Tuesday, September 2, 2008
All it took were two plays — a 75-yard punt return for a touchdown and a 47-yard field goal - for Jayhawk nation to rest easy.
Two spots, punt returner and kicker, had fans intrigued going into Saturday’s opener against FIU but after watching Daymond Patterson and Alonzo Rojas lead Kansas to a 40-10 victory over FIU, intrigue became awe.
Patterson introduced himself to a Memorial Stadium record 52,112 fans by returning four punts for a total of 135 yards. After almost breaking free on his first two, Patterson took his third return 75 yards into the end zone for his first collegiate touchdown — hurdling over a falling Ashlyn Parker of FIU near the 30-yard line.
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Crowds filled the blocks surrounding Memorial Stadium on Saturday, August 30, for a day of tailgating the KU football team's game against FIU.
Junior running back Jake Sharp tries to break a tackle during Saturday's game. Sharp rushed the ball nine times for 29 yards in the game.
“I felt like I was going to get one,” Patterson said. “The punt return team was blocking really well. I was running and he fell and I ended up jumping over him. I think it was pretty cool.”
At kicker, the Jayhawks were welcomed by the debut of Alonzo Rojas, who had been signed to be the team’s punter but has also taken over kickoff and long-field-goal duties over the past few weeks.
In addition to three punts that averaged 46 yards, Rojas hit two field goals, one of which was a long 47-yard attempt early in the second quarter that brought a big fist pump from the Bowling Green transfer.
“It felt good because going out there, everyone’s expecting, ‘He’s probably not going to make this. He’s a punter; he just got the job,’” Rojas said. “I wanted the crowd to know that I’m here, and I’m here to help out the team and I felt like I hit that ball pretty good.”
Quarterback Todd Reesing attempted 52 passes, completing 37 of them for 256 yards and three touchdowns.
All three touchdowns went to sophomore Dezmon Briscoe, who had nine catches for 55 yards on the night. It was the second time in his brief Kansas career that he scored three touchdowns in a single game, matching the three he had in last year’s 76-39 thrashing of Nebraska.
“That is what Briscoe can bring to the table for us,” Reesing said. “He is a tremendous athlete and he has a great feel for going up and catching the ball. He’s got a feel for how to get open.”
While the Kansas passing game excelled, the running game struggled a bit. An ankle injury limited junior Jocques Crawford to 32 yards and a touchdown on 11 carries and junior Jake Sharp had only 29 yards on nine carries. Angus Quigley, who came in during the fourth quarter when the game was out of reach, ended up leading the team in rushing with 47 yards on six carries. He was stopped one yard short of scoring a touchdown on the last play of the game.
The Jayhawks’ defense allowed FIU’s offense to accumulate only 139 yards. FIU’s leading rusher, A’mod Ned, had only 43 yards rushing on 12 carries and FIU had only 66 yards rushing on 26 carries.
FIU Quarterback Paul McCall completed only 10 of 28 passes for 73 yards and was sacked three times. The Jayhawks’ defense allowed FIU to complete only two of 14 third-down conversions.
“We were put in some situations in the red zone and we held them on some fourth downs,” said linebacker Mike Rivera. “That’s a good sight to see. We had our backs against the wall and we rose to the occasion a few times. That’s a good thing to see in these early games. We gave up a field goal that we really didn’t want to but we will learn from that and make it better next week.”
— — Edited by Andy Greenhaw
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