Saturday night, at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium in Austin, Texas, Reesing watched another KU quarterback attempt to do the same thing.

Things did not go quite as well for KU freshman Ryan Willis, who made his fifth consecutive start and took punishing blow after punishing blow in a 59-20 loss. But the man who holds all of KU’s major passing records came away impressed by the first-year QB’s talent and toughness.

“I think he looks pretty good,” Reesing told the Journal-World at halftime. “He’s a true freshman, and you can tell he doesn’t always know how to change the protection. I remember my first game as a freshman. You end up just saying, ‘Hut, there’s a blitz, what am I supposed to do? OK, I gotta beat this guy one-on-one.’ I had no idea how to do it. True story.”

Reesing’s quick evaluation of Willis came through the eyes of a seasoned veteran who spent three full seasons learning the nuances of playing QB in the Big 12.

“He’s still a little slow out there,” Reesing said. “And on those four-yard outs, which you should hit every time, the ball comes out low on the ones he misses, and you can tell that’s just him not having the calmness to just take the snap and throw. But I like him. He’s a nice player with some talent.”

Before being removed from the blowout in the second half by KU coach David Beaty, who said he was trying to prevent further damage to his young QB’s injured groin, Willis finished 17-of-34 passing for 214 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. He also ran a dozen times for 38 yards but lost 37 yards in sacks and took a heavy does of punishment from the UT defense throughout the night.

Asked if he thought the groin injuries Willis suffered Saturday night would cause Willis to miss some time, Beaty pointed to the freshman’s toughness.

“You know, I don’t know,” Beaty admitted. “He went back in, but I finally just pulled him. He was trying, and that last ball he just couldn’t get much on it. The kid was trying everything he could. It just wasn’t fair to him to keep leaving him in there. He battled his tail off. I’m proud of him for that. But we’ve said it every week, he’s gotta do a better job of taking care of the football.”

Punt gaffe clarification

Before leaving Austin, Texas, The Journal-World spoke with one of the Big 12 officials who worked Saturday’s KU-Texas game to get a clarification on the situation surrounding the punt that was muffed by Derrick Neal in the first half of KU’s 59-20 loss.

The ruling on the field was that Neal touched the ball and a Texas player recovered it at the KU 17. Replay during the game confirmed as much, but Beaty continued to have discussions with the referees for several minutes after the replay confirmation.

Beaty said after the game that he was arguing that the UT player who recovered the ball “clearly went out of bounds” and was the first one to touch it after returning to the field of play. By rule, that would be deemed illegal touching, and possession would be given to Kansas.

The official Sunday said that the refs on the field missed the call during live action and that replay could not get involved after the fact. The mishap falls in the same category as a play in which a team challenges the spot of the football and on replay officials see a facemask penalty. Because the penalty was missed on the field — and penalties are not reviewable — the infraction cannot be flagged after being discovered by replay.

In short, the missed call on the field cost Kansas because the rules were on the Jayhawks’ side.

The official, who said he was impressed with how hard the Jayhawks played, added that Beaty was calm and respectful during his discussions and “asked his questions in the right way.”

KU-TCU set for 11 a.m.

TCU’s loss to Oklahoma State made the Frogs a less-appealing primetime option for next weekend’s TV broadcasts, and the Big 12 announced Saturday that the KU-TCU game in Fort Worth, Texas, will kickoff at 11 a.m. and be shown on FOX Sports 1.