During the past five weeks, Kansas’ defense has transformed in front of everyone’s eyes, evolving from a liability to a unit sturdy enough to compete in the Big 12.

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Kansas Football vs. Nebraska

Kansas took on Nebraska on Saturday, Nov. 14 in its final home game of the 2009 season. Despite a comeback effort in the fourth quarter, the Jayhawks lost their fifth-straight game on senior day at Memorial Stadium. With the loss, the Jayhawks fell to 5-5 overall, and 1-5 in Big 12 play.

In nearly every game during that stretch, coach Mark Mangino has swapped players in and out of his starting lineups.

Still, the Jayhawks have struggled in one glaring area: late-game defensive stands.

A defense’s fortitude is usually revealed in the instances when a stop is desperately needed. That type of gut-check moment smacked Kansas Saturday during the fourth quarter of another close game against a Big 12 North opponent.

In the final five minutes against Nebraska, Kansas’ defense, which was in desperate need of a stop, simply couldn’t get the job done. The Cornhuskers scored a touchdown with 29 seconds left in the game, putting the final touches on the victory.

“Every game we’ve lost, the defense has had a chance to give our offense another shot and we’ve come up short,” freshman linebacker Huldon Tharp said. “Today, we let some things slip away once again.”

There’s little doubt that Kansas’ defense has drastically improved since allowing 36 points to Iowa State in the conference opener Oct. 10. But the Jayhawks haven’t forced stops in the crucial, outcome-deciding moments of games.

“It’s something that we have to get fixed as a defense because that seems to be the case,” senior defensive back Justin Thornton said. “We play good all the way to the fourth quarter, and then we give up a run right there at the end that makes it look like they whooped us. And that wasn’t the case at all.”

Two weeks ago at Kansas Sate, Kansas’ defense was placed in a nearly identical situation.

After Kansas cut the lead to 17-10, Kansas State started a drive with 5:20 left in the game. The Jayhawks couldn’t get a stop, and the Wildcats ran out the rest of the clock.

The only difference against Nebraska last Saturday? The Cornhuskers scored a touchdown on their final drive.

“It hurts,” Mangino said after the game. “There’s no question we needed a stop.”

Faced with third and 10 from Nebraska’s 37-yard line late in the fourth quarter, Cornhusker running back Roy Helu Jr. took a pitch outside for a 30-yard gain.

Kansas’ defenders couldn’t corral Helu Jr. along the sideline, and Tharp said after the game that the Jayhawks took poor angles during the play.

But he also said the problem wasn’t simply an issue of fundamentals.

“It’s our mindset,” Tharp said. “We just have to get it in our minds that they’re not going to get any more points or get any more yards on us, and we have to shut them down. I’m not sure why we don’t have that mindset right now.”

In a 35-28 victory against Southern Mississippi Sept. 26, Kansas’ defense allowed plenty of yards but buckled down in the fourth quarter.

After that game, the Jayhawks talked about the importance of a defense tightening its straps in the final quarter of play.

In the moments after the loss to Nebraska Kansas’ players voiced a similar opinion. But this time, it was from a different perspective.

“You could call it bad luck but I kind of see that as a scapegoat,” Tharp said. “Our defense had a shot and we let it slip by. I’d say it’s our fault.”

Follow Jayson Jenks at twitter.com/JaysonJenks.

— Edited by Nick Gerik