Teammates encourage TE

By Jesse Newell     Sep 5, 2010

KU vs. NDSU

Nick Krug
The North Dakota State defense scrambles to recover a fumble by Kansas tight end Tim Biere late in the fourth quarter, Saturday, Sept. 4, 2010 at Kivisto Field. The fumble was Biere's second of the game.

Box score

Dubious debut

KU still can win four, but only if …

Bison expected win

Matt Tait’s Kansas football notebook

Receiver Daymond Patterson made sure to find Tim Biere in the locker room after Kansas University’s 6-3 loss to North Dakota State on Saturday.

He wasn’t the only one. Patterson said many of KU’s players made their way over to Biere after the worst game of his college career.

The tight end shook his head while taking in the encouragement.

“I just told him to keep his head up,” Patterson said. “I’m not really concerned about how bad he felt he played or bad everybody else thinks he played, because I know Tim’s a great player.”

Truthfully, the junior from Omaha, Neb., couldn’t have had much worse of a night in KU’s opener.

Biere caught two passes and fumbled both of them. The second muff was especially costly, as it killed a KU drive with just 3:10 left.

“We’ll keep working him, putting him in those situations where it doesn’t happen again,” KU coach Turner Gill said. “I still feel confident in him. He’s got to get his confidence back, and the only way he can do that is by going back out there.”

Biere’s game ended with a tough final drive.

After dropping a pass, he was booed loudly by KU fans.

Immediately after, when Biere was subbed out, the Jayhawk faithful cheered the coaches’ decision as the tight end made his way to the sideline.

“I think it is crazy,” Patterson said of the booing. “Sometimes people have bad games. They don’t know what … the fans or people on the outside don’t know what we go through and the hours we put in. For them to boo him, I felt bad, because Tim is a good guy.”

Biere dropped at least three passes; according to the box score, he was targeted for eight throws.

“The hardest person on Tim is going to be Tim,” KU quarterback Jordan Webb said. “He’s such a driven, motivated player and person. He’s so motivated in every aspect of his life.

“He wants to be the best — he really does — and I think he has a shot to be the best. I think he has the shot to be something really special for us. This will just be a minor setback for him.”

Biere’s first fumble came at the end of the third quarter with the game still tied at 3.

Following the turnover, NDSU drove 30 yards on seven plays to set up what turned out to be the game-deciding field goal.

“Obviously, he’s still got to take care of the football, but that’s the game of football,” Gill said. “They hit him and jarred the football loose, and you’ve got to give North Dakota State some credit to their safeties and defensive backs.”

Patterson said he was sure that Biere would bounce back.

“We believe in him and we have faith in him, because we’ve seen him day after day make great catches, great plays,” Patterson said, “and we know he’s going to continue to do that for us.”

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