offensive coordinator John Reagan said. “Really, to win on the road, you have to do the same things you do at home — just better. You have to execute, but you have to execute at a little higher level of consistency.”

For the Jayhawks, that means taking the good from a victory over Southeast Missouri State — namely a 24-0 lead — and trying to extrapolate the performance over four quarters. It will not be easy against Duke, which played in the Atlantic Coast Conference title game last season, but the Jayhawks believe they have the formula to do it.

“As a team,” sophomore quarterback Montell Cozart said, “just staying and playing four quarters. I’m sure everyone has been talking about it. But this week, we’ve been looking forward to it.

“On paper, we feel good.”

This story was originally published September 12, 2014 at 11:31 AM with the headline "Kansas confident it can end road football streak at Duke."