'Get Well' Card From a Concerned Kansas Jayhawk Fan.

I was thinking about writing a "Get Well Soon" card for the Jayhawks Defensive Coordinator and was wondering if anyone else would be willing to sign it with me? 

I'm sure Clint Bowen is just a friendly card, a bouquet of flowers, and a box of chocolates away from being ready for this Saturday's trip to Boulder, Colorado.

The word on Bowen's ailment is not officially out yet, but the bed-ridden coordinator must have been too sick to attend last weekend's contest against Iowa State.

I know this for sure because if he was present in Memorial Stadium yesterday, he would've noticed how awful his defense looked. I'm certain he would've tried to address the issue as well, because that is what he's paid to do.

No, Clint Bowen couldn't have been at the game. Had he been there, he would've surely noticed that his 4-2-5 alignment was useless against against Iowa State's powerful ground game. He would've also noticed that despite being a defense designed to slow down an air attack, his inadequate secondary still allowed fleet-footed Cyclone quarterback Austen Arnaud to throw for nearly 300 yards and two touchdowns.

Maybe Bowen would have seen that while cornerback blitzes are effective once in a while, playing such a defense isn't too wise if it's only used to send Ryan Murphy after the quarterback, stranding a linebacker in coverage.

He also would have realized that Murphy is KU's best cover corner- and that maybe- sending coverage liabilities Chris Harris or Justin Thornton on a blitz would be prudent instead.

In fact, Clint Bowen is probably very crafty and resourceful.

After three consecutive nightmare-ish games for the Hawks defensively, Bowen would have at least forgiven Huldon Tharp for one big mishap early on, understanding that using him with Arist Wright in a modified 4-3 defense is probably just as effective as a useless nickel defense with an extra, slow safety.

I think that Clint Bowen would, by then, have wondered if having such predictable changes along his defensive line every down does any good. He would have questioned the success of his 'speed rush' change on each third down. KU continued getting beat by scrambles, and he would have then considered putting in his four best defensive linemen on those pivotal third downs, in an effort to contain average, but happy-footed quarterbacks.

He'd probably observe that scheduled personnel swaps in general, especially along the defensive line, aren't particularly effective, and that sometimes it's best to let the best men on the field, using the most appropriate substitutes more opportunistically, rather than routinely.

Clint Bowen would have immediately addressed the repeated missed tackles by Justin Thornton, blown covers by Chris Harris, unrefined man-to-man tactics by Daymond Patterson and even some big mental errors by Darrell Stuckey. 

He would have, of course, congratulated them for stepping up in a big way once again, in an effort to avoid demeaning the positives that came from the outing.  However, he would encourage the respective players to attempt competing at such a level for an entire game, rather than just the fourth quarter. 

He may have even given Calvin Rubles, Anthony Davis, or Greg Brown a shot at cornerback if for no other reason than to send a message, while understanding that these substitutes could hardly do much worse.

Unfortunately, KU fans, Clint Bowen must not have been at the game last Saturday, and as a result, none of these things happened. 

Bowen would not have allowed any of the miserable occurrences during the Iowa State outing because he's probably been trying to fix these problems since they began three weeks ago against Duke.

Bowen would have done something, or anything, differently against Iowa State last Saturday in an effort to field an actual defense, rather than just a minor inconvenience for the opposing offense.

Not doing so would surely get him fired, right? Because that's what defensive coordinators are supposed to do.

So let's all hope for a quick recovery from Clint Bowen before the KU Jayhawks meet the Colorado Buffalo next week. 

Cody Hawkins may try his best to hand the game to the Hawks, and hopefully, Bowen is healthy enough to advise his defense to take it.

Take a moment and sign my card, please, while my girlfriend is out looking for some balloons to give kicker Jacob Branstetter and special teams coach Louie Matsakis who haven't been looking so good recently either.