Lynch threw for 354 yards and two scores, the Tigers got five more touchdowns on the ground and rolled to a 55-23 blowout of the Jayhawks to snap a 19-game skid against power-five teams.
Advertisement
Part of the reason for Lynch’s success?
It was an inauspicious debut for new Jayhawk coach David Beaty.
“We just have to stop the run”, Jayhawks defensive end Ben Goodman said. They were anxious to play the game, when things didn’t go very well, they were a little bit nervous, kind of, because they want to do well.
ESPN3, STREAM Memphis Kansas Live football Game Free Online Tv score radio Kick off time.Memphis Tigers and the Kansas Jayhawks meet in Lawrence this weekend.
“Those kids, they battled, and I’m really proud of them for that”, Beatty said.
Cozart completed 13 of 28 passes for 118 yards.
“I think the big thing for him tonight was just trusting that his protection was going to be there and being able to sit in there and let that ball go”, Beaty said. Ke’aun Kinner had 157 yards rushing against the Jackrabbits, the most by a Big 12 runner last week. “We’ve got to get more pressure on guys like that”.
“He has always been a creative guy and they continue to do that”, Kansas offensive coordinator Rob Likens said.
“Utilizing the tempo is something you gotta do”, Beatty said. Memphis gained 651 yards, despite fumbling the ball away three times.
But the perennial cellar-dwellers were unable to sustain the momentum. Receiver Mose Frazier, and running backs Jarvis Cooper, Doroland Dorceus, Sam Craft and Jamarius Henderson each scored rushing touchdowns for the Tigers. The Jayhawks tacked on a field goal a few minutes later, but Lynch answered with a short TD toss to Jones with 32 seconds left before the half. The Jayhawks then marched down the field, with the help of a silly personal foul penalty by Arthur Maulet, and punched it in to take a 10-0 lead after five minutes.
Cozart completed 2-of-7 passes for 13 yards in the second half before being replaced by Deondre Ford midway through the fourth quarter.
By then, a decent crowd on a postcard-perfect evening must have chose to spend the rest of the night tailgating.
It’s the sort of thing that comes up in games more often than practice, one of the factors that makes it so hard to evaluate quarterbacks based on practice performances.
Kansas’ redshirt freshman Ryan Schadler returned a kickoff 91 yards for a touchdown in his first game as a Jayhawk. The backups, including quarterback Clay Holgorsen, were getting work for a second consecutive week.
Advertisement
While there aren’t many silver linings to becoming a program’s first-ever FBS victim, the Jayhawks did move the ball well in Beaty’s system. Kinner, who transferred from Navarro Junior College equaled the accomplishment of James Sims and Gale Sayers in their KU debuts. “So that’s not going to happen. But we knew once we fell down that it was still in our hands and we just had to come back from it”.
