1968: A Great Year for Johnny Cash, Nixon, Elvis and Kansas Football

3 comments so far July 28, 2008 by Brandon Vogel

As far as years go, 1968 is just about as memorable as any. The Tet Offensive, Live at Folsom Prison, MLK's death, Nixon's election, My Lai, Mexico City and on top of all that the Kansas Jayhawks finished 1968 as Co-Champions of the Big 8. In terms of cultural cache, 1968 is the Elvis of the 20th century which, I suppose, is fitting as it was the year the King revitalized his career with the "Comeback Special."

While that very revitalization probably killed Elvis in the end--gold plated handguns and all the behavioral problems they represent are tough to come by without hit records--the Jayhawks have thus far restrained themselves in the role of the nouveau riche. (Minus that Mangino extension.)

But of course you've already read about the outlook for the Jayhawks fortunes in 2008. The consensus nationally and on this site is that KU will be hard pressed to replicate their 2007 success what with the top half of the Big 12 South cycling onto their schedule, but that hasn't lead to many prognosticators picking the Cornhuskers to top the Jayhawks in the North. However, not many people in 1968 could have guessed that when Kansas beat Nebraska in Lincoln that year it would be the last time they beat the Cornhuskers anywhere for the next 36 years either.

William Johnson, writing for SI following that game, certainly didn't get that feeling from then Kansas head coach Pepper Rodgers:

Startled coaches throughout the Big Eight have come to know—and agonize over—Franklin Cullen Rodgers of Kansas University as an unmitigated, foursquare, upstart Apostle of the Unexpected. Why, he might lead his team onto the field with a brisk 37-year-old's version of a double somersault. He might pass on fourth and one at the 10-yard line. He might pull out his miniature chessboard without warning and challenge the nearest stranger to a game. And now, although there is no sure route through the trackless terrain of the unexpected, he just might—in his sophomore year as a head coach—have turned one of the Midwest's doormats into a conference champion and a national power.

Kansas would go on to finish 1968 9-2, losing in the Orange Bowl to Penn State 15-14 despite the fact that the Jayhawks were unknowingly cheating on the final four plays of the game. One year later, Kansas would end the season 1-9 and over the next 38 years--the span bookended by KU's two top 10 rankings--compile a scant .415 winning percentage, good for 91st in the nation. (Bonus info: Nebraska is the winningest program over that same span.)

But the joy of reading the old SI article quoted above is two-fold.

1) Unlike real life or conventional storytelling, the tension is derived from knowing the eventual outcome while the characters involved do not. This is why Mad Men is a fantastic television show. The glitz and glamour of 1960s Madison Avenue might catch the eye but it's continually beaten back by the knowledge that these people, with their smoking and drinking and bullet bras, are dinosaurs. Their way of life is ending. In the same sense, as a Nebraska fan reading about 1968 Kansas, it's hard not to grin when you see Johnson refer to KU as a potential national power because you know what's coming. Don Draper is Pepper Rodgers.

2) In the story, if you replaced all references to the Big 8 with the Big 12 and removed all the specific people, places and wonderful turns of phrase that date the piece--nobody on ESPN.com would call a coach the "Apostle of the Unexpected" these days and that's a shame--you'd be left with an article that could've been written about the 2007 Kansas squad.

And so here we are in 2008 again staring at the existential question for Kansas football: How good can you be? At least one SI writer asked that question in 1968 and it would be 40 years before anyone would bother to ask it again, but we're there now. Will Kansas football, going forward, be Johnny Cash (universally adored, a winner) or Richard Nixon (mostly reviled, a loser)?

All I know is I'm far too impatient for this real time stuff. The unknown is overrated. Let's start the season already.

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