THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
MONDAY DECEMBER 1, 2009
KANSAS 40, MISSOURI 37 7A
MONDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2008
ES BACK IN KC MASTERPIECE
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for 375 yards and four touchdowns. He refused to let two interceptions faze him and had several highlight reel plays — none bigger than the final strike to Meier that gave the Jayhawks the signature victory that they badly craved.
The list of the game's heroes may have have begun with Reesing and Meier, but it certainly didn't end there. Safety Darrell Stuckey continued his stellar season, intercepting two Chase Daniel passes and stripping him of the ball after the Mizzou quarterback had run for 54 yards in the first quarter.
Briscoe returned kicks for the first time in his career and gave
the game.
But just when it looked like Kansas was going to cave, Reesing led the Jayhawks on the first of two dramatic drives and found Meier for an 8-yard strike that put Kansas back in front at 33-30, setting up the final dramatic finish.
Kansas its best average starting field position of the season. Kicker Jacob Branstetter and punter Alonzo Rojas deserve some credit as well, using strategically placed kicks to keep the ball away from Missouri's All-American returner Jeremy Maclin.
"I'm proud to be associated with them." Mangino said of his players. "It's hard to describe the feeling that you have for them. You're just so glad because they showed courage. They gave everything they have to the program today, and hard work is rewarded."
Kansas controlled the ball for 36 minutes compared to just 24 for the Tigers. The Jayhawks led 19-10 at halftime and upped it to 26-10 on a 19-yard run by Sharp on the Jayhawks' first possession of the second half. But Missouri scored three straight touchdowns and stormed back to take a 30-26 lead with just 6:52 left to play in
Edited by Rachel Burchfield
consumption
the final
Iodd Reesing. 37-of-51 passes for 375 yards and four touchdowns, all with an arm he could barely lift earlier this week. In arguably Reesing's best Kansas performance, the junior's bag of tricks was bottomless. He evaded a constant rush and converted critical third down throws. Not to mention a 26-yard
Safety Phillip Strozier leap and put a couple of fingers on Jeff Wolfert's last-second goal attempt. The odds of making a 54-yarder in the snow aren't good, but Wolfert is one of the nation's best. Strozier ended the drama as soon as it left Wolfert's foot.
GAME BALL GOES TO...
VIEW FROM THE PRESSBOX
Chase Daniel. He piled up 391 total yards and four touchdowns, but his mistakes doomed the Tigers. Daniel's four turnovers, including an intentional grounding in the end zone, led to 15 Kansas points.
Coach Mark Mangino on Kansas' final offensive play, a 26-yard touchdown pass to Kerry Meier;
IT WAS OVER WHEN..
OUOTABLE..
"Well, we really felt like we didn't need to get a touchdown. We felt we had some time to manage the clock and just get a chunk of yardage. But Kerry got behind the coverage, and as I've said all year, if you get the ball near him, he's going to catch it. He had 14 catches. That's unbelievable, considering he played today on one good leg."
GAME TO FORGET.
— Taylor Bern
touchdown toss on fourth down with 27 seconds left.
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Last Touchdown Tuesday: Dec.2
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Sophomore wide receiver Dezmon Briscoe fends off a Missouri defender during Saturday's Border Showdown at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Mo. Briscoe rushed for 310 yards throughout the game, which culminated in a 40-37 Javhawk victory over the Tiners.
football notes
BRISCOE RETURNS KICKS
After struggling to watch the Jayhawks kick return unit rank 119th out of 119 teams in Division I-A, coach Mark Mangino decided to give wide receiver Dezmon Briscoe a try at returner. The move paid off - big time.
Briscoe returned the ball to near midfield several times and gave Kansas the much needed field position that they had craved all season.
"Being on offense, I know how it feels to work with bad field position," Briscoe said. "It minimizes our play calling and I just wanted to get us in good field position so we could call whatever we wanted to call."
Mangino had tried to fix the problem by switching a few of the blockers but the changes were unsuccessful. He gave running back Jocues Crawford a try earlier in the season but he didn't fare much better. So he finally decided to bench last year's All-Big 12 returner Marcus Herford in favor of the team's leading wide receiver Briscoe.
"We're the worst in the country at doing it," Mangino said. "I made some changes a couple weeks ago that I thought
were good and then the return didn't have rhythm so I felt like we needed to change the return man too."
MORE ON INJURIES
Mangino made a similar move last season when he had cornerback Aqib Talib return punts late in the Missouri game and then in the Orange Bowl against Virginia Tech.
Running back Jake Sharp and wide receiver Kerry Meier both were questionable for Saturday's game after leaving the Texas game two weeks ago with injuries. Sharp didn't practice much at all this week and his status wasn't cemented until just before kickoff.
"We had our fingers crossed that he could hold up," Mangino said. "He was in pain. He was hurting. But he wasn't going to come off the field. He just wasn't going to. He ran the ball as hard as he could. We didn't know if he was going to hold up or not but he did — thankfully."
Sharp finished with 48 yards on 20 carries and had a key 19-yard touchdown scamper on the layhawks' first drive of the second quarter.
Meier was forced to practice at quarterback all week instead
of getting much needed rest because of a shoulder injury to quarterback Todd Reesing that kept him on the sideline for much of the two week break. The Pittsburg native looked as good as he has in recent weeks, catching a school record 14 passes for 106 yards and two touchdowns.
"I've said all year, if you get the ball near him, he's going to catch it," Mangino said. "Somebody told me out in the hallway that he had 14 catches? That's unbelievable, considering that he played tonight on one good leg."
Reeing hurt his throwing shoulder during the Nebraska game and has been dealing with the injury ever since. He toughed it out along with Sharp, Meier and several other injured Jayhawks.
"It's just been tight all week," Reesing said. I've just been doing a lot of work in the training room and doing whatever I have to do. Today it felt pretty good."
Reeing cut his throwing hand during Saturday's 40-37 epic victory and was forced to get stitches after the game but will get a few weeks to rest before the jayhawk's bowl game in late December.
Jon Goering/KANSAN
Missouri defensive back Carl Gettis almost comes up with an interception in front of sophomore wide receiver Dezmon Briscoe during the final minute of the game. Gettis couldn't hold onto the pass that would have sealed a victory for the Tiners.