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Kansas routs Baylor, remains undefeated

Oct 14, 2007 - 12:48 AM LAWRENCE, Kansas (Ticker) -- Playing in unfamiliar territory, Kansas looked very comfortable as a ranked team.

Todd Reesing passed for 186 yards and a pair of touchdowns Saturday as the 20th-ranked Jayhawks routed Baylor, 58-10, in a Big 12 Conference contest.

It was the sixth consecutive victory for Kansas (6-0, 2-0 Big 12 North), which is off to its best start since winning its first seven games in 1995. The Jayhawks entered the national rankings last Sunday after defeating intrastate rival Kansas State a day earlier.

Playing as a ranked team for the first time since September 1996, the Jayhawks did not disappoint in this contest, avenging last season's one-point loss to Baylor while improving to 4-5 all-time against the Bears.

"I am excited that we are 6-0 and 2-0 in conference play," Reesing said. "I am not going to fret too much about the game, obviously it wasn't our best game on offense. ... We were able to not play our best game, yet we still were able to get a big victory."

"Last year we had a rough game (against Baylor)," said safety Justin Thornton, who recorded an interception in the contest. "In the fourth quarter, we were up 35-17 with 10 minutes left in the game and they came back and beat us. We weren't having that this year."

Reesing overcame a slow start to finish 14-of-31, completing passes to nine different receivers. Jake Sharp had a solid game for the Jayhawks, rushing for 110 yards and a TD on 18 carries.

The start of the game was delayed 98 minutes due to lightning. But the late start did not slow down the Jayhawks, which is 2-0 in conference play for the first time since 1997.

"Everybody was wondering what we should do," Kansas coach Mark Mangino said. "Some of the kids went to sleep, some listened to their iPods. I thought they handled it very well."

"Pretty much everything we do in the offseason is focused on mental toughness and things like that," Sharp added. "So (the delays) were not really a problem for us. We are a tough football team and we take a lot of pride in that."

Baylor forged a 3-3 tie on Caleb Allen's 25-yard field goal with 4:20 remaining in the first quarter.

But Kansas took the lead for good on the very next play, as Marcus Herford took the ensuing kickoff and returned it 88 yards for a touchdown, giving the Jayhawks a 10-3 advantage.

"The thing about Kansas is that they are playing hard and they absolutely do not beat themselves," Baylor coach Guy Moriss said. "I think that's been the key for them."

Reesing hooked up with Dezmon Briscoe for a 10-yard TD pass four minutes into the second quarter to make it 17-3.

The Jayhawks took control of the game 10 minutes later, scoring a pair of TDs in a span of 47 seconds.

Sharp rumbled into the end zone from four yards out to make it 24-3 just 90 seconds before the break, and defensive back Chris Harris intercepted Blake Szymanski on the first play of Baylor's next drive.

Three plays later, Brandon McAnderson reeled off a 15-yard TD run to give Kansas a 31-3 halftime cushion.

Szymanski completed just 18-of-33 passes for 119 yards with three interceptions for Baylor (3-4, 0-3 South), which managed just 202 yards of total offense en route to falling to 1-4 all-time in Lawrence.

"We've just got to execute our plays or we're not going to get any better," Moriss said. "All the wishing and the hoping is not going to get it done. You just have to go out and make plays, and we didn't do that today."