With the regular season complete so to are the RCT Football League Power Rankings and congrats to Bensa and the Power Converters for wrapping things up at the top.  Bad news though, those don't mean a whole lot come playoff time. 

Playoffs begin and there are three brackets depending on where your team finished in the grand scheme of 18.  The top championship bracket is made up of the 6 divisional winners who will now battle it out for RCT League supremacy. The second bracket is the consolation bracket and in this group we have the best record in the league that didn't win their divison.  In short we could have divisional rivals in this one depending on how competitive yours was.  Yep, that's right...my division was bad ass and has 2 representatives in this one.

Last but certainly not least is the toilet bowl.  The bottom six teams record wise will go toe to toe to determine the master of SUCK.  Who's the best of the worst and get's to look down on the lowly worst of the worst. 

With the real NFL wrapping up in the next three weeks as well, I expect some upsets.  Players will rest, injuries will pile up and some teams like the Chiefs and the Rams might just cash in and head to the offseason.  Time to manage the matchups and make your run.

On to the preview.

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The 9th ranked performance of the 2009 Kansas football season comes during the Border War as a familiar face would once again haunt the Missouri Tigers.

Kansas came into this game riding a 6 game losing streak and in the middle of a MAJOR coaching distraction with the investigation of Mark Mangino ongoing.  A week prior against Texas, the offense had shown signs of life, so there was hope coming into the contest that the struggles of the season could be put to bed.  Still, not many were prepared for the explosion that Kansas would have in the offensive game.

Against the Tigers, the Kansas offense would ultimately put together nearly 550 yards of total offense.  While our #9 performance doesn't necessarily make up a huge percentagee of that production, the player involved made catches when it mattered and helped put points on the board in a season where that sometimes proved challenging.

Countdown Recap

#10 Toben Opurum vs. Southern Miss.

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More photos » by Orlin Wagner - AP

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Coaching investigation...check.  Coaching search...check.  Coaching hire...check.  Recruiting...ongoing.  The holiday's are upon us and there is some sense of stability in our football program once again.  The preference would obviously be to spend these next couple weeks looking at Kansas' bowl matchup and discussing the great performances of the season.  With one of those off the table, we can still do the other.

Those of you who were around last year might remember our "Top 10 Performances of 2008" series.  While this year as a whole left a bit of a sour taste, we'll be renewing the series for 2009.  Amidst all of this we'll still be talking Kansas basketball as we creep closer to real competition.  RCT will also continue covering the coaching additions and recruiting activities of Coach Turner Gill.  Lastly, who could forget the RCT Readers Choice Award which will also be voted on and awarded following the Top 10 and bowl games of the holiday season.   Who knows, there might even be a few new categories to ring in the new year.

All that said today we start off our Top 10 countdown with #10 on the list.  Finishing 5-7 clearly the Jayhawks didn't have as many standout performances as they might have last year, but there were still some notable efforts and not too surprisingly some commonalities in opponents in a lot of instances. #10 though goes to a new face on the Jayhawk roster.  A new face putting in a big performance against the Jayhawks toughest non-conference opponent Southern Miss.

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While we've had indications that four hires have been made, only three of those are official.  We've covered Carl Torbush from the defensive side of the ball.  We've covered Chuck Long and the offensive side of the ball.  The third phase of the game, special teams of course.

During the 2007 season special teams was a big part of what made Kansas an eventual BCS bowl participant.  Since that time it's the phase of the game where Kansas has arguably struggled most.  The Kansas kicking and return game have left much to be desired since that Orange Bowl year and it's more notably due to those covering or returning those kicks. 

Sure Jacob Branstetter could kick further, but we're always talking about him making tackles and that shouldn't happen regardless of how deep the kick goes. 

The return game has gone from explosive with Marcus Herford in '07 to nonexistent.  Anything past the 20 was almost a miracle it seemed at times. 

The major bright spot was probably Alonso Rojas who returns for one final season, hopefully this year he'll have some support in the special teams play.

So who's taking the reins of this all important position, who is Aaron Stamn?  Let's go to the resume and take a look.

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Wednesday afternoon Andrew Turzilli received a visit from Chuck Long who was there to introduce himself and represent the new Kansas coaching staff to the current three star commit in New Jersey.  Turzilli was a relatively under the radar recruit for much of the process,committing to the Jayhawks some time ago while still under the old staff. 

Today was a chance for Turzilli to get familiar with the new staff as Coach Long covered quite a bit during his time with Andrew.  Asked how the visit went and what they talked about Turzilli said, "It went good we discussed everything from Turner Gill to official visits, signing day, housing and just what to expect with Kansas."  Turzilli went on to say that the visit definitely solidified his choice and truthfully he was never wavering to begin with.

In terms of Turzilli as a player, he stands 6'4" and weighs in around 190.  Turzilli describes himself as a "deep threat receiver and a red zone target."  In fact Turzelli said that Coach Long talked a little bit about the offense and how Andrew would fit in.  "He said they're going to run the spread much like Kansas did before but mix in the deep ball more along with play action passes.  He thought the changes would benefit me more." 

Andrew plans to visit Kansas the weekend of January 15th to take in a basketball game on his official visit.  At this point Coach Long said 4 of the 9 staff members were set and Coach Gill is busy out on the recruiting trail for the moment.  Once things settle down they'll wrap up the hiring of the remaining positional coaches.

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During Monday's press conference announcing Turner Gill as the new head man at Kansas he took a moment to announce his two coordinators that were joining him.  The first we've looked at in Chuck Long from the offensive side.  Now switching over to the defensive side of the ball Carl Torbush previously with the Mississippi State Bulldogs will be joining the staff. 

The Kansas defense has been somewhat of a sticky situation for the past two seasons.  Since the loss of Aqib Talib and James McClinton the group has never really been able to hit their stride as they did in the early Mangino years.  Now clearly we were also in the midst of one of the biggest offensive explosions in Big 12 history with the tsunami brought on by the spread, but the ineptitude and decision making at times proved troubling. 

With the slate wiped clean, a new day has arrived for players and fans alike.  Carl Torbush has both good and bad that comes with his track record.  With defenses slowly adapting to the spread, let's hope Coach Torbush and his Tom Selleck mustache can put the pieces back in place for Kansas to compete once again on defense.

Without further ado, let's get to know Carl Torbush.

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UPDATE: Last night I spoke with Keeston regarding the coaching staff changes and the loss of his lead recruiter Clint Bowen. His response:

"I think i am still going to check Missouri out but I'm definitely happy Coach Beaty stayed.  I wish Coach Bowen could have had the opportunity to stay but things happen.  The rest of the staff being let go didn't really change anything with me. I kind of felt that Coach Gill was going to clean house coming in, but I still have my position coach from what it sounds like so I'm happy."

Not 100% certain where this leaves Keeston since he is taking the visit, but I think when it's all said and done he'll likely be a Jayhawk.

Monday Turner Gill was announced as the newest coach for the Kansas Jayhawk football team.  During his opening remarks Gill proclaimed one of his top priorities with Kansas was to recruit and most Kansas fans are eager to see what Gill brings to the table in that regard.  However, before Coach Gill can wrap up the class, he must first retain the existing Kansas commitments.

One name on the list is Blue Springs product and one of the higher rated recruits currently committed in Keeston Terry.  Terry originally committed to the Nebraska Cornhuskers before switching over to Kansas early in the season.  Now with Kansas in a bit of transition Terry remains committed to the Jayhawks but might take one final visit. 

When asked his impressions of Gill, Terry commented, "I heard Coach Gill is a very intelligent and good man. I think he'll get the program back to where it was when we won the Orange Bowl. I'm excited to get to know him and the new staff. I think it is a good fresh start for the program." 

Now in terms of recruitment and whether Terry intends to stick with Kansas he explained, "I still want to be a Jayhawk. I might take an official visit to Mizzou this weekend. My heart is leading me to KU and the trip to Mizzou is more just to make sure Kansas is where I want to be. If Coach Gill decides to meet with me sometime this week before the dead period then I'll cancel my trip to Columbia and plan on heading to Lawrence"

Talking with Terry he said that his commitment to Kansas is "99.9% a sure thing."  More than anything his visit to Missouri is in case something doesn't work out with the new staff or he doesn't feel there is a fit.  If Terry has a chance to sit with them and put to rest any uncertainty, the Missouri visit likely won't happen.  "I want to be Jayhawk," Terry added.

Terry also mentioned that since the hire he has been in contact with Coach Bowen who discussed the hiring of Coach Long, the offense Kansas will likely run and the possibility that both Coach Bowen and Coach Beatty could remain on staff.  Terry said Bowen didn't know anything at this point but he was hoping to remain if possible and was hoping to know something very soon.