He talked about ISU’s running game, KU’s offensive struggles, the weather you name it.

After the final television camera was turned off, though, Allen summed up the game and the season quite well.

“It’s been a bummer,” Allen said after the Jayhawks’ disappointing season came to a disappointing end with a 38-17 loss to bowl-bound Iowa State on Saturday at chilly Trice Stadium. “I wish it could have been better for all of us.”

So much for surging into the offseason. The Jayhawks, who finished 4-7 overall, 2-6 (fifth) in the Big 12 north, ended the season on a four-game losing streak, its worst losing streak since a four-game skid in 1989.

Earl Richardson/Journal-World Photo

“It was a very frustrating and disappointing season for us,” Allen said. “We had high expectations, high hopes. When it gets away from you, when you lose four football games, it’s frustrating.

“Hat’s off to (ISU coach) Dan McCarney and the Iowa State football team. They really kept after us. We really didn’t play well offensively. That hurt us worse than anything. We could have had more signs of brightness.”

Were there any Saturday?

“There weren’t a lot of bright lights out there today,” Allen said. “Let’s say that.”

Let’s also say the Jayhawks had their chances against Iowa State (8-3, 5-3).

Earl Richardson/J-W Photo

After going three-and-out on their first series and surrendering an ISU score on the Cyclones’ first possession, the Jayhawks finally gained a first down on their third series and drove from the Kansas 26 to the ISU 37, where, on first down, senior David Winbush took an option pitch, turned the corner, gained 11 yards, appeared headed for the tying touchdown and fumbled.

“I got careless with the ball,” Winbush said. “It was real low. I saw nobody around the corner and picked my legs up and my legs knocked the ball loose. It was real crucial. I put a lot of this on my shoulders. It was definitely crucial at that time.”

Though Kansas was outgained 234 total yards to 101 in the first half and didn’t force an ISU punt until the third quarter, it trailed just 17-10 at the break thanks to a 44-yard interception return by Carl Nesmith to the ISU one-yard line. Nesmith, battling a case of turf toe, was questionable until just before game time.

He picked off a Sage Rosenfels pass, had a weaving return and appeared to fumble at the goal line, but he was ruled down at the one, and Kansas scored its first TD with 1 minute, 17 seconds left before the break.

Iowa State made it 24-10 on the first series of the second half, but the defenses stiffened, and that’s where the score remained heading into the fourth quarter.

Earl Richardson/Journal-World Photo

On the first series of the final quarter, Kansas drove from its own eight to the ISU 23, where it faced fourth-and-10. Senior QB Dylen Smith hit Roger Ross with what appeared to be a 10-yard gain, but the ball was spotted a yard short of the first down, ISU took over on downs and drove the length of the field for a 31-10 lead.

“Personally, I thought it was a first down,” Smith said. “I thought it was a bad spot. But the refs saw it. They were there. That took us out of the game. We were driving. We had momentum. We just had to score in the next four plays, but you obviously can’t score when you don’t have the ball.”

Allen concurred about the closeness of the call and the game-turning aspect of it.

“I don’t know about the spot,” he said, “We thought there was some contact before the catch. But it’s one of those tough deals where you complete a pass that’s nine yards, two feet, six inches. It’s frustrating.”

It was a frustrating year for the Jayhawks. They came into the season thinking they could go bowling for the first time since 1995, but they opened the season with a 31-17 loss at Southern Methodist.

Earl Richardson/Journal-World Photo

Kansas never could quite bounce back from that loss and suffered its fourth straight losing season under Allen.

“I apologized for the disappointment and frustration through the year,” Allen said of his postgame address to the team. “We’re proud they’re Jayhawks. Hopefully we can learn from some of the disappointments we had through the season and hopefully can become better people.

“That’s why you have another year and another opportunity. This was a tough year. This was a tough place to have it in.”

The Cyclones outgained KU 506 total yards to 296. Kansas surrendered 2,138 yards in the last four games combined, an average of 534.5 total yards per game.

On the other side, the Jayhawks scored more than 17 points just once in that span.

“We didn’t think about any of that,” KU senior safety Kareem High said. “We tried to put all that in the past. We wanted to focus on Iowa State. We knew it was going to be an up-and-down ball game, and we knew they weren’t going to just lay over because they were going to a bowl game. You have to take the good with the bad. The offense struggled, but we as the defense gave up the points. You can’t point fingers.”

If not pointing fingers, the Jayhawks no doubt do plenty of searching of souls the offseason. They’ll lose 20 seniors to graduation, including six offensive starters and four defensive starters.

They’ll have to break in a new quarterback and will play a noticeably tougher schedule with the addition of UCLA in the second week of the 2001 season.

And they’ll have to overcome the stigma of five straight losing seasons.

“Hopefully, they’ll put it behind them and focus in the offseason on getting better,” High said. “They can definitely learn from this. I’ll tell them they need to put this behind them. They can use this in the offseason. They’ll know they have to work harder every day, play harder, show up for every game and take pride in coming out and kicking somebody’s butt.”

By Andrew Hartsock

ahartsock@ljworld.com

Ames, Iowa Kansas University football coach Terry Allen used a lot of words trying to explain the Jayhawks’ season-ending loss to Iowa State.

He talked about ISU’s running game, KU’s offensive struggles, the weather you name it.

After the final television camera was turned off, though, Allen summed up the game and the season quite well.

“It’s been a bummer,” Allen said after the Jayhawks’ disappointing season came to a disappointing end with a 38-17 loss to bowl-bound Iowa State on Saturday at chilly Trice Stadium. “I wish it could have been better for all of us.”

So much for surging into the offseason. The Jayhawks, who finished 4-7 overall, 2-6 (fifth) in the Big 12 north, ended the season on a four-game losing streak, its worst losing streak since a four-game skid in 1989.

“It was a very frustrating and disappointing season for us,” Allen said. “We had high expectations, high hopes. When it gets away from you, when you lose four football games, it’s frustrating.

“Hat’s off to (ISU coach) Dan McCarney and the Iowa State football team. They really kept after us. We really didn’t play well offensively. That hurt us worse than anything. We could have had more signs of brightness.”

Were there any Saturday?

“There weren’t a lot of bright lights out there today,” Allen said. “Let’s say that.”

Let’s also say the Jayhawks had their chances against Iowa State (8-3, 5-3).

After going three-and-out on their first series and surrendering an ISU score on the Cyclones’ first possession, the Jayhawks finally gained a first down on their third series and drove from the Kansas 26 to the ISU 37, where, on first down, senior David Winbush took an option pitch, turned the corner, gained 11 yards, appeared headed for the tying touchdown and fumbled.

“I got careless with the ball,” Winbush said. “It was real low. I saw nobody around the corner and picked my legs up and my legs knocked the ball loose. It was real crucial. I put a lot of this on my shoulders. It was definitely crucial at that time.”

Though Kansas was outgained 234 total yards to 101 in the first half and didn’t force an ISU punt until the third quarter, it trailed just 17-10 at the break thanks to a 44-yard interception return by Carl Nesmith to the ISU one-yard line. Nesmith, battling a case of turf toe, was questionable until just before game time.

He picked off a Sage Rosenfels pass, had a weaving return and appeared to fumble at the goal line, but he was ruled down at the one, and Kansas scored its first TD with 1 minute, 17 seconds left before the break.

Iowa State made it 24-10 on the first series of the second half, but the defenses stiffened, and that’s where the score remained heading into the fourth quarter.

On the first series of the final quarter, Kansas drove from its own eight to the ISU 23, where it faced fourth-and-10. Senior QB Dylen Smith hit Roger Ross with what appeared to be a 10-yard gain, but the ball was spotted a yard short of the first down, ISU took over on downs and drove the length of the field for a 31-10 lead.

“Personally, I thought it was a first down,” Smith said. “I thought it was a bad spot. But the refs saw it. They were there. That took us out of the game. We were driving. We had momentum. We just had to score in the next four plays, but you obviously can’t score when you don’t have the ball.”

Allen concurred about the closeness of the call and the game-turning aspect of it.

“I don’t know about the spot,” he said, “We thought there was some contact before the catch. But it’s one of those tough deals where you complete a pass that’s nine yards, two feet, six inches. It’s frustrating.”

It was a frustrating year for the Jayhawks. They came into the season thinking they could go bowling for the first time since 1995, but they opened the season with a 31-17 loss at Southern Methodist.

Kansas never could quite bounce back from that loss and suffered its fourth straight losing season under Allen.

“I apologized for the disappointment and frustration through the year,” Allen said of his postgame address to the team. “We’re proud they’re Jayhawks. Hopefully we can learn from some of the disappointments we had through the season and hopefully can become better people.

“That’s why you have another year and another opportunity. This was a tough year. This was a tough place to have it in.”

The Cyclones outgained KU 506 total yards to 296. Kansas surrendered 2,138 yards in the last four games combined, an average of 534.5 total yards per game.

On the other side, the Jayhawks scored more than 17 points just once in that span.

“We didn’t think about any of that,” KU senior safety Kareem High said. “We tried to put all that in the past. We wanted to focus on Iowa State. We knew it was going to be an up-and-down ball game, and we knew they weren’t going to just lay over because they were going to a bowl game. You have to take the good with the bad. The offense struggled, but we as the defense gave up the points. You can’t point fingers.”

If not pointing fingers, the Jayhawks no doubt do plenty of searching of souls the offseason. They’ll lose 20 seniors to graduation, including six offensive starters and four defensive starters.

They’ll have to break in a new quarterback and will play a noticeably tougher schedule with the addition of UCLA in the second week of the 2001 season.

And they’ll have to overcome the stigma of five straight losing seasons.

“Hopefully, they’ll put it behind them and focus in the offseason on getting better,” High said. “They can definitely learn from this. I’ll tell them they need to put this behind them. They can use this in the offseason. They’ll know they have to work harder every day, play harder, show up for every game and take pride in coming out and kicking somebody’s butt.”