In the closing moments of the Kansas football team’s 6-3 loss to North Dakota State on Saturday night, the home of the Jayhawks turned into a house of boo birds.

As the game wound down, the only cheers that emanted from Memorial Stadium’s crowd of more than 48,000 were from the minority of Bison supporters and jaded Jayhawk fans when junior tight end Tim Biere was benched.

“I think it’s crazy,” said junior wide receiver Daymond Patterson of the jeering. “Sometimes people have bad games… The fans or people on the outside don’t know what we go through and the hours we put in. For them to boo, I felt bad, because Tim is a good guy.”

Even with a win still in reach, many frustrated fans booed when a screen pass to senior wide receiver Johnathan Wilson went for negative yardage.

“We heard it,” said senior running back Angus Quigley. “We try to turn the other cheek on boos because those are our fans. It always hurts because we would hope the fans have a little more faith in us as a football team, but we played terrible.”

Quigley, a team captain and sixth-year senior, is witnessing how the more positive-minded Turner Gill regime is dealing with their first adversity. Still, he and many of the fans remember the Orange Bowl victory just two seasons ago. The fact that the fans have heightened expectations could be a silver lining to the boos he heard Saturday.

“If they’re booing, it means they have better expectations for us,” Quigley said. “If they didn’t boo, the stadium would have been empty. They would have just left if they didn’t care.”

Senior cornerback Chris Harris recorded four tackles and had the defense’s only sack — an 11-yard loss that stopped a Bison drive on third down. The only way to silence the critics is by meeting and exceeding expectations, Harris said.

“You never want to hear boos, especially on your home field,” Harris said. “It’s unfortunate that we didn’t go out there and play to the best of our abilities as a team. We have to go out this week and do better.”

The Jayhawks have an opportunity to silence the critics as soon as this Saturday when nationally ranked Georgia Tech visits Lawrence. Though the team surprised everyone in a negative way by losing to the Mountain Valley Conference’s Bison, they have a chance to pleasantly surprise their fan base against the defending ACC champion Yellow Jackets.

“It would definitely change the mood around here,” Harris said. “It would add some confidence to this team. We just have to go out there this week and get better at our job.”

— Edited by Kelsey Nill