Kansas Football Heads To South Florida In Meeting Of Two Ranked Teams

Press Conference Quotes
Supplemental Notes

Sept. 7, 2008

Complete Release in PDF Format

QUICKLY — #13 Associated Press/#11 Coaches Poll Kansas (2-0 overall, 0-0 Big 12) will make its first road trip of 2008 when it heads to #19 AP/#18 Coaches South Florida (2-0 overall, 0-0 Big East) for a Friday night game that will be televised on ESPN2 at 7 p.m. Central… Sean McDonough, Chris Spielman and Rob Stone will serve as ESPN2 announcers… Kansas will be playing its second non-Saturday regular season game in the Mark Mangino era, when it kicks off against South Florida on Friday. The only other such occasion was the Jayhawks’ 37-31 double overtime loss at Toledo on a Friday night in 2006… KU is 21-6 in non-conference games in the Mark Mangino era… KU is 8-21 on the road under Mangino, but was 4-0 last year, all at Big 12 schools… KU has won 14 of its last 15 and 17 of its last 19 games overall.

KU ON THE ESPN NETWORKS — Kansas will be making its fifth all-time appearance on ESPN2 as well as its 13th game on ESPN or ESPN2. Last year KU had back-to-back games on the networks with its game at Colorado on ESPN on Oct. 20 and its game at Texas A&M on Oct. 27 on ESPN2. The Jayhawks are 2-2 on ESPN2 all-time and 6-6 on either ESPN or ESPN2.

THE POLLS — Kansas is ranked for the 13th consecutive week, the second longest streak in school history. Kansas was ranked in 14 straight polls from 1995-96. The Jayhawks’ other top streaks include 12 straight in the 1968 season and nine straight in the 1952 campaign. The current streak started when KU was ranked 20th in the Oct. 7, 2007 poll.

KU IN GAMES BOTH TEAMS ARE RANKED — Kansas is 9-16 all-time in games where both teams are ranked. Last year KU was 1-1 in such games as the #2 Jayhawks lost to #3 Missouri in the regular season finale and then #5 KU defeated #8 Virginia Tech in the FedEx Orange Bowl.

KU VS. RANKED OPPONENTS IN MANGINO ERA — Kansas is 4-7 against ranked teams in the Mark Mangino era with victories against #23 Missouri in 2003, #25 Iowa State in 2005, #24 Kansas State in 2007 and #8 Virginia Tech in 2007.

LAST TIME OUT — Not even soggy conditions could stop 14th-ranked Kansas quarterback Todd Reesing, as the junior connected on 32-of-38 passes for a career-high 412 yards and three touchdowns in KU’s 29-0 shutout victory against Louisiana Tech. The victory was KU’s 11th straight home victory and 16th consecutive win at Kivisto Field at Memorial Stadium against non-conference opponents. Defensively, KU posted its second shutout in the Mark Mangino era. Last season the Jayhawks posted a 62-0 win against Southeastern Louisiana on Sept. 8. A crowd of 48,621, the second largest non-conference home crowd at KU, saw Reesing’s 412 passing yards for the game rank third on the KU single-game list. Reesing now holds four of the top 13 single-game passing yards in KU history. His 84.2 completion percentage against the Bulldogs ranks fifth on the KU single-game list. Freshman Daymond Patterson and sophomore Dezmon Briscoe combined for 15 catches and 276 yards receiving from Reesing. Patterson ended the game with eight catches for 130 yards and two touchdowns, while Briscoe had seven receptions for a career-high 146 yards and one score. Patterson and Briscoe became the first two Jayhawks to record 100 receiving yards in the same game since the 2006 season against Nebraska – Brian Murph (8-129) and Dexton Fields (8-108). Not to be outshined, junior Kerry Meier led all receivers with nine receptions for 71 yards on the night.

UP NEXT — Kansas will return home to close out the non-conference portion of the regular season when the Jayhawks host Sam Houston State on Saturday, Sept. 20 at 6 p.m. The Bearkats are 1-0 after defeating East Central Oklahoma. SHSU hosts Prairie View A&M this Saturday before visiting Kansas.

DID YOU KNOW? — Prior to KU’s win vs. #23 Missouri in 2003, the last time the Jayhawks defeated a ranked team was when they beat #17 Colorado in 1998. Under Mark Mangino KU has beaten four ranked teams. Prior to Mangino, KU beat four ranked teams in nine years from 1993-2001 going 4-28 in that span.

DID YOU KNOW? — KU will be playing in an NFL stadium for the third time in its last five games (Arrowhead vs. Missouri, Dolphin Stadium vs. Virginia Tech and Raymond James vs. South Florida).

THE KU-USF SERIES — Kansas and South Florida will be meeting for the second time as Kansas posted a 13-7 victory against the Bulls in Lawrence on Sept. 23, 2006. Kansas is 6-12 all-time against current members of the Big East Conference with a 1-0 mark against South Florida, 4-4 vs. Syracuse, 1-1 vs. Cincinnati, 0-1 vs. West Virginia and 0-3 vs. both Louisville and Pittsburgh. Prior to the 2006 meeting against USF, the last time KU played a current Big East team was a 1997 meeting vs. Cincinnati.

KU-USF LAST TIME — Then Kansas freshman, S Justin Thornton, intercepted South Florida QB Matt Grothe on the final play of the game to seal a 13-7 Kansas victory against the Bulls on Sept. 23, 2006. USF had driven to the KU 27-yard line in the final moments of the game before Thornton’s play. After a scoreless first half, the teams scored on the first three offensive possessions of the second half as KU opened the scoring with a 37-yard Scott Webb field goal with 9:15 remaining in the third quarter. USF tallied on its next possession as Grothe scored on a seven-yard run with 3:07 remaining in the period. KU responded with a Jon Cornish two-yard run just into the fourth quarter. The Jayhawks added another Webb field goal with 9:01 left for the game’s final points. KU out-gained USF 391 to 309 yards while holding a time of possession advantage of 35:40 to 24:20. KU QB Adam Barmann completed 25 of 35 passes for 273 yards, while Cornish rushed 26 times for 105 yards. Grothe led USF with 196 passing yards and 86 rushing yards.

DID YOU KNOW? — The 0-0 halftime score in the last meeting between Kansas and South Florida in 2006 has been the only scoreless first half in a Kansas game since 1980.

JAYHAWKS IN 2006 MEETING — Here is a look at how current Jayhawks fared in the 2006 meeting with South Florida: RB Jake Sharp rushed two times for six yards, WR Dexton Fields had four catches for 58 yards and a long of 31, WR Marcus Herford had one catch for 13 yards, LB Mike Rivera had nine tackles, including a half sack and a PBU, LB Joe Mortensen had eight tackles, S Justin Thornton had three tackles and the game-saving interception, DE John Larson had two tackles, including one sack and LB Arist Wright had one tackle.

KU-USF CONNECTIONS — Kansas has two players on its roster from the state of Florida in P Alonso Rojas (Miami/Killian HS) and WR Tertavian Ingram (Tampa/Jefferson HS)… USF does not have any players from the state of Kansas… Both head coaches worked together as assistants at Kansas State under Bill Snyder as KU’s Mark Mangino was on the offensive side of the ball at KSU from 1991-98, while USF’s Jim Leavitt was on the defensive side there from 1990-95… USF DL coach John Hendrick also coached at Kansas State in 1992 and 1993… USF director of high school relations Rich Rachel, was the secondary coach at Kansas from 1979-82, an assistant at Kansas State from 1986-88 and the offensive line coach at Fort Scott CC in 1999… Aqib Talib, a 2007 All-American at Kansas, was a first-round draft choice of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers this year… This Friday’s game at South Florida will be the third in the last four games for the Jayhawks with a connection with the state of Florida. KU’s last game of 2007 was in the FedEx Orange Bowl in Miami. This year KU opened the season hosting Florida International.

Weekly Supplemental Notes will be available Thursdays at www.kuathletics.com