University of Kansas - Jayhawker Yearbook (Lawrence, KS)

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Kansas vs. Florida Internation I Mortensen rnakes key tackles against Florida International lorida International had already faced two great defenses - Penn State and Miami CFla.D - before its trip to Lawrence on Saturday. ' KANSAS 4 But after a 55-3 loss to Kansas, Florida International coach Ma- rio Cristobal said the Iayhawks defense ranks right with the two nationally-renowned units. Excellent defensef' Cristobal KU -55 FIU -3 September 22, 2007 said. 'They are very physical up front, do a great job stopping the run and mixing up their pres- sures as well. Af- ter we had great success running against Miami last week, they did a great job filling gapsf' Filling most of those gaps was junior middle linebacker Ioe Mortensen. He has become the star of the Kansas defense after switching positions from outside linebacker before the season. He led the team with 23 tack- les and 14 solo tackles before the showdown with the Golden Pan- thers. But he Seemed to Catapult Seniorrunning back Brandon McAnderson t35Jshakesotfa Florida Internationaldefender. himself to another level against Florida International. GI thought he was outstand- ingf' coach Mark Mangino said. He played hard, he played well, I don't know how many tackles he had but he had a bunch. Mortensen finished the game with a team- and career-high, 13 tackles. I-le didn't limit himself to tackles, though. Mortensen forced a fumble, pressured the quarter- back and applied tough coverage of the Golden Panthers receivers. Mortensen recorded at least three tackles in every quarter be- fore exiting early in the fourth to let the reserves gain experience. When asked whether it was his best game, Mortensen didnit show much hesitation. i'Yeah. They ran the ball a lot and I had a lot of opportunities to make tacklesfl Mortensen said. I love teams that run the ball? A play Mortensen almost made stuck out in his mind after the game. With I2 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, he recovered a fumble and appeared to return it for a touchdown before the play was ruled dead. alt wouldave been nice if they would have gave it to mef, Mortensen said. 'ilt looked like a fumble to me. I thought it was a touchdown but I heard the whistle at the two-yard line. Touchdown or not, Mortensen terrorized anything and every- thing in his way against Florida International. And with Big 12 conference play looming a few weeks away, it couldnit have come at a better time for the Iayhawks. Story by CASE KEEFER Pnoto by JEFF JACOBSENX KANSAS ATHLETICS

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- 45 T - I3 September 75, 2007 Kansas vs. Toledo Quarterback fights through adversity against Toledo odd Reesing did it again. The sophomore quar- terback, ranked 10th in the nation in passing efficiency, put on another memo- rable performance in a 45-13 vic- tory against Toledo, finishing with 313 yards and four touchdowns. But achieving those numbers wasnit as easy as it was in the first two games. Reesing had to endure eight dropped balls from his receivers, pressure from Toledds defense and additional hits taken during his career-high eleven carries. i'The inconsistency we showed on offense just shows we still have work to dof Reesing said. We need to be sharper as a wholef' Toledo ranked last in the na- tion with no sacks coming into the game. It was clear from the Jayhawks' first possession, though, that the Rockets were not leaving Memorial Stadium without a sack. On the third play from scrim- mage, Toledo defensive end Ber- nard Faithful came off of the edge and put a punish- ing hit on Rees- ing. Kansas coach Mark Mangino said he was sur- prised by Toledo's pass rush early in the game. We got a lot of pressure in the first half, Mangi- no said, aObviously you can pre- pare for a lot of different blitzes, but they're always going to try to get one in on you that you haven't seen beforef' Reesing decided to keep the ball himself on an option play from the 12-yard line in the first half. He raced down to the one- yard line before being smashed I I I Junior cornerback Aqib Talib I3I struggles to obstruct a Toledo pass. like sandwich meat between two Rocket defenders. It was a hit the quarterback could have avoided if he would have realized he stepped out of bounds five yards before. Not all of Reesingis problems can be solved with rest and ice. Mangino said he was most con- cerned with the receivers not catching Reesing's passes. There are no excuses for the dropped passesfi Mangino said. i'Welre not going to make any, and none will be accepted. Story by CASE KEEEER Photo by JEFF JACOBSENI KANSAS ATHLETICS 1 I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I im-A L

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alF3! ! li Junior linebacker James Holt U23 topples a Wildcat receiver during Kansas' fourth quarter victory against Kansas State. Kansas at Kansas State Key plays in fourth aaarter seal victory against VVr'!dcats t took all of eight seconds for Todd Reesing's impressive progress as a starting quar- terback to come to a screech- ing halt. But 59 minutes and 52 -30 KS -24 October 6, ZOO7 seconds of football later, Reesing stood atop the world of Kansas football after engineering a 30-24 victory, the Iayhawks' first at Kan- sas State since 1989. Kansas won the coin toss and elected to take possession of the ball in an attempt to silence the row- dy crowd of more than 50,000 After the opening kick- off sailed through the end zone for a touchback, Re- esing and the lay- hawks took over at the 20-yard line with junior cornerback Aqib Talib and sophomore quarterback Kerry Meier lined up at wide receiver. The ensuing play was not quite as exciting as the KU formation. Placed under duress by the KSU pass rush, Reesing unleashed a medium-length pass that was adeptly snatched from the air by Kansas State sophomore free safe- ty Chris Carney. At that moment, the optimism spurred by Kansas, 4-0 start seemed to evaporate. Fif- teen minutes and only 38 yards of Kansas offense later, the Iayhawks trailed their in-state rivals, 7-0, af- ter one disheartening quarter. l'Our first quarter was pretty poorf' Reesing said. uWe didn't get things clicking like we wanted to at the start of the game. I think we just had to get settled and used to playing on the road in a new envi- ronmentf' The Iayhawks, still relatively inexperienced after playing their first four games of 2007 at home, had plenty to overcome against Kansas State. Kansas displayed some of the attributes it had obviously lacked in the past several years. The Iay- hawks showed enough fight to overcome a slow start, enough heart to overcome a bevy of screaming fans and enough will to tame a Top-25 opponent. This was a hard fought gamef Mangino said. 'Tm especially proud of our players, who over- came some adversity. They never gave up and kept making plays on offense and defensef' Story by ASHER Fusco Photo by JEFF JACOBSENI KANSAS ATHLETICS I W.