4B
KU 20 - CU 15
THE UNIVERSITY DARY KANSAN
MONDAY, OCTOBER 30,2006
from the press box
IT WAS OVER WHEN...
Time ran out after Colorado's pass down to the Kansas 22-yard line with one second remaining. An illegal forward pass penalty against Colorado was declined and time ran out, sealing the victory.
GAME BALL GOES TO.
Freshman quarterback Todd Reesing had his redshirt pulled at halftime and then came out and had quite a first game. Reesing was 7-for-11 passing for 106 yards with two touchdowns. But Reesing was more impressive on the ground, where he led the team in rushing, with 90 yards on seven carries.
The offense under quarterback Adam Barmann in the first half was ineffective. The Jayhawks had just five first downs and only 90 yards of total offense.
GAME TO FORGET...
STAT OF THE GAME...
Running back Jon Cornish finished the game with only 80 rushing yards, but broke the 1,000 yard mark on the season. He now has 1,041 yards on the season, becoming the first Kansas rusher in 10 years to run for at least 1,000.
— Ryan Schneider
Cornish passes 1,000-yard mark
BY RYAN SCHNEIDER
It took longer than expected, but Jon Cornish broke the 1,000 yard mark for the season Saturday.
The senior running back entered the game needing just 39 yards to become the ninth Kansas rusher to run for at least 1,000 yards in a single season and the first since June Henley in 1996.
"It's self-fulfilling," Cornish said of breaking the 1,000 yard mark. "I'm satisfied."
Based on his average, Cornish was expected to reach the mark on his sixth carry. That didn't
Instead, on his sixth carry, Cornish had 18 yards left to go. He didn't cross the 1,000 yard mark until the middle of the third quarter, when he broke a run down the left side of the field for a 14-yard gain.
turn out to be the case.
Cornish had 80 yards on the day,
and he had to work hard for every one of them. Colorado consistently put seven or eight defenders at the line of scrimmage to try and stop the Big 12 Conference's leading rusher. The plan worked and Cornish was held to his second-lowest rushing total of the season.
"I was hoping for a few more yards tonight, but they came out and
"I was hoping for a few more yards tonight, but they came out and played a lot of defense. They crowded the ball like I've never seen before."
JON CORNISH
Senior running back
played a lot of defense," Cornish said. "They crowded the ball like I've never seen before."
Cornish's 1,041 yards currently ranks 11th on Kansas' all-time single-season rushing list. The record
is held by Tony Sands, who rushed for 1.442 yards in 1991.
Kansan senior sportswriter Ryan Schneider can be contacted at rschnelder@kansan.com.
Edited by Kate Shipley
Talib deserves praise
Cornerback one interception away from conference lead
BY SHAWN SHROYER
When Agib Talib did something big on Saturday, he made sure people knew.
On the field, he celebrated interceptions and pass breakups with mock jump shots. While fielding questions from the media, he clutched the defensive game ball hed received for all to see.
Although the Kansas defense played its best game of the season, Talib stole the show, nearly single-handedly shutting down the Colorado offense.
Kansas coach Mark Mangino said the victory would allow Talib to finally get the credit he deserved.
"Because we've given up some passes in our secondary, his outstanding play has been overshadowed in recent weeks," Mangino said. "He played fantastic."
Talib finished the game with a pair of pass breakups and interceptions, increasing his conference-leading total in pass breakups to 14 and moving to within one interception off the conference lead. Why Colorado challenged Talib so frequently is a mystery, but the sophomore cornerback didn't have any complaints.
"I was surprised, but I wasn't mad." Tail said.
For his efforts, Talib was rewarded with the defensive game ball, which was his first as a Jayhawk. The honor was a long time coming for Talib, as was the performance by the Kansas
Senior strong safety Jerome Kemp led all Jayhawks with 11 tackles and two tackles for losses. Seven other Jayhawks recorded tackles behind the line, three defensive linemen had sacks and four players other than Talib deflected passes.
defense. For the first time in weeks, the Jayhawks operated as a cohesive unit on defense.
In Colorado's four trips to the red zone, Kansas held it to three field goals. Until Colorado's 61-yard pass on the last play of the game, the Buffaloes had only 83 passing yards.
"We were banging on all cylinders," Kemp said. "As far as the secondary goes, we are at the point where we want to be."
But most importantly — and for the first time all season — the Kansas defense didn't allow a touchdown.
"Hey, you can't ask for much more than that, right?" Talb said.
Talib said the performance of the secondary was a result of the players watching more film, having more meetings with their coaches and simply maturing towards the end of the season.
The secondary also received a lift from different situational formations and yet another new face.
When the Buffaloes were in situations where they were most likely to pass, the jayhawks took out one of their three linebackers and put in a fifth defensive back. And whom did Kansas bring in to play the fifth defensive back position? None other than Dominic Roux, senior, who
was playing wide receiver just two weeks ago.
"We just felt like we were playing with two corners the whole game, and one of them is a freshman, and we just couldn't go on like that," Mangino said. "We approached Dominic, he jumped on it. He said, 'All I want to do is play.'"
Talib said he was glad to have Roux in the mix in the secondary.
"He's a bell of an athlete and he needed to be on the field," Talib said. "We have a lot of good wide outs, so he wasn't on the field that much. I guess he made a transition for the best."
Mangino said one thing he noticed about his defense Saturday was that it seemed to have the same "swagger" to it that his more veteran defenses had in recent years. However, Kansas fans shouldn't expect the Jayhawk defense to be content with one good weekend.
Talib wasn't even satisfied with his virtually flawless performance. Instead, he was upset with himself for dropping an interception that he likely would have returned for a touchdown.
"I missed that one, so I had to get that one back," Talib said. "I didn't get the six back, so I'm still mad about that one."
Kansan sportswriter Shawn Shroyer can be contacted at sshroyer@ kansan.com.
Edited by Kristen Jarboe
Sophomore cornerback Aqib Talib makes a fourth-p-
Colorado at Memorial Stadium. Talib also had a late third-
Jayhawk touchdown in the fourth quarter.
Don Cornish, senior running back, dodges Colorado defenders during the first half of play Saturday at Memorial Stadium. Cornished rushed for 80 vards in the victory. a number that raised his season tally passed
Senior defensive lineman Wayne Winder sacks Colorado quarterback James Cox for a seven-yard loss. Wilder had six tackles in the legwraps 30-15 victory against the Buffaloes.
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