8A SPORTS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
MONDAY DECEMBER 1, 2008
Bang the drum triumphantly
The Jayhawks celebrate by raising the Indian War Drum after defeating Missouri 40-37 in Saturday's Border Showdown at Arowhead Stadium in Kansas City Mo.
Jon Goering/KANSAN
DENT (CONTINUED FROM 12A)
This year's game was supposed to be Missouri's warm-up for the Big 12 Championship Game. Chase Daniel would take his time in the pocket and pick the defense apart, and Jeremy Maclin would leave KU defenders behind as if they were chasing him with their shoes untied.
Kansas couldn't deal with that kind of speed, that athleticism. The Jayhawks were beat up. Black and blue would've been a more telling uniform color than crimson and blue.
On Monday, Reesing couldn't lift his arm. Meier practiced on one leg. He had for at least the last month. Sharp had cracked ribs. Mike Rivera had been
playing hurt most of the year, and Joe Mortensen had never quite recovered from two knee surgeries.
But on Saturday, they were all on the field. Reesing got leveled and cut his hand and still threw for 375 yards and that last beautiful touchdown pass in the falling snow. Meier caught 14 passes. Sharp rumbled for a 19-yard touchdown run.
The healthy guys, relatively speaking, showed some grit as well. Darrell Stuckey bolted down the field shortly after a Reesing turnover and caused one for Missouri, stripping the ball away from a sprinting Daniel. Jake Laptad pressured Daniel and
got a safety. The kicker, Jacob Branstetter, speared Maclin on one of his returns.
"Missouri is a finesse team," Rivera said. "KU is a hard-nosed team. We go out there and fight."
That's what they did. The Jayhawks fought. Kansas trailed and made all the big plays up until the very end when Phillip Strozier blocked Jeff Wolfert's field goal and turned this Border Showdown into everything that last year's wasn't, a sports masterpiece.
"Everybody will remember this," Stuckey said, "and talk about this for the next year."
They'll talk about so many different parts of the game.
Reeing's heroic throws from his injured hand, Meier's hobbled touchdown route, Dezmon Briscoe's grabs and kickoff returns, Stuckey's first-quarter chase after Chase, and yes, the jerseys, the soaking wet, mud-covered, grass-stained iersees.
Those are the reminders, the symbols, the words that tell the tale of how Kansas discovered its gritty identity and out-toughed Missouri on Saturday. There are so many of them.
But really, the story's not so complex.
"The only way I can describe it," Mangino said, "is courage."
— Edited by Arthur Hur
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