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Reesing rallies Kansas past No. 11 Missouri

Nov 30, 2008 - 2:30 AM KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Ticker) -- Todd Reesing battled through the pain in his right arm to help Kansas end a disappointing regular season in thrilling fashion.

Reesing threw four touchdown passes and found Kerry Meier for the go-ahead score with 27 seconds remaining Saturday, lifting the Jayhawks to a 40-37 upset of 11th-ranked Missouri at Arrowhead Stadium.

Kansas, which lost last year's edition of the Border Showdown, entered this annual rivalry game with a laundry list of injuries to key players.

The most notable banged-up player was Reesing, who has been battling an injured right shoulder and could not lift his arm over his head earlier this week.

Despite absorbing several crushing hits, Reesing came through down the stretch for the Jayhawks (7-5, 4-4 Big 12 South), who squandered a 26-10 third-quarter lead before driving 67 yards with less than two minutes remaining for the go-ahead touchdown.

"(Reesing's) play was phenomenal," Kansas coach Mark Mangino said. "You can almost see this competitive spirit that radiates from him. And in the fourth quarter, you can just see that he was trying to take control of the game and was determined to pull a positive outcome in the situation we had."

Reesing certainly faced a tough situation against the Tigers (9-3, 5-3), who recorded two sacks and applied constant pressure on Kansas' final drive.

The junior also sustained a gash on his hand that required stitches after the game.

"It was as early as Monday that (Reesing) couldn't get his arm up," Mangino said. "Tuesday we got him going, Wednesday a little more, but it got a little bit tight again.

"Our trainers were worried about his arm getting stiff in the cold weather. But he fought through it. He also tore his hand up during the game, and they're stitching it up now."

Kansas entered this grudge match last year with the No. 2 overall ranking and a perfect record. But the Jayhawks saw their unlikely national championship bid end courtesy of Missouri's Chase Daniel, who led the Tigers to a 36-28 win.

Twelve months later, the late-game heroics came courtesy of Reesing, who evaded several defenders on Kansas' last play from scrimmage before lofting a perfect 26-yard TD pass to Meier that gave the Jayhawks a 40-37 lead.

"You've got to feel people on your backside and use the sidelines you have to move around in the pocket," Reesing said. "Sometimes it's luck; the offensive line did a great job of creating a pocket and they bought enough time for us to make a play."

Kansas played inspired football in the first half before Daniel quarterbacked Missouri to four second-half touchdowns. The Tigers took a 37-33 lead on Derrick Washington's 6-yard TD run with 1:50 remaining.

That set the stage for Reesing, who orchestrated a nine-play drive capped by his scoring strike to Meier.

"It's unbelievable - after last year's tough loss - to come back and win," Reesing said. "(Missouri) showed up thinking they were going to beat us, and we came out ready to play. We just fought hard. We believed in ourselves."

Missouri made a last-ditch effort to force overtime, driving the ball to Kansas' 36-yard line with 10 seconds left.

But the Tigers' comeback bid ended when Jeff Wolfert's 54-yard field goal was deflected and fell well short as time expired.

"I made the right contact," Wolfert said. "They just got a hand in there, someone was at the right place at the right time and was able to make the deflection."

Reesing completed 37-of-51 attempts for 375 yards and was intercepted twice. His favorite target was Meier, a former quarterback who hauled in 14 receptions for 106 yards and two TDs.

Dezmon Briscoe added 115 yards on nine catches for the Jayhawks, who improved to 54-54-9 in college football's second-most played rivalry.

"I'm happy for our kids," Mangino said. "They've worked so hard. They so badly want a winning season. For two weeks I've been saying, 'I just need to find a way to try to help our kids win this game, they deserve to have a winning season.'"

Daniel finished 25-of-41 for 288 yards, four TDs and two interceptions. The senior also rushed for a career-high 103 yards.

Jeremy Maclin hauled in nine receptions for 123 yards for Missouri, which already has clinched the Big 12 Conference's North Division title.

"Obviously, we're very frustrated and disappointed from our standpoint," Missouri coach Gary Pinkel said. "It was a great comeback in the final drive for them. They did a good job, and I congratulate them for that."