There comes a moment where the pursuits we choose — be it football, bioengineering or sitting in front of a computer typing stories — begin to take on a deeper meaning.

Surely you’ve either heard someone say or have voiced yourself that football is just a game. And it is. I’ve said it myself.

But Saturday, when Kansas lost its fifth-straight game after opening the season nationally ranked with a 5-0 record, and after its seniors fell to the Big 12 North’s cellar in front of family, friends and fans for a final time, the players faced a moment in life that they won’t forget for good or ill.

It’s the moment when one’s best is not enough — that realization, that harsh reality that can’t be prepared for or foreseen.

Few, if any, of this team’s players are accustomed to losing so much as a few games per year.

And yet there they sat, faces blank and voices weary, in a postgame press conference setting that has come to decrease in length and increase in unease with each week’s unfortunate result.

“It’s tough,” junior wide receiver Dezmon Briscoe said. “It hurts bad. We’re fighting basically to be bowl eligible right now.”

Coach Mark Mangino’s portion of the press conference lasted half as long as usual, with a 15-second pause before the first question and between several others as reporters tried to figure where and how to start.

Though Mangino was visibly disappointed Saturday, it seemed those trying delicately to word their questions were more uncomfortable than the man answering them. His message: There’s no alternative but to keep competing.

“They’re trying hard and that’s all I care about,” Mangino said. “People make mistakes, we all do. Coaches make mistakes. I get bothered by a lack of effort and there was no lack of effort there.”

Before finishing with a game-high 10 catches for 127 yards, senior wide receiver Kerry Meier was among several who saw passes slip through their hands or dropped.

Worse, with the score tied 10-10 at the start of the second half, Meier grabbed a 19-yard reception on third down in Nebraska territory only to have the ball popped loose and recovered by the Cornhuskers’ Matt O’Hanlon at the four-yard line.

And while Kansas’ offensive line was exceptional in limiting surefire NFL first-rounder Ndamukong Suh’s presence, the defensive line couldn’t prevent Nebraska’s Roy Helu Jr. from running roughshod on the team for a consecutive year — Helu scored all three of Nebraska’s offensive touchdowns and rushed 28 times for 156 yards.

But Mangino was right. There was plenty of effort given by Kansas. On Senior Day, it was a freshman running back who nearly saved the game when Toben Opurum picked up two fourth-down conversions in one second quarter drive before Kansas would tie the game. And Reesing, after being rocked by a late hit while sliding to the turf, was no more conservative for it when lunging himself in the end zone for the score. And Meier rebounded from his third quarter fumble by being his reliable self.

But this is how it ends at Memorial Stadium. Did Kansas try its best? At times it certainly appeared so, at others not so much. But I again think back to phrase, “It’s just a game” or “It’s just sports.” Well, that’s true. When stacked up against the woes of the world, sports seem like lesser significant specks in the universe.

But on days like Saturday, the punches in the gut occasionally experienced when playing with footballs or basketballs can teach one a hell of a lot about meeting disappointment.

Follow Stephen Montemayor at twitter.com/smontemayor.

— Edited by Amanda Thompson