In the final seconds of the third quarter against Texas Tech — in a game that would eventually get rather ugly —­ the former Todd Reesing emerged.

Faced with a third and goal from Texas Tech’s six yards last Saturday, Reesing backpedaled before a Tech defender grabbed his jersey, sending Kansas’ quarterback into a semi-spin.

Reesing, however, remained on his feet and fired a pass to junior wide receiver Dezmon Briscoe, who slipped unnoticed between Texas Tech’s defenders for a wide-open catch to give Kansas the lead.

That play, which could be filed under the vintage Reesing category, represents a larger development in Kansas’ last three games. What once would have been the norm has suddenly — and surprisingly — become the exception.

The Jayhawks have lost their last three games, and Reesing hasn’t fit the mold he established during Kansas’ last two seasons.

He has seven turnovers in his last three games. He has missed open receivers. And later in that game against Texas Tech, he was benched in the fourth quarter with seven minutes left.

Now Todd Reesing wants his senior season back.

“We need to move forward and play this game the way it should be played,” Reesing said. “You’re not supposed to be sitting there hanging your head, feeling bad and not having fun. The point where this game isn’t fun for you anymore, it’s time to hang it up.

“And I still love playing this game. It’s still fun as heck for me.”

When Kansas travels to Kansas State tomorrow, a three-game losing streak and a chance at the Big 12 North title will be on the line. Reesing clearly understands the importance of both.

Yet Reesing spent this week reverberating messages delivered during the more simple days of football when only moms, dads and siblings dotted stands or sidelines: “We need to relax ... We need to have fun ... It’s just football.”

Reesing’s competitive nature has never been questioned, and the tone of his words didn’t diminish his emphasis on winning.

But Reesing said in order for Kansas to break its current losing trend, the Jayhawks and he needed to loosen up.

“That’s his personality,” offensive coordinator Ed Warinner said. “He enjoys playing. He’s very competitive and having fun is part of his deal. He’s not a guy that is over-analytical and real stoic. He wears his emotions on his sleeve. And that’s been good for us.”

Reesing has not been perfect at Kansas.

Even last year, in a two-game stretch against Oklahoma and Texas Tech, he committed five turnovers. The Jayhawks lost both games.

But Reesing has always found a way to quickly bounce back from such letdowns, and he has always delivered in the big moments.

That’s what makes his current stretch of turnover-plagued football so puzzling.

“I haven’t had too many back-to-back games where I’ve played like that,” Reesing said.

Two years ago, after breezing through an easy non-conference play, Reesing led Kansas into Kansas State’s Bill Snyder Family Stadium with something to prove. Back then the common criticism was that Kansas hadn’t played any good teams.

And though the circumstances between the years are drastically different, Kansas’ objective is not.

The Jayhawks spent the week backing themselves into a corner, reiterating that the only people who truly matter are the ones who sit inside Kansas’ locker room.

“Any time people start ripping apart everything they helped build up or everything they loved about different players, when they start tearing them down and start questioning their skill level — any time someone starts questioning that, sooner or later it’s going to get to that player,” senior safety Darrell Stuckey said.

“Sooner or later that player is going to look in the mirror and say, ‘Am I really that person? Am I really self-destructing?’ Sooner or later it’s going to hurt. But it feels so much better when you defeat that adversity.”

Kansas enters tomorrow with a three-game winning streak against Kansas State. Last season the Jayhawks thoroughly defeated the Wildcats 52-21 in a game that all but ended Ron Prince’s tenure as Kansas State’s head coach.

In a twist that strayed from what many predicted entering the season, though, Bill Snyder has the Wildcats perched atop the Big 12 North standings in his first season back at Kansas State.

“They’ve got a lot of momentum going and we’re trying to find some,” Reesing said. “We’re trying to resurrect ourselves on offense the last couple of weeks.”

Perhaps nobody is trying more so than Reesing.

“He wants to go out and prove people wrong,” senior wide receiver Kerry Meier said. “And that’s what he’s going to go out and try to do.”

Reesing, Dudley earn academic honor

Senior quarterback Todd Reesing and junior linebacker Drew Dudley were named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic First Team All-District 7 football team, it was announced Thursday.

Reesing holds a 3.64 grade point average as a double-major in finance and economics.

Dudley has earned a 3.67 cumulative grade point average in civil engineering.

— Edited by Megan Morriss