Sept. 5, 2009

Recap | Final Stats | Notes |

Postgame Quotes

Kansas 49, Northern Colorado 3

Sept. 5, 2009

Kansas Head Coach Mark Mangino

On the impressive number of rushing yards (328):

“Northern Colorado came in here and I think they were expecting us to put up big numbers in the passing game. They played some zone, and well, we can run the ball. In order to do that and in order to be effective, we’ll do what we’ve got to do. We’ll go through our tailback and we can do it through our quarterback. I’m pleased with the way they did what they had to do given the circumstances.”

On KU’s defensive pressure on the quarterback:

“Without looking at tape, I thought we got some good pressure. I think we played the run well, although we left some gaps free at times. That’s related to having some different kids out there and getting everyone on the same page, but I feel good about it. I think we’ve got a lot of work to do. The competition is going to pick up considerably here in the next week. Overall, it was a good first night out.”

On KU playing without four suspended players:

“(Desmon) Briscoe and (Jamal) Greene’s suspensions were related to the spring. They knew when they were suspended in the spring that part of the stipulation would be not playing in the first game. Jeff Wheeler and Raimond Pendleton’s issues were different, but they violated a team policy and I didn’t have them play tonight.”

Freshman Quarterback Kale Pick:

On the young players:

“Toben (Operum) is a great running back, he had a great night tonight, with two touchdowns – and Bradley McDougal also had some great plays. Giving the freshmen a grade: I’d give them an A, both of them made great plays, and Toben had two touchdowns.”

On his first career game:

“It was exciting, I haven’t been out on the field in a while. For only playing two games my senior year, and being redshirted my freshman year, it was an exciting moment.”

On pre-game nerves:

“Actually (Jeremiah) Hatch asked me right before the series, `are you nervous at all?’ I was like, `not really.’ I was just looking forward to getting out there and playing.”

Sophomore Center Tanner Hawkinson:

On communication with the other offensive linemen:

“We all communicated very well – that was a big emphasis going into the game. Coach Redding was just telling us about doing our assignments and we’ll be fine.”

On “bulldozing” the defensive line and tallying up a lot of rushing yards:

“Yeah, it definitely is (really fun), it’s really encouraging, looking to see how many rushing yards you have in the game. Looking at the different sets they had, we knew coming in to the game that they’d come in with three down linemen. We had to create some seams and get to the linebacker, and get them blocked.”

Junior Defensive End Jake Laptad:

On starting the season and being able to hit someone in a different colored uniform: “It was a lot of fun getting out there and finally getting to hit someone else for a change.

On the overall performance of the defensive line:

“We were just going out there, and we’ve got to take it one game at a time, to be able to get better and practice every day. I felt like we took a step forward today.

Junior Safety Chris Harris

On the pass interference woes:

“They are problems that we can work out. Those plays were just mental mistakes that we can fix, so it was not too big of a deal.”

On his position change:

“I am way more comfortable, the reason that I love this position is because I am just free to play.”

Freshman Running Back Toben Opurum

On his first college game:

“It was an opportunity that I have been waiting for, and when I got that opportunity I took advantage of it. It felt really good.”

On his two touchdowns:

“It was not something that I expected, but when that opportunity comes around you definitely have to take advantage of it.”

On his nerves:

“I actually was not nervous, I kept my calm tonight. It was more excitement. I have been thinking about this game for a very long time.”

Senior Wide Receiver Kerry Meier

On the game:

“We got off to a good start on the opening play. After that we kept rolling and I think that we played pretty well.”

On the blocking of the receivers:

“Blocking is something that we have worked on and stressed throughout camp and the offseason, becoming physical blockers and throwing up physical blocks. We came out tonight and were in the right position. Coach made the right play calls so it made it easy on us.”

Northern Colorado Head Coach Scott Downing

General thoughts of the game:

“I was disappointed in the final score, but I thought that we played a lot of guys. After going down 28-0, we came back in the second half and we won the third quarter 3-0. I think there are a lot of things we can obviously improve upon. We don’t want to take anything away from Kansas because they’re the 25^th-ranked team in the country. They are a very good football team. I told our team that we’ll go back home, watch the tape and learn from it. We had to play some young guys, but that’s the nature of the game. We were able to play some freshmen and some redshirts. They got in the game and we got them some game time, so we’ll see nothing but better things in the future.”

On Northern Colorado’s offensive play:

“Our offense started to click in the second half. We showed a lot of life. Our receivers ran pretty well with the ball after the catch. We still have some things to sharpen up in our running attack, but Andre Harris had some runs that were pretty good. John Burnley also came out and made a couple of good runs. I’m excited about the potential of the offense and as we continue to work, they’ll be fine.”

On Kansas’ play:

“(Todd) Reesing is an awfully good player. We’re like most people that they played last year. We just don’t have an answer to a quarterback that can sit back there and throw. Then when he takes off, he can either run it or keep it alive. He’s back there running around like a greased pig and you can’t get him down. It’s obvious on film and when you’re watching him live. He’s an important factor, obviously, but I take nothing away from guys like Kerry Meier. He did a great job and Jake Sharp did some good things as well.”

Northern Colorado Quarterback Bryan Waggener

On what got the game out of hand:

“We struggled in the red zone; we had some penalties that killed us in the red zone. The missed field goal hurt a little bit and Todd Reesing took over the game today and showed why he’s one of the better quarterbacks in the nation.”

On Todd Reesing:

“I feel like he’s just a playmaker out there. He’s just real scrappy and knows how to get it done and finds ways to make plays all the time.”

On not getting any touchdowns:

“We always expect to score. We expect to play with them and be in the game, we come out here trying to win every game and it was a disappointment not to get in the end zone, but they’re a Top 25 team for a reason.”

Northern Colorado Safety Max Hewitt

On the game as a whole:

“Obviously no one wants to get beat, but the score doesn’t represent how the game went. We’re going to watch the film and obviously take some negatives away from this and have to correct them, but I know we’re going to find a lot of positives out here.”

On staying close with Kansas:

“We’ve got to eliminate some of the big plays and I felt like we played with them. They’re a top 25 team for a reason; they’re a real good team. Todd Reesing deserves a lot of credit. He made a lot of big plays out there. But I do feel like we went toe-to-toe with them for a while. They got two scores late to kind of run up the score and that’s something we’re going to address and fix it and try to beat San Diego next week.”