Monday, November 10, 2008
LINCOLN, Neb. — Trying to win in Lincoln for the first time in 40 years, Kansas did on Saturday what it did in several of the 19 straight previous losses — let it slowly slip from its grasp after entering the fourth quarter with a chance to win the game.
Sophomore receiver Dezmon Briscoe has the ball knocked out of his hands late in the fourth quarter. Nebraska recovered the fumble, but the play was ruled an incomplete pass by the officials although it appeared as if Briscoe had possession of the ball.
In the end, it was a crushing 45-35 loss to the Cornhuskers that dropped the Jayhawks to 6-4 overall and 3-3 in conference play.
So the streak continues, but the Jayhawks’ realistic chances of a Big 12 North title do not.
“We could have made it a whole lot easier on ourselves if we could have won this game,” wide receiver Dezmon Briscoe said. “We still have a shot if we beat Texas and Missouri, but we just made it tougher on ourselves.”
Indeed, Kansas will need to defeat both Texas and Missouri in back-to-back games and then hope that Nebraska loses one of its final two games to sneak into the Big 12 title game — a pretty improbable task considering the Jayhawks’ inability to stop almost anyone right now and with two of the nation’s top offenses waiting in the distance.
A week after limiting Kansas State quarterback Josh Freeman to just 207 passing yards, the Kansas defense again looked like the one that gave up record breaking days to both Oklahoma and Texas Tech in recent weeks.
Nebraska quarterback Joe Ganz passed for 324 yards and three touchdowns and running back Roy Helu Jr. had 115 yards and two touchdowns, including a back-breaking 52-yard touchdown scamper early through the fourth quarter that put Nebraska up by 10 points and sent many of the 85,000 freezing fans into a frenzy.
After being tied 14-14 at halftime, the Kansas defense struggled to even slow down the Nebraska offense. The Cornhuskers scored on five of six second-half possessions and led by as many as 17 in the fourth quarter before a late Kansas score brought the final margin to 10 points.
“The things that we said we had to do today, we did not do,” coach Mark Mangino said. “We said all week that we had to stop their run, and we did not do that effectively, at least not in key situations. We said that we had to run the ball well, and we did not do that. Their defensive line disrupted our run game.”
The offensive line, which seemed to gel during the Kansas State game, got manhandled up front by the Cornhusker front four. Running back Jake Sharp finished with 90 yards and a touchdown on 22 carries, but had just 29 yards on 11 carries in the first half.
“Their D-line was great — they dominated our O-line today,” Briscoe said. “You just gotta tell it like it is.”
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Kansas vs. Nebraska
The line struggled to protect quarterback Todd Reesing, who was flushed from the pocket several times and took a couple of brutal hits that kept him from speaking with the media afterwards while he received treatment from the medical staff.
“I’ve never seen him on the turf as much as he was today,” Briscoe said of Reesing. “But there’s a first time for everything.”
Kansas won the turnover battle 4-1 but couldn’t take advantage of the Cornhusker miscues. The Jayhawks had a fourth down stop, a James Holt interception and a fumble recovery — all in the first half — but weren’t able to turn any of them into points.
“You have to have takeaways to have a chance, especially on the road,” Mangino said. “But at the end of the day, when you have takeaways like that, you like to think you’re going to win the game.”
The Jayhawks entered the fourth quarter down by three points, but Reesing had completed just eight passes on 14 attempts. Reesing finished 15-30 for 304 yards and three scores but was sacked five times and had a costly interception in the fourth.
Kansas now sits in third place in the Big 12 North standings and needs a miracle to reach the goal for their season, the Big 12 North title. And with their title hopes all but gone, Kansas now has two top-15 teams awaiting on the schedule.
“We’re going to show up and play both of them,” Mangino said. “And we’re going to play hard and see what happens. Two good football teams, but we’re good enough if we play well that we can stand with anybody. We’ll be ready to go against Texas. We’re disappointed but not discouraged.”
— — Edited by Rachel Burchfield
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Comments
davidsmom (anonymous) says...
If they knew what they needed to do, then why didn't they? Every game is a mental test and they are failing these tests miserably. I still love the Jayhawks, but this is discouraging.
November 10, 2008 at 8 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )