Senior quarterback Todd Reesing gets hit as he throws during the first half. With 290 yards of total offense, the Jayhawks broke a streak of eight straight games with at least 400 yards of total offense.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Junior kicker Jacob Branstetter sprinted while the rest of his teammates jogged into the locker room Saturday trailing by just eight points. After a rough opening 30 minutes, things could have been much worse.
The Jayhawks were one possession from potentially tying the game. They had scrapped and overcome three turnovers to make it close.
And, after Branstetter’s 57-yard field goal as time expired in the second quarter, Kansas seemed to have corralled the game’s momentum.
Then the third quarter started and Oklahoma marched down the field before scoring a touchdown.
Oklahoma receiver Ryan Broyles pulls in a pass without pressure Saturday afternoon against Oklahoma. Kansas' defense gave up 252 receiving yards in a 35-13 loss.
“We did it; we allowed them to do it ourselves,” senior safety Darrell Stuckey said. “It was penalties and bonehead mistakes that allowed them to get there.”
But in the grand scope of the game, Kansas’ defense turned in one of its better performances this season. The Jayhawks stifled the revamped Sooners, holding Oklahoma’s offense to just seven first-half points.
It was a progressive step for a defense that has found itself under fire at times this season. After Kansas’ defense allowed Iowa State to score 36 points, coach Mark Mangino vowed that changes could be made.
He held true to his words the next week when Kansas trotted out three new players against Colorado. The Jayhawks kept that same lineup intact against the Sooners.
“You look at the overall performance of the defense: Not bad — at all,” Mangino said. “We’re much improved.”
Still, Kansas’ meeting with Oklahoma was filled with near misses and game-changing mistakes. Perhaps no series better represents that message than Oklahoma’s opening drive in the third quarter.
First, freshman cornerback D.J. Beshears was flagged for a blatantly obvious pass interference call down the sideline. That allowed Oklahoma to move the ball into Kansas territory.
Then after the Jayhawks appeared to force the Sooners into a third and long situation, senior defensive end Jeff Wheeler committed a roughing the passer penalty. Oklahoma scored a touchdown five plays later.
“We thought we had gotten settled down in the second half but we gave them a drive and made some silly penalties,” Mangino said. “Not disciplined play by us.”
Added Ryan Murphy, sophomore cornerback: “Knowing that we were going to be up first on defense and we had a pretty good first half, it was kind of deflating to let them drive down the field.”
During Oklahoma’s second drive of the game, Stuckey blitzed from the edge, smacked quarterback Landry Jones in the back and jarred the ball loose. Stuckey recovered the fumble at Oklahoma’s 26-yard line.
Turns out, though, it was a meaningless play because Wheeler was flagged for jumping off sides.
It was only one of a handful of missed plays — both offensively and defensively — that perhaps cost Kansas a chance at a victory.
“That’s something you can control,” Stuckey said. “That’s something that’s tangible to your defense. Any time you’re playing a great team like OU, you can’t afford to make mistakes like that.”
Kansas’ offense was plagued with similarly-themed problems.
In the final minutes before halftime, senior quarterback Todd Reesing released a pass to junior wide receiver Dezmon Briscoe while being hit by an Oklahoma defender.
The pass was wobbly and slightly low yet a wide-open Briscoe managed to get his hands on the ball, juggling it in the air before it finally slipped out of his grasp. Instead of scoring what would have been a touchdown, the Jayhawks settled for Branstetter’s field goal.
“There were a lot of opportunities that we had out there that we let go, that we let slip out of our fingers,” Stuckey said.
Yet the good-enough-to-win performance by Kansas’ defense was partially lost in the game’s aftermath.
Sure, the Jayhawks noted problems and potential game-changing moments from Saturday. But a larger theme echoed in the postgame interviews.
Despite the loss, Kansas’ defense showed tangible evidence of improvement.
“We’re pecking away at those things,” Mangino said. “We’re slowly but surely getting some things done on defense and getting better.”
— Edited by Megan Morriss
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