University of Kansas - Jayhawker Yearbook (Lawrence, KS)

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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.

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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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Offensive October 13, 2007 K nsas vs. Baylor flood defeats or almost two hours, Mother Nature spared the Baylor Bears a resound- ing defeat. But the Kan- sas Iayhawks spent the rest of the game day's afternoon making up for lost time and delivering an emphatic blowout victory that ex- tended the Kansas winning streak to six games. After a 98-minute pregame rain delay and a 30-min- ute lightning delay KU - in the first quarter, KansasdefeatedBay- BU - lor. Strong thunder- storms pummeled Memorial Stadium steadily throughout the morning. It got to be kind of a long dayf' said Kansas coach Mark Mangino. HI was just concerned about the kids wearing down in the second half a little bit, but they didn't. Neither team emerged from the extensive pregame delay looking sharp. Kansas lost two yards on its first possession, and Baylor gained just four yards on its first drive before punting. Kansas' spe- cial teams gave the sleepwalking offense an early boost when Bay- lor junior wide receiver Ioe Ben- nett misplayed a punt return with 10:54 remaining in the first quar- ter. Kansas senior tight end Derek Fine recovered the fumble at the Baylor 36-yard line. Kansas managed only two first downs on the resulting possession, but senior kicker Scott Webb con- verted a Z7-yard field goal to give the Iayhawks a 3-0 lead. Baylor hung in the game for the next four minutes, finishing a 50-yard drive with a game-tying field goal. That field goal would be the last good fortune the Bears Baylor 1' f V 5' Freshman vvlde receiver Dezmon Briscoe i805 looks to get a grasp on the ball against Baylor. would stumble upon for quite some time. Kansas junior wide receiver Marcus Herford fielded the ensuing kickoff at the 12-yard line and followed his blocks per- fectly up the middle of the field. By the time Herford shot past midfield, no Baylor defenders re- mained between him andthe end zone. As he crossed the goal line, a bright yellow lightning bolt shot out of the clouds east of the stadium, prompting a half-hour delay. Once the teams returned to the held, the Bears found themselves face to face with another flood: the Iayhawk offense. alt was kind ofnice that we were able to make some adjustments and things like that in the locker roomf' Mangino said. Story by ASHER FUSCO Photo by JON GOERING