Kansas edges South Dakota to end 13-game skid
Jason Bean connected for a 16-yard touchdown pass to Lawrence Arnold with 1:10 remaining Friday as Kansas snapped a 13-game losing streak by toppling South Dakota 17-14 at Lawrence, Kan.
The Jayhawks benefitted from a targeting call that got them into a goal-to-go situation before capping the game-winning, 64-yard march and giving coach Lance Leipold a win in his Kansas debut.
Kansas went 0-9 last year and dropped its final four games in 2019.
Bean, a North Texas transfer who beat out two veteran quarterbacks, completed 17 of 26 passes for 163 yards and two touchdowns. He also led Kansas with 54 rushing yards.
The Jayhawks’ Travis Wilsom snagged five receptions for 50 yards and Mason Fairchild added 58 yards on four receptions.
The FCS Coyotes, picked eighth in the Missouri Valley preseason poll after finishing 1-3 during an abbreviated spring schedule, grabbed a 14-10 lead with 5:13 left on a 25-yard touchdown rush by Travis Theis.
Theis gained 96 yards on 18 carries. Carson Camp added 98 yards passing but completed only 10 of 22 attempts. Shomari Lawrence scored South Dakota’s other TD on a 29-yard burst. The Coyotes totaled 263 yards to 245 for the Jayhawks.
One of the biggest plays for the Jayhawks came when Nate Betts stuffed Theis on a fourth-and-1 from the Kansas 22 early in the fourth quarter. That stop came after South Dakota coach Bob Nielson called a timeout just before his kicker, Mason Lorber, made a 39-yard field goal that would have tied the game 10-10 with just over nine minutes left.
South Dakota countered with a fourth-down stop with 6:15 remaining and then gained its first lead on Theis’ TD.
Bean connected on an 8-yard strike to Lawrence Arnold with 24 seconds remaining for a 7-0 halftime lead. The Jayhawks had gone three-and-out on their first four possessions and punted on each of their first since possessions.
Bean accounted for almost all of the Jayhawks’ first-half production, going 7 of 10 for 59 yards passing while adding 44 yards rushing.
A 21-yard rush by Theis accounted for the longest first-half gain as the teams combined for 10 punts. Kansas generated 106 first-half yards to South Dakota’s 100.
–Field Level Media
