Turner Gill's hire as Kansas' new head coach has brought the news that Carl Torbush will be returning to the Big 12. Torbush will be leaving Mississippi State, where he is currently defensive coordinator, to become the new defensive coordinator at KU. Aggie fans will remember Torbush as our defensive coordinator from 2003-2005, when he led the dismantling of the Wrecking Crew. We are currently still trying to recover from the damage Torbush helped wreak on our defense in his three years here.

2003 was Torbush's first season as defensive coordinator. In 12 games, we gave up an average of 38.8 points per game, 225.1 yards per game rushing, and 206.4 yards per game passing, as the team sputtered to a 4-8 finish behind a defense that couldn't stop anyone. In 2004, we improved to giving up 24.2 points per game, 142.5 ypg rushing, 244.2 ypg passing. 2004 looked like a sign things were improving on defense, and would get better. In 2005, however, things got worse, as we gave up 31.2 ppg, 139.2 ypg rushing, and 304.6 ypg passing. The 2005 team essentially played prevent on defense all year long, which helped explain their horrific pass defense numbers. What wasn't explained was why the defense was so god-awful in the third year of Torbush's tenure in College Station, at a time when they should have been hitting their stride and becoming a dominant unit, not getting worse. Torbush was fired after the 2005 season, as Dennis Franchione said he had lost faith in what Torbush was doing.

Torbush then took a stint as defensive coordinator at Carson-Newman before becoming the DC at Mississippi State this past season. where his defense gave up an average of 26.8 ppg, 146 ypg rushing, and 220 ypg passing. Those stats don't look too bad until you remember that this is against the offensively-challenged SEC. Eight teams in the SEC averaged less than 220 yards per game passing; this means Torbush's defense gave up, on average, more yards passing than two-thirds of the conference normally produced. In other words, SEC teams tended to have a field day passing against Torbush's defense. Mississippi State finished the season 11th in scoring defense, 8th in rushing defense, 11th in passing defense, and 11th in total defense.  Essentially, Torbush struggled to slow down or stop the vast majority of the offenses he faced, and in an offensively-deprived conference like the SEC, where most of the teams live and die by 21 personnel, this isn't a good sign. Now, Kansas is hiring Torbush to lead their defense.

Again, I ask the question: Does Kansas know what they're getting into?

I guess we'll find out on October 23, 2010; that is when Texas A&M heads to Lawrence to play the Jayhawks. A&M finished this season with the best offense in the Big 12, and will return most of their starters next year; that can't be good news for Kansas and Torbush.