6B the university daily kansan
sports
monday,october 27,2003
Courtney Kuhlen/Kansan
Kansas coach Mark Mangino yelled at sophomore quarterback Brian Luke after he fumbled a snap leading to a Kansas State touchdown.
FOOTBALL: Backup QBs struggle after Whittemore leaves with injury
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1B
On the first snap sophomore Brian Luke took at quarterback, his handoff exchange to sophomore tailback Clark Green was fumbled, giving Kansas State the ball at the Kansas 20 yard line.
It only took the Wildcats one play to convert the turnover into a touchdown, as Wildcat receiver Davin Dennis bent Kansas backup defensive back Shelton Simmons for a 20-yard touchdown grab.
Simmons was in the game after starter Donnie Amadi went down with a knee injury. The sun never came back out for the Jayhawks.
Nielsen, a junior, made his Division-I debut when Kansas got the ball again, and played the rest of the afternoon.
Without Whittemore's playmaking ability to keep the defense off guard, the offense was shut down for the next 21/2 hours.
The Jayhawks had 76 yards of total offense in the first quarter with Whittemore, but could only muster 94 yards the rest of the day.
The offense also failed to convert on a single third down for the first time this season.
Nielsen struggled to find words to describe the experience.
"I don't know what to say," Nielsen said. "It was a rough day, it was a rough game."
The defense was able to hold its own in the first quarter while both teams were at full strength.
Kansas State only had 69 yards of offense in the first, but once Kansas' offense faltered with its backup quarterbacks, the Wildcats gained control of the ball and the clock.
As Kansas' defense struggled to keep its wind, the Wildcats were able to hold onto the ball for 71 plays and 395 yards on the afternoon.
"It wasn't one thing that broke us," sophomore linebacker Nick Reid said. "It was just we didn't
play well."
Kansas Football Notebook
Junior kicker Johnny Beck temporarily removed himself from the hotseat with field goals from both 18 and 51 yards for Kansas' only points on the afternoon.
-Sophomore kick returner Greg Haggans set a new Kansas school record for career kick return yards.
His 28-yard return in the first quarter and a later return of 22 yards gave him 1,105 yards for his brief career.
The old record was 1,077 yards by Maurice Douglas, who played from 1998-89.
Edited by Joey Berlin
KANSAS STATE 42 KANSAS 6
BREAKDOWN Kansas Kansas State
First Downs 7 25
Net Yards Rushing 89 257
Net Yards Passing 71 138
Offensive Plays-Yards 49-160 71-395
Fumbles-Lost 3-2 2-2
Penalties-Yards 11-90 6-40
Punts-Yards 7-259 4-184
Average Per Punt 37.0 46.0
Punt Returns-Yards 2-13 2-66
Kickoff Returns-Yards 2-50 1-5
Interceptions 0 1
Possession Time 27.56 32.04
Third Down Conversions 0-11 5-12
Fourth Down Conversions 0-0 1-1
Red-Zone Conversions 1-1 5-5
Sacks 1 2
KANSAS Passing
| | Comp-Att. | Yds. | TD | INT |
| :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- |
| John Nielsen | 8-12 | 33 | 0 | 0 |
| Bill Whittimore | 4-7 | 38 | 0 | 1 |
Rushing Car. Yds. TD Avg.
Clark Green 10 55 0 5.5
John Randle 10 44 0 4.4
Bill Whittemore 4 7 0 1.8
John Nielsen 6 -17 0 -2.8
Rec. Yds. TD Long
Charles Gordon 3 5 0 6
Clark Green 2 29 0 22
Moderick Johnson 2 15 0 8
Brandon Rideau 2 11 0 8
John Randle 2 7 0 7
Mark Simmons 1 4 0 4
KANSAS STATE Passing
Comp.-Att. Yds. TD INT
Ell Roberson 10-19 138 1 0
Jeff Schwinn 0-1 0 0 0
Rushing Car. Yds. TD Avg.
Ell Roberson 18 103 2 5.7
Darren Sproles 19 98 1 5.2
Danny Morris 6 30 0 5.0
Jeff Schwinn 3 24 0 8.0
Travis Wilson 1 5 0 5.0
Victor Mann 1 1 1 1.0
Donnie Anders 3 -4 0 -1.3
Receiving
Rec. Yds. TD Long
Antoine Polite 4 45 0 23
Davin Dennis 2 41 1 21
Thomas Hill 1 27 0 27
Darren Sproles 1 11 0 11
Joe Lawson 1 9 0 9
James Terry 1 5 0 5
WILDCATS: Kansas State players beginning to show confidence
CONTINED FROM PAGE 1B
"We read somewhere that they said they were trying not to look past us," Rashad Washington said. "We came out to make a statement in this game."
Even the Kansas State players showed a confidence in the postgame press conference that had been absent in the Wildcats' three-game losing streak that now seems so far away.
The senior safety noted that the game changed when Bill Whittemore was knocked out with an injury late in the first quarter.
With one of the nation's most efficient quarterbacks out for the rest of the game, the Wildcats' defense smelled blood. For the second straight season, a backup
quarterback took his lumps in the Kansas State game.
Kansas was a changed team without Whittemore. Trailing just 7-3 when Whittemore was injured, the game quickly ballooned to a 28-3 K-State lead at halftime. The Kansas State defense harassed quarterback John Nielsen, holding him to just 33 passing yards for the rest of the game. The Jayhawks were held to 160 total yards and seven first downs. The Kansas offense often self-destructed and was penalized 11 times for 90 yards.
"They losing Whittemore changed the complexion of the game," Kansas State coach Bill
The defense, left on the field too long because of offensive ineptitude, allowed 395 yards of Wildcats offense.
Snyder said. "If he was in, the game wouldn't have been over so quickly."
Ell Roberson and Darren Sproles were responsible for most of the Wildcats offense in the game.
Roberson passed for 138 yards and a touchdown, while running for 103 yards and two more scores. Sproles set the Kansas State career rushing record with a 12-yard burst on an option pitch early in the second quarter.
He finished with 98 yards rushing and one touchdown, but it was what Sproles did on special teams that may have broken the fahwaws.
With Kansas down 21-3 and just trying to make it to halftime, Kansas punted the ball to Sproles.
"They tried to spread out the field," Sproles said. "I just wanted to try and break it up the middle and I did."
The result was a 63-yard touchdown with just 1:02 left in the second quarter, upping the lead to 28-3. Kansas State never looked back.
With their confidence growing after two straight wins, the Wildcats would win the Big 12 Conference's north division if they can win the rest of their games.
Defensive end Andrew Shull said the Wildcats were back on track.
"We're definitely starting to play a lot better." Shull said. "We've definitely got a lot of our confidence back."
Edited by Michael Owells
Courtney Kuhien/Kansan
Kansas wide receiver Mark Simmons sat on the sidelines during the last minutes of the Jayhawks' 42-6 loss against Kansas State Saturday afternoon in Manhattan.
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