Candidates for Game balls
¢ Dezmon Briscoe had six catches for 176 yards and a touchdown, and many of the yards came after the catch.
¢ James Holt had a nation-leading sixth forced fumble and an interception.
Candidates for Gassers
¢ Marcus Herford continued to struggle as a kick returner, including fielding one that was headed out of bounds, and was flagged for an illegal block in a rare appearance on offense.
¢ Alonso Rojas shanked a couple of punts.
Candidates for Game balls
¢ Jake Sharp didn’t carry the ball in the fourth quarter and still rushed for 181 yards and four touchdowns and had 76 receiving yards in the game of his career.
¢ James Holt blitzed effectively, played well in pass coverage and flew all over the field making sure tackles.
¢ Russell Brorsen intercepted two passes from the defensive end position.
Candidate for Gassers
¢ The KU students who left at halftime, and there were plenty of them.
Candidates for Game balls
None
Candidates for Gassers
¢ Daymond Patterson fumbled the only punt he fielded.
¢ Todd Reesing had the roughest game of his career, throwing three third-quarter interceptions.
Candidates for Game balls
¢ Dezmon Briscoe caught 12 passes for 269 yards and two touchdowns.
¢ Todd Reesing never lets the team hang its head. He threw for 342 yards.
¢ Jake Sharp rushed for 103 yards and a touchdown on just 12 carries.
Candidates for Gassers
¢ Chris Harris often was at the scene of big receptions.
¢ Kendrick Harper had difficulty tackling.
¢ Justin Thornton bit on fakes before and after catches.
Candidates for Game balls
¢ Jake Sharp, for the second week in a row, showed Kansas does have a running game after all, gaining 118 yards and rushing for three touchdowns.
¢ Jake Laptad tackled Colorado quarterback Cody Hawkins for a safety and then made the safety sign, putting his hands together above his head.
¢ Kerry Meier limped his way to 94 yards on nine receptions and sprinted away from any injury talk afterward.
Candidates for Gassers
¢ Marcus Herford, though not to blame for the entire breakdown of the unit, continued his rough senior season, averaging 13 yards per kickoff return.
¢ Daymond Patterson had a rough time returning punts and was replaced midgame by Fields. A freshman, Patterson has the talent to bounce back, but has hit the freshman wall.
¢ Kerry Meier slipped behind the secondary for seven catches, 125 yards and two touchdowns.
¢ Todd Reesing completed 18 of 26 passes for 319 yards and three touchdowns. In the second half, Reesing completed 10 of 12 passes for 260 yards and three touchdowns. Even so, by far his biggest play came with his feet. On third-and-seven from the nine, Reesing was pinned in by three defenders and somehow escaped his way to a first-down scramble.
¢ Jake Sharp became the first Kansas running back, at least going back as far as 1974 according to postgame notes, to have a 100-yard receiving game. He finished with 107 yards, 67 on one touchdown sprint along the left sideline. He also rushed for 79 yards.
¢ Raymond Brown dropped a pass and later ran into Daymond Patterson after the punt returner signaled a fair catch, causing Iowa State to take possession.
¢ Jeff Spikes moved from left tackle to right tackle and in the first half had a rough time and temporarily was replaced. He bounced back to perform better in the second half.
¢ Kendrick Harper bit on a fake and was burned badly on Iowa State’s fourth-quarter touchdown pass.
Candidates for Game balls
¢ Darrell Stuckey intercepted the pass that set up KU’s first score early in the second quarter.
¢ Todd Reesing’s amazing scramble and perfect 57-yard throw to Dezmon Briscoe in the end zone was vintage Reesing.
Candidates for Gassers
¢ Justin Thornton’s missed tackle allowed a big play on Sam Houston State’s first scoring drive.
¢ Isiah Barfield had trouble keeping receivers from getting behind him.
Candidates for Game balls
¢ Johnathan Wilson had 10 receptions for 171 yards and two touchdowns.
¢ Todd Reesing suckered a pass-rusher into leaping to block a pass by pump-faking and then delivered a 56-yard completion to Wilson, one of the many creative plays on the night by Reesing, who was on the run the entire second half and finally ran out of bullets when he threw an interception that was returned into range for USF to kick the game-winning field goal as time expired.
Candidates for Gassers
¢ Jake Laptad for a 15-yard penalty for pulling on a facemask.
¢ Jeff Wheeler for a 15-yard penalty for roughing the passer, even though it was a questionable call.
Candidates for Game balls
¢ Todd Reesing side-stepped and back-stepped the rush repeatedly and had the magic touch, completing 32 of 38 passes for 412 yards and three touchdowns.
¢ Dezmon Briscoe caught seven passes for 146 yards and a touchdown.
¢ Daymond Patterson turned eight receptions into 130 yards and two touchdowns.
¢ Kerry Meier caught nine balls for 71 yards.
Candidates for Gassers
¢ Jacob Branstetter missed an extra point, tainting a night in which he made all three field-goal attempts.
¢ Mike Rivera dropped an interception. OK, so he did play a role in a shutout, but somebody has to run gassers or a team can get soft.
Candidates for Game balls
¢ Dezmon Briscoe for a leaping catch that set up KU’s first score.
¢ Kerry Meier for making two difficult catches.
Candidates for Gassers
¢ Kicker Scott Webb missed field goal attempts of 33 and 45 yards.
¢ Linebacker James Holt for a defensive holding penalty that kept alive Missouri’s second scoring drive.
Candidates for Game balls
¢ Marcus Henry: Contributed his fifth 100-yard receiving game with career-high 199 yards and three touchdowns on eight catches.
¢ Todd Reesing: Scrambled exceptionally well until suffering an injury that left him limping but didn’t hurt his accuracy. Completed 27 of 40 passes for 308 yards and three touchdowns.
¢ Brandon McAnderson: Rushed for 142 yards and two touchdowns on 25 carries.
¢ Aqib Talib: Had nine tackles, a 17-yard interception return, and broke up a pass in the end zone.
Candidate for Gassers
¢ Anthony Webb: Still sets himself up for too many punishing hits instead of calling for a fair catch.
Candidates for Game balls
¢ Todd Reesing stretched his streak to 139 passes without an interception. He threw six touchdown passes, a single-game school record, and also broke the single-season KU record with 23 touchdown passes.
¢ Brandon McAnderson did most of the work on a 36-yard reception, and tied a school record with four rushing touchdowns. He gained 119 yards on the ground.
¢ Dezmon Briscoe’s three TD receptions gave him a freshman-record seven on the season.
Candidates for Gassers
¢ Referee Randy Christal mistakenly announced to the crowd late in the first half, “Timeout, Kansas State.”
¢ Linebacker James Holt was the one getting chewed out after a blown coverage made it easy for Marlon Lucky to turn a short pass into a 62-yard touchdown.
Candidates for Game balls
¢ Jon Cornish – 24 carries for 196 yards and two touchdowns. One of the few bright spots of 2006. He’s fabulous.
¢ Kerry Meier – Before he got injured, he managed KU’s offense well, despite his stats being unimpressive.
¢ Arist Wright – Five tackles and a big interception return for a touchdown in his first start.
Candidates for Gassers
¢ Marcus Herford – Overthrew an open target on a trick play, dropped a pass put right in his bread basket when he was wide-open and had a muffed kickoff late wiped away by a fortunate penalty. He has seen better days.
¢ Aqib Talib – For his lofty standards, he didn’t stand out. No pass breakups, no interceptions and a few key passes were completed to his man.
¢ Kansas University defense – Once again, a late lead is completely blown by players unable to step up. Just once, the Jayhawks need to put their foot on someone’s throat.
Candidates for Game balls
¢ Jake Sharp carried the ball once for 27 yards and caught one pass for 15 yards.
¢ Returning from a shoulder injury, Kerry Meier rushed for 70 yards and threw three touchdown passes against one interception.
¢ Returning from injury, Marcus Herford caught a 33-yard touchdown pass and had a 73-yard kick return.
Candidates for Gassers
¢ The entire defense, with the exception of Aqib Talib, the only one who didn’t get torched. Oklahoma State’s Adarius Bowman had 13 receptions for 300 yards and four touchdowns. The Cowboys amassed 601 total yards in offense and scored 21 points in the third quarter, another 21 in the fourth.
