Published: September 20, 2008 11:37 pm      

Kats hang tough

Jayhawks pull away in second half to hand SHSU first loss

LAWRENCE, Kan. — Playing their first game since Aug. 28, the Sam Houston State Bearkats gave Kansas everything it could handle and then some. In front of the fourth largest crowd in Kansas history of 51,767, the Kats made the No. 19 Jayhawks work for a 38-14 win Saturday night.

“I was real proud of the way the guys came out and played tonight,” said SHSU head coach Todd Whitten. “We played hard and under the circumstances I thought we had a really good showing. I couldn’t be more proud of (Rhett Bomar). He played a great game.”

Bomar picked apart the Kansas defense, passing for 340 yards with a touchdown and he ran for a second as the Bearkats racked up 380 yards of offense. Bomar had 195 of his passing yards in the first half.

“I’m not going to say we were moving the ball at will against them in the first half, but we were able to execute our offense tonight,” Bomar said. “We just made a few mistakes tonight and against a team like Kansas, you just can’t do that.”

The mistakes that hurt the Kats were three interceptions by Bomar and several defensive breakdowns on third down. The first interception by Bomar set up the Kansas offense at the 1-yard line and the other two picks ended promising drives for the Kats. One was on an eight-play drive and the other came after six plays.

The Jayhawks converted 11-of-17 third downs, including two long scoring plays on third-and-long and one other conversion on third-and-26.

“We needed to play better on third down,” Whitten said. “In our last game we got up 52-0, so we didn’t have a very good idea of what our concerns were. I think after this one, we have a better idea of what we need to work on.”

After playing a scoreless first quarter, the Jayhawks took advantage of a second-quarter miscue to put their first points on the board. With the Kats backed up to their own end zone, Bomar was intercepted at the 15 and the ball was returned to the 1-yard line. One play later, Kansas quarterback Todd Reesing scored for the first points of the game.

The other two scores in the first half by Kansas were both on defensive breakdowns by the Bearkats. Reesing first hit Kerry Meier for a 68-yard score on a third-and-12 play. Then at the end of the half, he hit Dezmon Briscoe for a 57-yard score on a third-and-25 play.

Those two scoring plays accounted for 125 of the Jayhawks’ 265 total yards in the first half.

At the end of the first half, the Kats got on the board. They took advantage of the short field after stopping KU on a 4th-and-inches play at the Kansas 36. It took just four plays for the Kats to reach the end zone. On second-and-goal from the 8, Bomar kept the ball on a draw and scampered untouched for a touchdown with 1:57 to play in the half.

But the Jayhawks answered right back when Reesing scrambled around in the pocket for several seconds, once avoiding a sack, and hit Briscoe for the 57-yard score to go up 21-7 at the half.

Kansas got the ball to start the second half, and quickly found the end zone. It took the Jayhawks just five plays to reach the end zone and go up 28-7.

The Kats got the points back just as quick. After a pair of incomplete passes, Bomar hit James Aston for a 33-yard pass. On the next play, he connected with Justin Wells for a 46-yard scoring strike to cut the KU lead in half.

The Jayhawks tacked on a field goal late in the third quarter and one last touchdown in the fourth quarter.

Kansas finished the game with 528 yards of total offense with Reesing passing for 356. Bomar finished completing 26-of-46 for 340, completing passes to six different receivers. Wells led the way with 8 catches for 111 yards.