LAWRENCE, Kan. — Northern Colorado dared Kansas to run, and Todd Reesing was happy to oblige. It’s just one more thing he does well.
With the Bears dropping extra men into coverage, Kansas’ career passing leader ignited a slow-starting offense with two rushing touchdowns and the 25th-ranked Jayhawks ran for 328 yards in a 49-3 rout Saturday night before the biggest home crowd in school history.
Reesing, who has virtually rewritten his school’s passing records, hit 13-of-20 passes for 208 yards and two touchdowns — relatively paltry totals for him.
“They didn’t want to let us throw the ball down field too much, so they dropped more guys in coverage than maybe we’re used to,” Reesing said. “When they do that, you’ve got to run the ball, and we were able to do that effectively and that’s why we were able to score points.”
Jake Sharp scored on a 2-yard run and a 10-yard pass before the Memorial Stadium record crowd of 53,530, a fan base that’s been energized by 20 wins the past two years and seems to appreciate no longer being known as a basketball-only school.
It didn’t take the Jayhawks long to adjust when they saw the Bears were dropping seven or more men back into pass coverage.
The Bears of the Big Sky Conference, who won only once last year and are struggling to transition to Division I, put up more fight than most in the big crowd expected. It was only 7-0 going into the second quarter, and Northern Colorado had missed a short field-goal attempt.
Northern Colorado also got plenty of help from the Jayhawks, who picked up 68 penalty yards, including pass interference and roughing-the-passer infractions during the drive that set up Michael York’s 29-yard field goal in the third.
Bears quarterback Bryan Waggener was 19-for-30 for 165 yards passing.
“We struggled in the red zone,” Waggener said. “We had some penalties that killed us in the red zone. Todd Reesing took over the game and showed why he’s one of the better quarterbacks in the nation.”
