University of Kansas - Jayhawker Yearbook (Lawrence, KS)

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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

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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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-19 CU -14 October 20, 2007 Kansas at Colorado Ugly game ends pretty against Colorado estled at the base of the Rocky Mountains and surrounded by tree-lined hills, Fol- som Field is one of the most pic- turesque venues in college foot- ball. None of that beauty found its way onto the field. Kansas came out on top against Colorado in a defensive struggle full of turnovers and big hits. For the better part of 60 ugly minutes for the offenses, the teams traded defensive punches until Kansas fi- nally secured a 19-14 victory with fewer than two minutes remaining. The dropped passes, costly pen- alties and mental mistakes that played a large role in the game allowed the rare moments of eye- pleasing foot- ball to stand out even further. The game's most awe- inspiring offen- sive play, which came late in the first quarter, gave Kansas the up- per hand early On third-and-four from his own 17-yard line, sophomore quarter- back Todd Reesing dropped back to pass. As was often the case against the solid Colorado sec- ondary, the quarterback could not locate an open receiver. Instead of forcing the ball to a covered teammate, Reesing doubled back toward the right sideline and took off running downfreld. The quick quarterback scam- pered past the Colorado defen- sive linemen and the first-down marker. lust when it appeared Re- esing might head for the safety of the sideline, senior wide receiver Marcus Henry and senior tight end Derek Pine each latched onto Sophomore quarterback and receiver Kerry Meier C101 tries to stay in bounds as he runs down the field? a Colorado defender and opened a wide path for their quarterback. Reesing didn't beat the last Buf- falo defender to the goal line, but he did advance the ball to the Col- orado 3O-yard line - just close enough for Kansas to take a 3-0 lead on a 48-yard field goal by se- nior kicker Scott Webb two. 'Tt was either throw the ball away or try to make a playf' Rees- ing said. 'Tm going to try to make a play in any situation. Luckily we got some blocks, and things worked outf' The Kansas defense went above and beyond the call of duty, push- ing Colorado back eight yards over the course of four plays. Hawkins could not connect with freshman wide receiver Iosh Smith on fourth-and-15, turning the ball and the game over to the Iayhawks. It was greatf' said junior cor- nerback Aqib Talib. The defense stepped up in the fourth quarter and showed the world what we can do. Story by ASHER FUSCO Photo by LAURA JACOBSENI KANSAS ATHLETICS f ' ,Hut