4B
MISSOURI 41, KANSAS 39
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 2009
3 10 20 8-41
Kansas
14 7 7 11----39
Jayhawk Stat Leaders
Rushing
Jake Sharp 29 yds
Passing
Todd Reesing 498 yds
Receiving
Dezmon Briscoe
242 yds
Kansas Passing
Player C/ATT Yards Avg TD Int
Todd Reeing 37/55 498 9.1 4 1
Team 37/55 498 9.1 4 1
Missouri Passing
| | C/ATT | Yards | Avg | TD | Int |
| :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- |
| Team | 23/41 | 303 | 7.4 | 1 | 0 |
Player CAR Yards Avg TD Lg
Jake Sharp 7 29 4.1 0 10
Rell Lewis 3 12 4.0 0 11
Todd Reesing 8 8 1.0 0 17
Team 19 49 2.6 0 17
Missouri Rushing
| | CAR | Yards | Avg | TD | LG |
| :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- |
| Team | 35 | 250 | 7.1 | 3 | 40 |
Player REC Yards Avg TD Lg
Dezmon Briscoe 14 242 17.3 2 74
Jake Sharp 8 78 9.8 0 20
Kerry Meler 10 54 5.4 2 8
Tim Biere 2 49 24.5 0 33
Rell Lewis 1 42 42.0 0 42
Bradley McDougald 2 33 16.5 0 22
Team 37 498 13.5 4 74
Kansas Receiving
Missouri Receiving
| | REC | Yards | Avg | TD | Lg |
| :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- |
| Team | 23 | 303 | 13.2 | 1 | 68 |
Kansas Kick Returns
Player No. Yards Avg TD Darrell Stuckey 3 57 19.0 0 Dezmon Briscoe 3 49 16.3 0 Bradley McDougald 1 11 11.0 0
Missouri Kick Returns
NO Yards Avg Lg Team 8 214 26.8 34
Kansas Punt Returns
Player NO YDS AVG LG Team 1 4 4.0 4
Missouri Punt Returns
NO Yards Avg Lg Team 1 9 9.0 9
Kansas Kicking
Kansas Kicking
Player FG PCT XP PTS
Jacob Branstetter 1/1 100.0 4/4 7
Team 1/1 100.0 4/4 7
Missouri Kicking
Team 4/4 100.0 43 3/3 15
Jon Goerina/KANSAN
Kansas Punting
Player TOT YDS TB -20 LG
Alonso Rojas 3 123 1 1 48
Team 3 123 1 1 48
Missouri Punting
Tot Yards TB -20 LG Team 5 247 0 5 58
KANSASFOOT
The Kansas defense watches as Missouri kicks through the game-winning field goal at the end of Saturday's game. The loss gave Kansas a final record of 5-7 making the team ineffective for a bowl game.
FOOTBALL (CONTINUED FROM 1B)
character and their effort."
Sometimes it's hard to remember that Kansas started the season 5-0. The Jayhawks crawled into the top 20 and Reesing's name was even mentioned in the same sentence as the Heisman Trophy.
But on a crisp night in Boulder, Colo. in early October, Kansas suffered its first setback. Reeing had two turnovers that led directly to Colorado touchdowns, beginning a trend that eventually led to his benching against Texas Tech Oct. 31.
The lajhwaks lost their final seven games of the season, and after each loss they simply struggled to explain the reasons for the collapse.
"No one wants to be 5-7," junior wide receiver Dezmon Briscoe said. "I mean, that's a terrible feeling. I'm hurting inside right now."
After the game — after Kansas
There, inside the locker room, Kansas players looked around and realized that this season — and therefore the seniors careers — had finally reached an end.
let 3-point lead slip away in the final three minutes—the layhawks slowly exited the field and headed into the belly of Arrowhead Stadium.
"You see the emotions on all your teammates' faces," Thornton said. "They're the guys that you've been playing next to for the last five years and the guys who helped build this program. We left our legacy. I just wish we could have gone out on a winning note."
off-the-field issues.
But Reesing was tackled for a safety in the fourth quarter after attempting a designed quarterback draw and Missouri drove down the field for the game-winning field goal as the final seconds ticked off the clock.
Kansas held onto the lead for much of Saturday's game, delivering a performance that proved the Jayhawks hadn't given up on a season that has featured plenty of
For a while, it seemed that was going to be the case.
"The reality is that's the last game we're ever going to play in a Kansas uniform," Reesing said. "It hurts that it happened that way. But the thing we're holding our head high on is we played hard the entire game. We just fell short and things didn't go our way as they haven't the entire season."
He also said graduate school and a chance at professional football could sit in his future.
In his first moments as a former collegiate athlete, Reesing said he wasn't sure what he was going to do with his time. He said he would most likely sleep in, and he said the pain from the loss would most likely still be there when he woke up.
But at that moment, Reesing wanted to focus more on a career that has seemingly taken every possible twist and turn in just four short years.
That's why as he walked off the field, he looked into the stands and applauded those who were applauding back.
"Just to have that kind of support after this kind of skid is what really shows the growth in this program," Reesing said. "Ten years ago, five years ago, if a team hit a skid like this, I don't know if they'd get that kind of support from the fans."
Follow Jayson Jenks at twitter.
com/JaysonJenks
— Edited by Amanda Thompson
Senior receiver Kerry Meier comes down with his second touchdown reception Saturday against Missouri to give the Jayhawks a 28-19 lead. Meier had 10 catches for 54 yards in Kansas' 41-39 loss.
WestonWhite/KANSAN
Notes
COLUMN (CONTINUED FROM 1B)
Briscoe's future unclear
With his 242 yards, Briscoe now ranks second on the KU single-game list behind his own 269 yard performance at Oklahoma last season. He also became just the eighth player in Big 12 history to record more than 3,000 career receiving yards.
NFLDraftDog.com has Briscoe selected 12th overall in its 2010 NFL Mock Draft. CBSSports.com projects him as a second-round pick.
When asked if he will be returning for his senior season or bolting to the NFL, junior wide receiver Dezmon Briscoe said he didn't know his decision quite yet.
Reesing dominant against Missouri
In four career games against the Tigers, senior Todd Reesing threw for 1,285 yards and eight touchdowns. That's an average of more than 321 passing yards and two touchdowns per game.
field goal.
O-line expects to be offense's strength
Next time around, though,
Reesing looked Briscoe's way on
the first two plays — both throws
unattainable. And so on third-
and-10, Reesing ran a quarterback
keeper that went nowhere but
down. Kansas' lead shrunk to one
off when Missouri earned a safety,
Missouri ran eight plays for 43
yards, four of which were rushes
for 39 yards, and kicker Grant
Ressel sent Kansas to the locker
room heartbroken and defended.
With all five starters on the offensive line expected to return, junior tackle Brad Thorson said the unit had big expectations.
Thorson also said the young unit will gel even further in the offseason.
"I if we could be the first group to get back in the weight room and keep preparing, we would," Thorson said. "But everybody's going to be there right along with us."
It would have been different if Kansas had a rushing attack to be confident in. Having freshman running back Toben Opurum watching the game on crutches on the sideline didn't help. Opurum's ability to crash through a defensive front in short yardage situations kept drives alive this season and balanced the running game. Without him, Kansas rushed just
Reesing ends a career atop lots of lists
"It's really going to be a goal for us to prove that we can be the strength of this offense next year" Thorson said. "There's a huge responsibility put on our shoulders."
With his 498 passing yards and four touchdowns, Reesing finished his career at the top of nine KU all-time records: passing yards (11,194), attempts (1,491), completions (932), touchdown passes (93), 300-yard passing games (18), 200-yard passing games (31), total offense yards (11,840), plays (1,796), and touchdowns responsible for (105).
19 times all game while Reeing attempted 55 passes. He would complete 37 of them for 498 yards and four touchdowns.
If Kansas would've won — and, yes, we all would have been thrilled — the aftertaste wouldn't have been as savory as it was a year ago. And you know why.
Consider for a moment all the things that have contributed to Kansas' seven-game slide. The fact that not once has it collectively rushed for more than 100 yards in those games should be high on the list. That inability places a woefully unrealistic burden on the quarterback and now places weighty expectations on Opurum, 2010's Most Important Player.
When Mangino concluded his postgame press conference with, "I will tell you that I may be one of the more pleasant people to deal with in college football ... trust
— Clark Goble
There's not much to add aside from it gets increasingly difficult to envision Mangino being retained. And though I've written and said enough to eat my weight in crow should he defy the odds, there is little else to add right now.
me," I half-expected the embattled coach to stop, raise his arms above his head and flash the "V" symbol before making his exit.
But say what you want about Mangino, he is correct in saying it's not the coach we should be concerned about. It is his players, several of whom played their last game as college football players Saturday.
It's easy to compile a list of personal favorite memories from the last several seasons. Me, I'll always remember the conviction with which senior safety Darrell Stuckey carried himself.
Hearing him talk,you always
got the sense that he wasn't just there to hit somebody. He was there to learn and grow as we should while in college.
Still wearing the puffy-red features and dried tears following his postgame address to team-mates, Stuckey offered a summary of this game, his last at Kansas, that is best left untouched: "It was a bittersweet feeling. You go out there and it's going to be a classic of course and it's a game we will always remember and a game that defines us men and makes us better people. It's something that when you fall short you remember everything that you've done to fall short and you won't make that mistake again."
Follow Stephen Montemayor at twitter.com/smontemayor.
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Edited by Abbey Strusz