Box Score Sep 7, 2013
Final Stats |
LAWRENCE, Kan.—Six Kansas ball carriers combined to rush for 280 yards and three touchdowns to lead the Jayhawks to a 31-14, season-opening victory against the South Dakota Coyotes Saturday at Memorial Stadium. It was the first meeting between the two programs in 113 years.
KU senior running back James Sims carried 16 times for 94 yards and scored on runs of 1 and 6 yards. Sophomore Darrian Miller added 72 yards on 14 carries. Junior Brandon Bourbon capped the scoring with an 8-yard run with 5:59 left in the fourth quarter.
South Dakota's dual-threat quarterback Josh Vander Maten led the Coyotes (1-1) with 78 yards rushing and 67 yards passing. He threw a 2-yard touchdown pass to freshman Drew Potter to give the Coyotes a 7-0 lead with 2:18 left in the first quarter. His keeper from 9 yards away capped a 10-play, 74-yard drive and made it 24-14 with 7:36 left in the fourth quarter.
The two teams combined for 93 rushes and 18 complete passes. KU junior quarterback Jake Heaps was 10 for 20 for 110 yards. His 5-yard touchdown pass to Justin McCay gave the Jayhawks their first lead, 14-7, moments before halftime. Vander Maten threw a 37-yard pass to Tyson Graham Jr. during USD's scoring drive in the fourth quarter, but his seven other completions gained 30 yards.
A 29-yard punt return by Connor Embree set up a 9-yard touchdown drive that gave Kansas its 14-7 halftime lead. His 42-yard return set up Matthew Wyman's 45-yard field goal that made it 24-7 Jayhawks with 12:24 remaining. Embree had four punt returns for 92 yards.
South Dakota got seven tackles, three for loss, and a sack from linebacker Keyen Lage. Sean Bredl forced Sims to fumble two yards from the end zone and Coyote safety Aaron Swift recovered with the score tied at 7-7 with 3:25 to go before halftime. The Coyote offense failed to gain a first down after the turnover, and Embree's punt return set up the go-ahead score.
The Coyotes went 3-and-out on their first two possessions of the game, but drove 55 yards on nine plays to take a 7-0 lead. Vander Maten threw a 13-yard screen pass to Trevor Bouma to convert a 3rd-and-12 early in the drive. Vander Maten had runs of 11 and 13 yards and Jordan Roberts had a 14-yard carry before Potter hauled in his first collegiate reception.
Roberts finished with 73 yards on 13 carries. Bouma added 52 yards on 10 carries. The Coyotes gained 219 yards on the ground and have reached 200 yards rushing in both games this season.
South Dakota Head Coach Joe Glenn Post-Game Quotes
Opening Statement:
We played hard, and I thought we gave a good effort until we basically wore down. Mostly wore down because of their football team, but maybe it was the heat as well. Their team may have worn down a little bit defensively at the end as well. It's hard to stay on the field and chase people all over the field. Both defenses wore down a little bit. They had a little more firepower offensively than we did. We traveled with 27 freshmen down here, which means we are going to have to get older in a hurry. Hopefully we don't play too many teams with that much talent. I really wish we would get better in our passing game. We got better in the running game from a week ago. We rushed for 219 yards, that's about 20 more than last week. Defensively, we aren't very deep. We lost a lot of guys coming in to the season, and then we had a defensive tackle that was down tonight. We just didn't hold up very well against their running game
On playing in the Big 12 environment:
We played hard. We just weren't good enough to hold them off. They didn't really have to pass the ball a lot. They were just able to push it through and run on us. It's disappointing. I thought we were a little bit better than that. We held up in the running game last week, but they did a nice job of just taking us and stretching us out. They got to the perimeter a lot. That was a big line we faced, too. They have bigger guys than we do
On areas of improvement:
I really think we could improve on everything, all the way around. I think we opened up the game trying to take a shot and we broke down at the line of scrimmage. Then we missed a ball and miss throw a ball. Then we just went through the same cycle again.
Josh Vander Maten, Jr., QB
On taking the early lead on Kansas:
Throughout the whole game we throught we could still win. We were encouraged after the first quarter. We had our chances, we missed some plays, and that's the game of football. We're going to try to walk out of here with our heads high. Obviously, we would have liked to get a win, but Kansas did a great job. Hats off to them. In the long run, this will help us.
Right now I can think of 4-5 plays that maybe could have changed the game that we missed or that we were that close on. We have to capitalize on those plays, especially if we are going to beat a team like Kansas.
Jordan Roberts, Fr., RB
On having success on the ground against Kansas:
We did a good job of running the football against a really good Kansas defense. We would like to have a few plays back, but we didn't hit them.
Dyllon Knox, Sr, DB
On how they felt after the first quarter:
Throughout the whole game we thought we could win. We were never going to give up and we were encouraged throughout the first quarter. We had our chances, we missed some plays but it's the game of football. We are just going to walk out of here with our heads up. Kansas did a great job, hats off to them.
Tyler Starr, Sr, LB
On Jake Heaps:
I knew he came from BYU, and was a number one quarterback coming out of high school. I was just impressed with his leadership out there. Kansas is a team with a lot of transfers in there, and sometimes you get guys who don't like to listen, but they listened to him and he let them know. They had a couple big plays on us and definitely he's a good quarterback.
