Moments That Popped: K-State 35, Kansas 24

Manhattan — It doesn't matter how many times you come close. If you don't get it done in the end, it still means you didn't get it done.

No program knows that better than Kansas football, which fell to Sunflower State rival Kansas State, 35-24, in a wild game at Bill Snyder Family Stadium on Saturday.

The Jayhawks (2-4 overall, 0-3 Big 12) had plenty of opportunities to make Saturday a day to remember. But they failed to capitalize on too many of them and, worse yet, made far too many mistakes themselves, as the Wildcats' streak of consecutive wins in the series grew to 18 straight.

This one had a little bit of everything. A safety, a bunch of field goals, a kickoff return for a touchdown, head-scratching decisions, critical penalties, missed chances, ups, downs, all-arounds and more.

KU led multiple times and for good chunks of this game. But even that was not enough to change the outcome or the feeling that has festered inside of this rivalry for years.

K-State wins. KU loses. Time marches on.

This latest loss did not necessarily come because KU caught a bad break. Instead, it came because KU didn't make enough breaks for itself or, worse yet, tap the brakes on the mistakes and mishaps that have cost this team dearly so many times during the Lance Leipold era.

The Jayhawks are back at The Booth next week for a Homecoming clash with Baylor. Kickoff time for next week's game will be announced late tonight or sometime Sunday.

Here's a look back and some of Saturday's action.

LIKES

• First drive of the third quarter – After leading 17-7 in the second quarter, KU found itself trailing 18-17 at halftime and you really got the sense that the start of the third quarter would play a massive role in the outcome of the game. KU answered that bell, taking the third-quarter kickoff and marching 75 yards in 9 plays for a go-ahead score that put the Jayhawks up 24-18 and put some of the momentum back on the visiting sideline. Marshall was sharp. KU's play calls were creative. And the Jayhawks stayed in attack mode throughout the drive, which ended with former KSU running back Dylan Edwards scoring from 3 yards out. It was exactly the kind of drive that KU needed and exactly the kind of drive that, in theory, could have given KU control of the game. But K-State answered with a similar drive of its own, continuing to punish KU's D-Line and led 25-24 less than 5 minutes later. KU never led again.

• Tempo very effective at times - There was a lot to like about the way the Jayhawks used tempo and quick snaps in this game, and Marshall continues to look comfortable in that type of offense. He loves the tempo and he knows that his legs are one of his biggest weapons. Finding the right times and ways to call it and use it is the most important part of the equation here, and the Jayhawks were fairly successful throughout the day on Saturday. Unfortunately for Leipold's team, the tempo offense did nothing to help out KU's defense.

• 4th-and-goal stop late – Give credit to the Jayhawks for standing tall on a crucial play to start the 4th quarter, one that gave KU some serious momentum and even nearly led to the Jayhawks retaking the lead and putting some serious pressure on the first-year K-State coach Collin Klein and the Wildcats. After watching K-State reach the 1-yard line on third and goal on the final play of the third quarter, the Jayhawks held the line on a 4th-and-goal handoff to KSU running back Joe Jackson, who failed to cross the goal line. The stop gave the Jayhawks the ball back and KU marched 81 yards with relative ease and in short order to move into range of retaking the lead with a touchdown or field goal. But a pass by Marshall to the end zone was intercepted when Marshall simply did not see the safety and threw it right to him. K-State kept its 25-24 lead and KU never really threatened again.

• Fast start returns – Leipold has talked often about this team needing to start fast and they certainly got that in this one, not only with 17 first-quarter points, but also with a kickoff return for a touchdown from Wichita native Bryson Hayes to put Kansas on the board with 13:05 to play in the first quarter. Unfortunately for the Jayhawks, Hayes' return only evened the score, as the Wildcats' marched to a touchdown on the game's opening drive, setting the tone with some foreshadowing about what was to come. Still, if you're focusing on the things KU does poorly and demanding that they fix them, you have to look at this fast start as one of the things they have fixed. For now. It didn't end up mattering in the big picture of Saturday's game, but it's worth pointing out. Now they just have to find a way to sustain those fast starts and from week to week while fixing several of the other issues that continue to cost them.

DISLIKES

• Blitzes ineffective & no pass rush – The KU D-Line struggled throughout the day, consistently getting pushed back at the snap 3, 4, even 5 yards at a time to open things up for that K-State rushing game to run wild. But that was only half of the problem for the KU D-Line. The Jayhawks also got next to no pass rush from what had been a very active group, and that gave KSU QB Avery Johnson all the time he needed to survey the field, find open receivers and set up the Wildcats' very effective run game. Even when KU brought extra pressure, it was wildly ineffective with its blitz looks, rarely getting home and often running into blockers rather than past them. The blitzing woes were the least of KU's problems on defense on Saturday, but they certainly didn't help and it gave you the feeling that this team had no answer in its search for a way to slow down the KSU offense.

• Missed tackles – This was bad. And while K-State deserves some of the credit for it, KU should shoulder most of the blame. KU was credited with 10 missed tackles on the game and it felt and looked like twice that many. In part because so many of the misses came at key junctures or in open spaces and in part because it further magnified the way the Wildcats got whatever they wanted when they had the ball in racking up nearly 600 yards of total offense. Safety Corey Gordon was the main offender in the missed tackles issue, picking up 4 by himself. And his came in a variety of ways – missing in space, whiffing on the dive, fitting the right gap and standing flat-footed while the ball carrier ran by him. It won't be a fun game to watch back on film, but the Jayhawks talked plenty after this one about owning what they see on tape and working even harder to get it corrected moving forward.

• More punting woes – True freshman punter Matt Gill had another rough outing, this one akin to his huge mistake in London when he kicked a ball from his end zone directly out of bounds, essentially gift-wrapping a late-first-half touchdown for Arizona State in a one-score KU loss. In this one, and in a similar situation, Gill fumbled a snap that led to a safety. He also struggled to get anything on most of his kicks, finishing the day with a 33-yard average on four punts, with a long of 40. Leipold was asked after the game if he had any idea what led to Gill's struggles and he said simply, "for the most part, Matt didn't have good day punting. I can't tell you why."

WHAT THE?

• First 2 minutes – Over bettors rejoice, less than 2 minutes into this year's Sunflower Showdown, the Wildcats and Jayhawks had scored 14 combined points en route to a game that did go over the Vegas line of 52.5 points, but just barely. K-State marched and KU offered little resistance. Bryson Hayes responded with a massive special teams play for the Jayhawks on the ensuing kickoff to even the score and put some momentum on the Jayhawk' sideline. So much more happened the rest of the way — good and bad — that this start merely became part of the story. But at the time, it was one of the wildest starts to a game that we've seen in a while — especially this game — and especially when you consider that K-State quarterback Avery Johnson went down on his own at the KU 5-yard line after a long run on that opening drive, leading Johnson to stay down on the ground for several minutes while being examined by trainers.

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