Kansas University football coach Terry Allen said following a loss to UCLA two weeks ago that the Jayhawks missed an opportunity to put themselves on the map.
Against Colorado, the Jayhawks just plain missed opportunities.
“We had chances,” Allen said following KU’s 27-16 Big 12 loss Saturday at Folsom Field. “We need to complete those passes, plays we had set up and the opportunities. We did some things to give us a chance to be more affective rushing the football, but we have to hit the plays when the plays are there, especially in a hostile environment.
“We could have taken the crowd completely out of it.”
With the game deadlocked at 13-13 the Colorado faithful already were showing their displeasure after the Buffaloes missed a 25-yard field goal attempt, when KU red-shirt freshman Mario Kinsey dropped back to pass.
After executing a perfect fake handoff, Kinsey reached back and unleashed a 50-yard bomb in the direction of senior wide receiver Termaine Fulton, who had snuck past the CU secondary by about 10 yards. Fulton made a diving attempt, but came up short of the overthrown ball.
“Mario’s going to be a very good player,” Allen said. “That’s his first start as a red-shirt freshman. We all know that. He’s going to do some good things and he’s going to do some bad things. We just have to eliminate the bad things. On one, he slightly overthrows it. Then the other one, if Mills catches it that thing, we’re right back in this football game.
“How can you fault the effort and the competitiveness? Obviously he can throw it and you can see he’s got quickness.”
The “other one” was another play that would have netted at least 50 yards and probably a touchdown when Kinsey just misfired on a pass to sophomore wide receiver Derick Mills in the fourth quarter. After Kinsey rolled to his right to elude pressure, he let loose a rocket that glanced of the fingertips of a wide-open Mills.
“At one point we felt we had that game,” Mills said, “but our offense couldn’t get in the end zone when we wanted to. We kept the defense out there longer than we wanted to.”
The teams almost were identical as far as time of possession as Colorado claimed a slide edge 30:37 to 29:23. Then again, the Buffaloes did dominate down the stretch, owning the ball for 18:57 in the second half.
But both Allen and the Jayhawks agreed fatigue wasn’t a factor.
“I wouldn’t say we were getting tired,” junior linebacker Leo Etienne said. “They had one long run when we got back down there on defense. We were probably winded just a little bit. But us being tired? No, that wasn’t a problem.”
Colorado sealed the deal on Chris Brown’s 40-yard touchdown scamper with 9:08 remaining to give CU a comfortable 27-16 cushion. The KU defense, which had just returned to the field after the offense went three-and-out, still was reeling from the Buffaloes’ 86-yard, 11-play scoring drive on the previous series.
During the first of two Colorado touchdowns in less than two minutes, CU sophomore quarterback Craig Ochs who had left the game earlier because of dizziness had no problem finding tight end Daniel Graham across the middle on three seemingly identical plays for gains of 15, 11 and 15 yards.
The latter two completions came on third-and-nine plays, including Graham scoring untouched on the final grab.
“We got caught a couple times,” Allen admitted. “We did what we wanted. We got them in third-and-long, put our nickel package in and we just messed up the coverage.”
Injury update: The injury suffered by freshman defensive end Clarence Laws might not be as serious as originally thought.
“Actually, we’re a little more optimistic today than yesterday,” Allen said Sunday of Laws, who injured the MCL in his knee. “He’ll have an MRI (today). Hopefully he didn’t tear it. Other than that, we don’t have a lot of injuries.”
Junior wide receiver Byron Gasaway suffered a mild concussion.
The winners are: Allen announced KU’s weekly award winners Sunday. They were: Kinsey (offense), senior linebacker Marcus Rogers (defense), junior linebacker Greg Cole (special teams), freshman running back Tony Stubbs (scout team offense) and freshman defensive end Keith Watts (scout team defense).
KU senior defensive tackle Nate Dwyer was credited with the hit of the game, while freshman kicker Johnny Beck had the play of the game his 59-yard field goal at the end of the first half.
Upcoming: The Jayhawks practiced Sunday night, will be off today and then practice Tuesday through Thursday before determining their schedule for this weekend. KU has an off week, then will play at Texas Tech on Oct. 6.
