The Jayhawks slowly filtered out of the locker room at Bill Snyder Family Stadium, and remained rather quiet. They grabbed a box of food and headed toward the buses to return to Lawrence after a 17-10 loss to Kansas State.

It marked Kansas’ fourth consecutive loss, and it certainly wasn’t a feeling many predicted the Jayhawks would have experienced before the season started.

Saturday’s loss to Kansas State was summarized rather simply.

“We couldn’t get the ball in the end zone,” senior quarterback Todd Reesing said, “and turnovers killed us again.”

No individual aspect has led to each of Kansas’ four losses this season. Instead, they have been characterized by a variety of factors. With that in mind, The Kansan breaks down Kansas’ biggest problems during its four-game losing streak.

Offense, defense not on same page

At the beginning of the season Kansas’ offense was supposed to pick up the slack for a questionable defensive unit. And early in the season — remember Iowa State? — that appeared to be the case.

But that trend has completely flipped in the last four games. The defense has played well enough to give the Jayhawks a chance to win, but the offense has struggled to hold up its end of the bargain.

That’s a recipe for losing close football games.

“Defensive effort probably would have been good enough to win the game,” coach Mark Mangino said. “Our offense, we moved the ball up and down the field but we could rarely punch it into the end zone. That was a problem for us.”

Reesing’s uncharacteristic play

Reesing has played a large role in the Kansas football program over his four seasons at the University. He was a big reason why the Jayhawks won the Orange Bowl, and he was an even bigger reason why so much optimism spread throughout Lawrence entering this season.

But Reesing has admittedly struggled his last four games: He has 10 turnovers in that stretch.

He made three more mistakes against Kansas State Saturday.

“He was just playing hard,” Mangino said. “He’s just had a little bit of a streak of misfortune. I don’t know how to explain it. He is a great player and he gives us the best chance to win. Like I told him we’ll have short memories and we’ll get ready for the next game.”

The biggest problem? Reesing’s turnovers have often resulted in points for Kansas’ opponents, and they did again against Kansas State.

“They took advantage of miscues and capitalized on them,” Mangino said Saturday.

Still, junior offensive lineman Brad Thorson said he hasn’t lost any confidence in Kansas’ quarterback.

“He got into being Todd a little bit more,” Thorson said. “I still trust him. I still think he is the best quarterback we can put back there. And I’ll put him up against anybody in the Big 12.”

Run game, offensive line struggle

Kansas’ offensive line played its best game of the season against Iowa State Oct. 10. After that game, Mangino heaped praise onto the unit.

Since that time, though, the offensive line has struggled to open up running lanes. The line’s pass protection has improved, but the Jayhawks haven’t rushed for 100 yards in their last four games.

Mangino reshuffled his offensive line against Kansas State.

He moved Thorson from left guard to right tackle to replace sophomore Jeff Spikes. He also moved junior Sal Capra from right guard to left guard and inserted freshman Trevor Marongelli at right guard for his first start of the season.

“We’ve all played together for 12 weeks now. It wasn’t unusual for us,” Thorson said. “We’ve done a lot of experimenting in practices throughout the year with the line. We got a lot of reps in this week. It felt comfortable when we went out there.”

Still, the Jayhawks struggled to consistently run the ball against the Wildcats, totaling just 60 yards.

Defense unable to make big stops

Kansas’ defense has vastly improved during the past four weeks, and the defense certainly shoulders little blame for the recent struggles.

But the Jayhawks have also been unable to generate defensive stops in critical moments, allowing opponents to take and maintain leads.

The same scenario unfolded against Kansas State. After the Jayhawks cut the lead to 17-10, the Wildcats started a drive with 5:20 left in the game.

Kansas needed a stop to give the offense the ball back. The defense, however, couldn’t stop Kansas State’s offense, and the Wildcats ran out the rest of the clock for the victory.

“It was good calls by them to go with the quarterback running,” junior cornerback Chris Harris said. “We knew we needed a stop. We were right there on third-and-long but we just couldn’t get it done.”

— Edited by Abby Olcese