**AMES, Iowa** – In Saturday’s postgame press conference, Kansas University football coach Mark Mangino knew what questions were coming.He knew his quarterbacks would be the most desired topic of discussion.After two, he told the media he wouldn’t comment any further on that situation. But he still answered a few more despite the forewarning. Lets be honest, Kerry Meier going 17-of-22 and pick-free was too hard to ignore, especially on the heels of Todd Reesing’s heroics under center a week ago against Colorado.As has been the case for much of Mangino’s KU tenure, quarterbacks are always a subject worth talking about. Probably because in the nearly five years he’s run the ship, he’s used 11 – yes, 11 – different quarterbacks.Count ’em: Zach Dyer, Bill Whittemore, Brian Luke, John Nielsen, Jonas Weatherbie, Adam Barmann, Marcus Herford, Greg Heaggans, Jason Swanson, Kerry Meier and Todd Reesing.So, obviously, some really neat and feel-good storylines are bound to slip through the soil.Two of them were extra worthy of mention Saturday, and coincidentally, they were a pair of veterans who are long overdue for some recognition – junior tight end Derek Fine and senior wide receiver Jonathan Lamb.On a team with so much youth, you might as well tag them the ‘Old Reliables.’ They’re like your favorite pair of hole-ridden jeans, or that oh-so-comfy go-to T-shirt, or even the hat that you know you need to get rid of because while it once was white, it’s now dingy, brown and smells of something you couldn’t possibly recreate if you tried. But no matter what, it always gets the job done, and goes unnoticed in doing so.No two ‘oldies but goodies’ filled those shoes better than Fine and Lamb in Saturday’s 41-10 win at Iowa State, which evened KU at 5-5 going into the bye week and puts the Jays one win from bowl eligibility for the third time in four years with two games still to go.”Some of us (older guys), we talk together,” Fine said after the game. “Whenever things are down, we need to be able to make plays to get the rest of the team going.”Fine did so with two touchdown catches – his fourth and fifth of the season. But one of them was a thing of utter beauty…sort of.With KU leading late in the first quarter 6-3, freshman Todd Reesing was in for his turn to run the offense after fellow frosh Kerry Meier got the start. On third down from the Iowa State 29-yard line, Reesing signaled to Fine to keep running his route after the play broke down and his pocket began to follow suit. He then lobbed a ball to the front of the end zone towards the near pylon. Fine went up and came down with possession of a jump ball…but so did Iowa State’s Jason Harris. The refs needed to confer, while both teams huddled around pleading their cases to the jury. They awarded Fine the touchdown. It was solidified after a booth review of the play upstairs.”I wasn’t sure exactly what they were going to call, because I wasn’t exactly sure what happened,” Fine said with his typical ‘aw shucks’ expression. “It was just one of those moments in time. He threw it up and it just happened to be my turn.”Fine was taking a medical redshirt in 2003 when KU made its first bowl appearance since 1996, and this season has come into his own as a reliable weapon for whoever it is at quarterback.Another one of those tools at the quarterbacks’ disposal is Lamb, who has emerged late in the season.Lamb played safety for the Jayhawks in 2003 as a redshirt freshman – a position he played in high school at nearby Olathe North. While he was named a second-team freshman All-American at safety by _The Sporting News_, he was badly banged up in the process.Injuries forced him to switch to receiver, and in the past two seasons, most of his action has come on special teams as a holder on kicks because of his exceptional hands.Saturday, he found his limelight.Lamb’s career-high five receptions and 79 yards – surprise, surprise, also a career-best – were highlighted by an extending 43-yard grab after gaining a step on his defender down the center of the field. It set up a four-yard touchdown run by Brandon McAnderson to put KU up 27-3 late in the second quarter.”It was actually weird, because I didn’t see the ball,” Lamb said. “I saw the ball thrown, and then I lost it in the sun and didn’t see it until it was probably five feet from my face.”He also had 49 yards on a trio of punt returns – another role he assumed this season because of those trusty mitts.It was by far the longest offensive play of Lamb’s rollercoaster of a KU career. Entering his senior season, he had only caught two balls for 16 yards, and both of those came in 2004.Those individual successes on Saturday – plus getting to enjoy the four-hour busride home with a win in hand – couldn’t have happened to two better guys.Fine, a Sallisaw, Okla., native, is a straight shooter. He speaks with a calm southern drawl which is more than welcoming. He never gets ahead of himself, no matter what success he has. He’s as level-headed as they come, and that’s why Mangino has looked to him as one of the team’s key leaders.Lamb has been through a ton on the football field, but in his tenure at KU has been the model of what a student-athlete should be. Aside from carrying a lofty GPA with medical school aspirations, he’s a three-time Academic All-Big 12 first teamer (it’ll probably be ‘four-time’ in the not-too-distant future). He’s also dealt with position switches which would drive some nuts (or to transfer). But it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise, as he’s never been the type of guy who has needed the spotlight on him. He learned that in high school, when as a quarterback, most of his offensive duties included turning and handing the ball off to the likes of Darren Sproles (currently with the San Diego Chargers) and Maurice Mack (now a linebacker at K-State).In the grand scheme of the mystery that has been Kansas’ 2006 season, Saturday’s game was something out of the ordinary – It was one which wasn’t decided in the fourth quarter, but rather much sooner.It was a chance for players to breathe a little easier during the game’s final 15 minutes. And none deserved it any more than Fine and Lamb.**_KUSports.com editor Ryan Greene can be reached at rgreene@ljworld.com, or by phone at (785) 832-6357._**
