October 01, 2005

Kansas Falls To Texas Tech, 30-17

Oct. 1, 2005

LUBBOCK, Texas – Despite a spirited second-half comeback, the University of Kansas football team dropped its Big 12 Conference opener, falling 30-17 to Texas Tech in Lubbock on Saturday night. In the second half, the Jayhawks (3-1) nearly clawed back into the game behind their defense and rushing attack, but ultimately fell short to the Red Raiders (4-0).

In the first half, the Jayhawks found themselves down early. The Red Raiders marched down the field on a 12-play, 80-yard drive to start the game. A four-yard touchdown pass from Cody Hodges to Jared Hicks with 11:12 remaining in the first quarter capped off the drive.

The Red Raiders also recovered a Clark Green fumble for a touchdown in the 2nd quarter and later added two field goals to take a 20-0 lead at halftime.

On offense, the Jayhawks got a boost from the ground game. Junior Jon Cornish ran for 111 yards on 17 carries and scored the first Jayhawk touchdown on an 11-yard run early in the third quarter. Senior Clark Green added 42 yards on eight carries.

The Jayhawks were only down 10 points late in the second half but were unable to complete the comeback. Kansas used three different quarterbacks during the contest. Senior Brian Luke finished 13-of-27 for 109 yards and a touchdown. He connected with senior Mark Simmons on an 17-yard touchdown pass in the third quarter. Simmons finished with five catches for 44 yards.

Junior Adam Barmann, who finished 8-of-10 for 45 yards, spelled Luke for a series in the second quarter and came on in relief in the fourth quarter. Freshman Marcus Herford also saw time at quarterback in the third quarter.

The Jayhawk defense proved to be a formidable opponent for the Red Raider offense. Texas Tech was limited to 380 total yards, including only 47 yards rushing on 26 carries. Senior Charlton Keith recorded two sacks and had a fumble recovery. Senior Rodney Fowler snagged his third interception of the season. The Jayhawks forced three Red Raider turnovers.

“I don’t have any issues with our overall effort,” commented Head Coach Mark Mangino after the game. “We just came up a little short.

“There are some things we need to fix and repair,” Coach Mangino added. “Once our kids settled down, I thought the defense played well. We made some good adjustments and limited their offense to 23 points. I thought we ran the ball well, but we just weren’t as crisp as we needed to be. We can feel good about how we competed and fought.”

The Jayhawks will travel to Manhattan next Saturday to take on in-state rival Kansas State. Kickoff is slated for 11 a.m., and will be televised by Fox Sports Net.