What this means…from Faurot Field
Ryan Wood, Journal-World KU football beat writer
“It’s almost a sure bet that Saturday’s loss will wrap up KU’s season. There’s just too many teams with the same appeal, and not nearly enough bowls to satisfy them all. It’s not impossible, but it doesn’t look good.
KU can blame this on one thing: They weren’t the better team against Missouri. Not by a long shot. KU’s pass defense again reared its ugly head, and it doomed the Jayhawks once again.
A .500 record sounds about right for a team that had bright sports, but just as many dull ones this year.”
Chuck Woodling, Journal-World sportswriter
“Half of this game – the Jayhawks’ half – was 90 percent mental. In other words, the Jayhawks simply couldn’t maintain the emotional level of last week’s stirring season home finale victory over Kansas State.
That’s unfortunate because the defeat probably cost the Jayhawks a postseason trip. In truth, the Jayhawks should have been better than 6-6 this season, particularly with Oklahoma and Texas missing from their schedule.
There were a handful of coulda, shoulda games. Maybe the Jayhawks will win those games next year.”
Ryan Greene, KUSports.com editor
“The million dollar question has to be: Why did Anthony Webb not play?
Webb, a true freshman corner who steadily improved as the season went on by taking his lumps, broke out with a pick-six in a solid defensive performance last Saturday in a 39-20 win over K-State.
Saturday, he suited, but hardly saw any action. Mangino dodged a question about it after the game, pointing out a couple of nice plays Dominic Roux made in his place. Roux did make a couple nice plays, but was toasted for most of the afternoon on Chase Daniel’s record-setting day.
You have to wonder how the game might have played out with a confident Webb in there. All we can do is speculate, as Mangino is tight-lipped on the topic.”
Inside the numbers
2: That’s how many turnovers there were in the entire game, and both were committed by KU. The Jayhawks had a chance at one in the first half, but senior safety Jerome Kemp dropped a gift interception in the open field.
9: That’s how many Missouri targets caught passes from Chase Daniel en route to the sophomore quarterback completing 26-of-36 passes for 356 yards and four touchdowns. Daniel was especially effective in locating his tight ends – Martin Rucker and Chase Coffman. Each caught seven balls. While Rucker had more yards (91), Coffman’s 58 yards included a pair of scores.
0: That’s how many carries Jon Cornish had in the game’s fourth quarter. Cornish definitely deserves credit, as his 126 yards on the day gave him 1,457 for the year – a new KU single season record. But he was neglected in the offense in the fourth quarter, and he was KU’s only consistent form of ball movement the entire afternoon.
In case you missed it…
Maybe the five strangest minutes in recent KU football history. Trailing 20-10 in the third quarter, Daniel hit Brad Ekwerekwu for a 75-yard touchdown through the seam of the field which appeared to give the Tigers a three-score lead. The down was replayed, though, as offsetting penalties were called on the play, a source for plenty debate, postgame official questioning and a cascade of boos from the gold- and black-clad droves. It appeared an even bigger turning point when KU forced a punt, and Aqib Talib’s first career reception on the ensuing drive turned into a 42-yard touchdown, pulling KU within three points.
Hopefully you didn’t miss it…
Coincidentally, this moment came just a few minutes later. KU forced a fourth down after stuffing Mizzou and holding the Tigers to build some defensive momentum. But a neutral zone infraction was called on the Jayhawks while lining up to return the punt, the Tigers were given a first down, new life and, essentially, the game. From that point, MU outscored KU 22-0.
They said it…
Mark Mangino talks about his team’s credibility for a bowl bid: “I’m hopeful like our players are. I think playing in the Big 12 conference and having played some really tough games this year, this was the only game we were not able to close the gap or fight through the fourth quarter. This was the only one all year. We played a very fine Nebraska team to overtime on their field and they’re playing for the Big 12 championship, we played Texas A&M well, we’ve lost some good games, I think our kids deserve it, and I hope we get that opportunity.”
Marcus Herford on his hopes to play in a second straight bowl game: “I don’t know. I know just as much as whatever the media said. I don’t know.”
Jon Cornish on KU abandoning the run for much of the second half: “I think our statistics show that the run was very successful tonight…I’m not the coach that’s not my call…It’s not that difficult (to run on MU). We were running all over them the whole game. I am bitter about losing. We were successful with the run tonight, and we went away from that.”
