Kansas Football Loses 45-35 At Nebraska

LINCOLN, Neb. – Nebraska outscored Kansas 31-21 in the second half en route to a 45-35 victory in Big 12 football action Saturday afternoon. The Jayhawks fell to 6-4 overall and 3-3 in Big 12 play, while Nebraska improved to an identical 6-4, 3-3.

The teams were tied at 14 at halftime behind two Todd Reesing touchdown passes to Kerry Meier and Dezmon Briscoe. The Husker started the scoring in the second half with a field goal before KU responded with another touchdown pass from Reesing, this time to Dexton Fields. That put Kansas up 21-17 with 4:32 left in the third period.

Nebraska scored two straight touchdowns, both runs by Roy Helu, Jr. to pull ahead 31-21 early in the fourth quarter. Kansas fought back with a Jake Sharp touchdown with 9:55 left to come within 31-28 before the Huskters scored two straight touchdowns to lead 45-28.

Reesing hit 15 of 30 attempts for 304 yards and three touchdowns to three different receivers. Briscoe caught six passes for 176 yards and a score. Jake Sharp rushed 22 times for 90 yards as the Jayhawks posted 422 yards of offense on the day.

Nebraska ran up 495 yards, including 328 through the air as they defeated Kansas for the 20th straight time in Lincoln.

Reesing became the Kansas all-time passing yardage leader on his scoring toss to Meier. On that play, he took a hit, bounced backward and then found a wide open Meier who raced into the endzone. The junior quarterback has 6,632 career passing yards, moving ahead of Frank Seurer, who threw for 6,410 from 1980, 82-83.

At kickoff the temperature was 35 degrees with the wind blowing out of the north at 21 miles per hour. The cold weather did not appear to slow down either offense s Nebraska averaged 6.8 yards per play, while KU registered 6.1 yards per play.

The Kansas Loss…
–Marked the Jayhawks 20th straight loss against Nebraska in Lincoln.
–Gave KU a loss for the third time in its last four games.
–Was just KU’s fifth loss in its last 23 games and sixth loss in its last 27 games.
–Stopped a 16-game winning streak against un-ranked teams.

Notes
–Junior QB Todd Reesing became the KU career passing yardage leader on his 28-yard touchdown throw to Kerry Meier in the first quarter. He finished the day with 304 passing yards which increased his career total to 6,632 yards. (Previous KU record holder was Frank Seurer, 6,410 yards – 1980, 82-83).
–Reesing recorded his fifth game of the season with at least three touchdown throws – the 11th of his career. He has nine TD passes in his career against Nebraska. Reesing also added his fourth rushing TD of the season.
–Reesing moved up several other KU record lists including: 2nd – career total offensive plays (1,031); 3rd – season pass attempts (359); 2nd – season pass completions (240); 3rd – season passing yards (2,942); tied 2nd – season 200-yard passing games (8).
–Junior RB Jake Sharp moved into 14th place on the KU career rushing list past Donnie Shanklin (1,630 yards) and Nolan Cromwell (1,664 yards). Sharp now has 1,687 career yards on the ground.
–Sharp notched his 10th rushing touchdown of the year. Sharp is just the third different player in the Mark Mangino era to record reach double digits in the category joining Bill Whittemore (11 in 2002, 10 in 2003) and Brandon McAnderson (16 in 2007).
–Senior LB James Holt posted his sixth forced fumble of the season. He entered the game as the national leader in the category.
–Holt stopped a potential Nebraska scoring opportunity at the end of the first half with his first career interception.
–Sophomore DE Jake Laptad recorded his first career forced fumble. Senior DE Russell Brorsen scooped up the fumble recovery on the play, his second of the season. Over the past three games, Brorsen has been involved with four take-aways including a fumble recovery against Texas Tech and two interceptions against K-State.
–Sophomore WR Dezmon Briscoe took over sole possession of first place on the KU touchdown receptions list with his 18th career TD catch in the second quarter (17 done by former players Willie Vaughn and Bruce Adams). It was Briscoe’s 11th TD catch of the season and his fifth-straight game with a scoring catch. The 53 yard TD marked his fourth of the season measuring 48 yards or more.
–Briscoe finished with six catches for 176 yards and 1 TD. It marked his fourth 100+ yard game of the season and his 15+ straight game with multiple catches. He needs one more 100-yard game to match former KU players Marcus Henry (2007) and Bob Johnson (1983) for the KU single season record.
–Briscoe increased his career total to 103 catches to pass Derek Fine (98 catches) and Isaac Byrd (101) for 12th place on the KU career list.
–Briscoe also moved up the KU single season receptions. His 60 season catches move him past Charles Gordon and Bob Johnson for fourth place.
–Senior LB Mike Rivera forced and recovered a fumble in the third quarter to set up KU’s third score. It was his second force and recovery of the season.
–Senior WR Dexton Fields hauled in a TD reception to snap a drought of two games in which he had no catches. It was his first touchdown of the season, but moved his career total to 13 to tie former wide receiver Marcus Henry for sixth on the all-time KU list.
–Three different KU receivers (Briscoe, Meier, Fields) had a TD catch marking the most in a game this season. It was the most since four different players had TD catches against Iowa State in 2007.
–Senior KR Marcus Herford passed Greg Heaggans (80) for first place in the KU record books for number of kick returns. Herford’s six returns against Nebraska gave him a career total of 84.
Freshman walk-on Willie O’Quinn saw his first career action as a member of three special teams units.