No. 4 Missouri Upends No. 2 Kansas 36-28
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Despite 349 yards passing from sophomore quarterback Todd Reesing and three touchdowns (two passing, one rushing), No. 4 Missouri upended second-ranked Kansas, 36-28, in the annual Border Showdown game played Saturday evening at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City.
KU and MU tied for the Big 12 North title with the Tigers advancing to the Big 12 Championship game. Kansas finished the regular season 11-1 and 7-1 in the Big 12, while the Jayhawks complete their best regular season in program history at 11-1 overall and 7-1 in conference play. Missouri improved to 11-1 and 7-1 in league play.
Trailing 28-7 heading into the fourth quarter, Reesing led the Jayhawks on three consecutive scoring drives to cut the lead to 34-28 with 2:05 remaining. However, KU could not recover the ensuing onside kick and Missouri ran the clock down to 17 seconds. Missouri’s Loren Williams killed any hope for a Jayhawk comeback when he sacked Reesing in the end zone on KU’s first offensive play following a short punt pinned the Jayhawks inside the 10.
The loss ended KU’s 11-game winning streak, the longest in school history.
Reesing finished the game 28-for-49 for 349 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions, his first interceptions since Oct. 6. The sophomore quarterback also ran for a touchdown in the fourth quarter.
Junior Dexton Fields was the second-year signal caller’s favorite target, grabbing eight receptions for 116 yards and a touchdown. Freshman Dezmon Briscoe also had a big game with 94 yards on seven catches. Senior fullback Brandon McAnderson led KU’s ground attack with 41 yards on 14 carries and a one-yard touchdown run in the third quarter.
After Missouri built a 21-0 lead in the third quarter, the Jayhawks took flight.
The Jayhawks answered MU’s first touchdown drive of the second half as McAnderson slammed into the end zone on a one-yard run around the left end with 7:21 remaining in the third quarter. The scoring drive was set up by a 34-yard completion from Reesing to freshman Dezmon Briscoe and a 15-yard facemask penalty on the same play.
After Chase Daniel’s third touchdown pass of the evening, KU cut the deficit again to 14 on Todd Reesing’s five-yard touchdown run, a bootleg around the right end. It was the sophomore’s second touchdown run of the season.
The drive was set up by a pair of fourth down conversions. The first, an 11-yard completion from Reesing to senior Marcus Henry on a fourth-and-three from the MU 35, while Reesing’s scoring play was also a fourth down conversion.
Missouri stretched the lead to 31-14 on a 43-yard field goal by Jeff Wolfert, however the Jayhawks responded again.
This time, Reesing crafted a seven-play, 57-yard drive, which took just a minute and 32 seconds off the clock. The sophomore quarterback hit Fields for a 10-yard touchdown pass to cut the deficit to 31-21 with 8:28 remaining.
After another Wolfert field goal, Reesing again led the Jayhawks down the field to cut the lead to 34-28 with 2:05 remaining.
Missouri ended any hopes of a Jayhawk comeback when Lorenzo Williams sacked Reesing in the end zone with 12 seconds remaining and gave the Tigers the eight-point margin of victory.
The Jayhawks will await their bowl bid, which will be announced on Dec. 2.
Notes
–Missouri’s win ended an 11-game winning streak for Kansas, the longest in school history.
–Kansas and Missouri tied for the Big 12 North title, KU’s highest finish in Big 12 history.
–Tonight’s attendance of 80,537 is the largest crowd to watch a Kansas game at a neutral site, surpassing the 77,719 against Penn State in the 1968 Orange Bowl. It is second largest crowd of the season – 85,341 at Texas A&M – for KU and seventh largest to ever watch a Kansas game. It is the second largest crowd at Arrowhead Stadium – 82,094 when the Kansas City Chief hosted Oakland on Nov. 5, 1972.
–This is the second game this season KU did not score in the first half. KU and Texas A&M were tied at 0-0 on Oct. 27.
–Sophomore Todd Reesing set the Kansas single-season record for passing yards, currently at 3,259. Reesing passed Mike Norseth who had 2,995 passing yards in 1985.
–Reesing’s touchdown run in the fourth quarter was his second of the season. He also had a TD rush against Florida International on Sept. 22.
–With his touchdown pass to Dexton Fields, Reesing has had at least one TD pass in 11 of 12 games this season. Including tonight, Reesing has nine games with two or more TDs, including each of his last three games.
–Reesing’s two TD passes moved him into a tie for the KU all-time career touchdown pass list, with 35. He is tied with David Jaynes who had 35 TD passes from 1971-73.
–With his 349 yards passing, Reesing became the KU single-season record holder for 300-yard passing games in a season with his fifth tonight. He also became the single-season record holder for 200-yard passing games in a season with nine.
–Reesing’s interception in the second quarter was his first after 213 straight attempts or since the Kansas State game on Oct. 6 (six games ago). Reesing’s 213 straight attempts without an interception set the Big 12 season record (previous mark was 205 by Reggie McNeal of Texas A&M in 2004). Chase Daniel of Missouri had 254 attempts without an interception spanning two seasons.
–Junior Dexton Fields’ 116 yards receiving were career high and marked his fourth game of 70-plus receiving yards this season. His previous high was 109 yards receiving against Iowa State last week.
–Fields’ touchdown catch was his sixth of the season and 12th of his career. Fields has three TDs in his last two games.
–Senior Brandon McAnderson’s touchdown in the third quarter was his 16th of the season. The 16 TDs rank one behind the KU single season record of 17 held by June Henley in 1996.
–McAnderson’s 23 career TDs tie for third on the KU all-time list. He is tied with Chip Hilleary (1989-92).
–Freshman Dezmon Briscoe had a career-high eight receptions for a career-high 94 yards.
–Sophomore Kerry Meier had a career-high 70 receiving yards, including a career-long 39 yard catch. His four receptions tied his career best.
–Junior Mike Rivera had a career-high 14 tackles. His previous high was 11 stops against Northwestern State in 2006.
–Sophomore Darrell Stuckey registered his first double-digit tackle game of his career with 12.
–Freshman Chris Harris had 12 tackles and has 23 stops in his last two games.
–Sophomore Justin Thornton had a career high 16 tackles. He surpassed his 10 against Nebraska last season. Thorton’s 16 tackles were a season high for a KU player.
–Junior LB Joe Mortensen recorded 13 tackles to mark his fourth double-figure tackle game of the season.
–Junior James Holt’s 13 tackles were the second-most in his career and two shy of his career-high 15 at Colorado earlier this season.
–Missouri freshman Jeremy Maclin’s 43-yard punt return in the first quarter was the longest against Kansas this season. The previous long for a KU foe was 14 yards. Kansas entered the game allowing 3.2 yards per punt return.
–The 33-degrees at kickoff was by far the coldest for a KU game this season (47-degrees against Nebraska on Nov. 3 in Lawrence).
–Senior DL James McClinton has started 32 consecutive games, while OT Cesar Rodriguezhas started 27 straight and LBs Joe Mortensen and Mike Rivera have each started 24 in a row. WR Marcus Henry and CB Aqib Talib notched their 22nd straight starts.
Kansas Quotes
Head Coach Mark Mangino
On the game:
“First I would like to congratulate Missouri. They are a fine football team. I want to congratulate coach (Gary) Pinkel and his staff. It was a good football game. They made plays when they needed to, and we plays, but not enough of them. Certainly, we are disappointed with the way it ended, but we will live to play another day. (We will) make preparations for a bowl game and try and do our best and end the season on a winning note. It’s been too good of a season not to finish on a winning note.”
On missed opportunities:
“We had a chance in the red zone and didn’t come away with points on at least four occasions. We can’t do that and expect to beat good teams. We just didn’t convert points down there, and that is something that probably, at the end of the day, set us back a little bit.”
On KU’s offense:
“I thought we had some people open at times and didn’t get them the ball. I thought there were other opportunities that we didn’t capitalize on. I never felt, except for the first couple of (drives), that our offense was ever out of sync. We just didn’t make plays on third-down conversions and red-zone conversions – that type of thing.”
On Kansas’ defense:
“I thought our defensive effort was good. Missouri’s offense is really talented, and I thought our kids played their tails off. I give (MU) credit. They pitch-and-catch very well. Their receivers don’t drop many balls, and they ran the ball pretty decent today too. Because they pass so well, it created opportunities in the run game.”
On the Jayhawks’ season as a whole:
“I thought this team accomplished a lot – more than any other team in the history of Kansas football. I think that’s a pretty good accomplishment right there.”
Sophomore quarterback Todd Reesing:
Thoughts on the game:
“It was frustrating. At the end of the game we were down six and we just kind of ran out of time. Looking back, we had two field goals and if we get those we are probably in overtime right now. Other than that we had two interceptions in the red zone. What’s most frustrating is that we beat ourselves. We moved the ball up and down the field when we had to, but we made some early mistakes and we could never quite come back.”
His thoughts on Missouri:
“I give a lot of credit to Missouri. They made a lot of plays when they had to. Their offense moved the ball well and their defense got turnovers.”
On his rough start:
“I didn’t feel out of sync, but every throw you make isn’t going to be perfect. I threw one just a little bit short and the other one, I just threw behind him.”
On playing in Arrowhead Stadium:
“It’s a football field. Nothing was different. We moved the ball well on offense. Besides one or two possessions we moved the ball down into the red zone every time. We just weren’t able to convert in the first half. We were scoring, but it was too little too late.”
On the team’s mentality:
“This is a tough bunch of guys on this team. We have a lot of confidence in ourselves. We knew we would be able to bounce back after the first half. We knew if we fought hard we would have a chance to win at the end of the game. We kind of ran out of time, but we fought back into it until the very end.”
His thoughts on the season:
“Once we get this loss out of our system we will look back and say `we were the first Kansas football team to win 11 games.’ We made history this season. Yeah, we lost to our rival and we didn’t win the Big 12 North, but we won 11 games. It was a great season and we’re going to take some of this momentum and try to bounce back from this loss and take that into the bowl game.”
Senior runningback Brandon McAnderson
On the game:
“We played well. They played well. We just weren’t able to finish. We fought and that’s all you can really ask for. We have another game still ahead of us.”
On Missouri’s play:
“They had a lot of late blitzes, a couple of interceptions. They called some decent plays. We made some mistakes but we made some plays too, and you can’t discount that the fact that they are a good team.”
On how Kansas builds off this loss:
“We definitely left our mark on this program, and we don’t feel like this season is wasted. We don’t feel like we lost and we’re done for the season. We’re not going to get down. We definitely have a bowl game ahead of us.”
Sophomore quarterback/wide receiver Kerry Meier
On not giving up:
“We’ve put up points all year. It’s no surprise to us that we moved the ball when we wanted to, but our drive at the end was a little too late. Time ran out for us. We’ve executed all year long and we’re going to continue to execute in the bowl game coming up.”
On little mistakes early in the game:
“It’s tough in these cold conditions. I know it’s tough on our kicker and the snapper and the holder. It’s tough to kick a cold ball. We missed those field goals but we had a lot of other opportunities to execute and we didn’t capitalize on. We just needed to execute a couple of more plays to get us over the hump, but that’s the way the ballgame went.”
Missouri Quotes
Missouri Head Coach Gary Pinkel
Opening Statement:
“First of all I want to congratulate Kansas on the good football team they are. I think it says so much for them that they played a pretty good game at the end. They’re a great football team. I’m very proud of my team and my players. After that lost to Oklahoma we’ve had to win six-straight games, five straight to get to this game and have a chance. My staff and my players did a great job of preparing and trying to play our best game everyday. I certainly am very proud of them. Now we’re playing Oklahoma, I think we’ve played them three times since I’ve been at Missouri and we haven’t won one yet. We’re excited about the opportunity of going down there (to San Antonio) to play for the Big 12 Championship.”
On Missouri’s Penalties:
“I think we had more penalties today than we had the entire season. We had the least penalized team in the nation, I believe, coming into this. We’ll have to look at that and evaluate it. There’s a process to do that. We overcame a lot of penalties also. I thought we did. We were playing a big game in a big environment. I don’t know if we weren’t focused enough or if we were overfocused. We can learn from this and take it into the Championship game next week. This is the most penalties we’ve had in a long, long time.”
On the Possibility of Playing for a National Title:
“I think its’ great. That’s what happens when you play in the Big 12 and you’re 11-1 and possibly have a shot for a national championship. I’m excited about that. We had to win five-straight games to get a chance to play in this one, in the division Championship. I’m so proud of everybody.”
On the Stadium Environment:
“Our fans out there were absolutely awesome. We had a really good environment. We’re very appreciative to the Chiefs for working this out with us. We were mature enough to focus and get all of the stuff out.”
On Playing Kansas’ Offense:
“I thought we did play great red-zone defense. We held them to a couple of field goals and forced a couple of missed field goals. The turnovers were huge. He (Todd Reesing) hadn’t turned the ball over in a long time. He’s a great player in the third quarter and fourth quarter it’s the best he’s played yet. What was real critical for us is that we did really good against the running game. And they’re good at that. We forced them to throw.”
On William Moore:
“Willie Moore made some great plays. He’s become a high-level Big 12 player. Pig Brown as I mentioned before, is a great playmaker and has all of this ability. I think he (Pig) is a great influence on him (Moore) and the great thing to about it is that he played good all year but he’s played his best games since Pig went down.”
On the Safety:
“That was great. There was no question about that. Obviously, you just want to get this thing over with. You’ve seen all of the things that can happen in college football, an onside kick, they return it for a touchdown, everything in the world is going on in my mind. But Zo (Lorenzo Williams) getting that safety obviously was huge.”
On Tony Temple:
“Tony did some great things. He ran 98 yards and ran really hard and played really well. He really helped our offense.”
On Chase Daniel:
“You saw it, America saw it. They saw this guy in adverse conditions in the fourth quarter who had to make plays. We got a 15-yard penalty and somehow we get a way to convert it. He’s be the first one to tell you it was the offensive line, the wide receivers or tight ends, but I’m going to be the first one to tell you, this guy is special. I’ve said this for a year-and-a-half, and America got to see it today how special he is. What a remarkable competitor.What a great player also when you need to make a play. How often does he make plays? I just have to say, he’s a great player, 40-of-49 (passing) that’s unbelievable.”
On The Team:
“I’m so proud of those guys. It’s amazing how much better you coach when you’ve got good players. It’s amazing how that works out.”
Missouri Quarterback Chase Daniel:
On Missouri’s offensive ability to answer after the defense allows points:
“We have been good at that lately. When other teams score, all I need to say to the offense is `Hey, let’s answer.’ And we answered. We did it on almost every single drive.”
On beating Kansas:
“The best thing about tonight is the win. The bottom line is, we got the win. I don’t care what happens; I hope we are No. 1, but all of that stuff doesn’t matter. It is good for show, good for Columbia and the state of Missouri, but we have a tough game in San Antonio against a great Oklahoma team.”
On Tiger RB Tony Temple’s Performance:
“It was unbelievable, I saw that look in his eyes and now, if I don’t see that look before games I am going to smack him upside his head. He needs to make sure he gets it, because when he is on there is not a better running back in the country.”
On Tiger WR Danaraio Alexander:
“Danaraio played unbelievable. He was open all night long and he made some big plays down the field. He made an unbelievable play in that first touchdown. He scrambled out and got it. He was wide open and ran it in.”
On the cold conditions:
“Conditions were definitely cold. We have played in cold games before and we have been in tough games like this before. So the cold didn’t play into the game at all.”
Missouri Wide Receiver Jeremy Maclin:
On the game-clinching safety:
“The whole sideline erupted. I thought we were going to get a sideline penalty. It felt good.It is something that Mizzou has never done. It feels good to be the first team here to win the Big 12 North.”
On the Tiger Defense:
“You can’t win a game without the other side of the ball. The defense stepped up huge, a team that is as explosive as Kansas, to hold them to 28 points is pretty good, I think. The offense did our job and we helped get the job done.”
On possibly being No. 1 and showcasing the team to the nation:
“Yeah, we still have a game next week. We can’t worry about anything like that. That’s what we wanted to do, that was our plan. We went out there and took care of business.”
On RB Tony Temple opening up the passing game:
“It’s big, when you have the running game going, it opens up play action and drop-back passes. That’s everything clicking together. When you have a guy that can run the ball like that it opens up so many more things for your offense.”
Missouri DB Defensive Back Castine Bridges:
On Kansas entering the game ranked second in the nation:
“We really don’t worry about how good another team is. We just look at them as another team that we are playing.”
On the win and possibly being ranked No. 1:
“We are not worried about it because we won’t be No. 1 if we lose the next game.”
On why upcoming game against Oklahoma will be different than the previous meeting:
“Ever since we lost, we came into the locker room and said that we need to see them again. Now it is happening, we get to play them again, we get to compete with them and show them a better game.”
Missouri DT Lorenzo Williams:
On stopping Kansas’s multi-dimensional attack:
“It’s pretty much limiting the running game. We feel like that if we can do that, we can force them to throw the ball, and then we can go get them.”
On what it will take to beat Oklahoma:
“It will take a perfect game. We had a lot of penalties when we went down there the first time, turnovers, we feel like that if we hold onto the ball, we can force more turnovers than we give up. That will give us a chance to win.”
Missouri WR Danaraio Alexander:
“I got more opportunities to get the ball tonight. Chase got the ball to me more and I was able to get open for the passes. It was great.”
On TD reception from Chase Daniel in second quarter:
“It was a scramble, I saw Chase coming out of the shotgun and I realized that I needed to get open. There was on open spot and I saw it, and he got me the ball.”
