Nov. 20, 2004
Final Stats
By R.B. FALLSTROM
AP Sports Writer
COLUMBIA, Mo. - Fourth-stringer Brian Luke threw for 239 yards and two
touchdowns, helping Kansas end a 13-game Big 12 road losing streak with a 31-14
victory over staggering Missouri on Saturday.
Clark Green had 118 yards on 32 carries and a touchdown as Kansas (4-7, 2-6
Big 12) snapped a four-game losing streak and finished its season by winning
for only the second time in the last nine games. The Jayhawks beat Missouri for
the second straight year, tying the nation's second-oldest series at 52-52-9.
Missouri (4-6, 2-5) had entered the game with an outside shot at advancing
to the Big 12 championship game and staying alive for a bowl, but got its
offense got untracked too late with a pair of fourth-quarter touchdown catches
by Sean Coffey. The Tigers have lost five in a row with one game remaining next
week at Iowa State, which will be looking to wrap up the North Division title
that Missouri was favored to win.
Missouri has blown three double-digit leads this season, squandering a 21-0
lead two weeks ago in a 35-24 loss to Kansas State. This time the Tigers
couldn't recover from a 21-0 second-quarter deficit.
Last year, Kansas' 35-14 victory over Missouri in Lawrence, Kan., ended the
Tigers' 4-0 season-opening run. This year, the Jayhawks beat Kansas State and
Missouri for the first time since 1989.
Luke, a junior, got his first career start after injuries to the three
quarterbacks ahead of him on the depth chart. He was at his best in the first
half, going 14-for-17 for 128 yards.
Kansas bottled up Missouri quarterback Brad Smith, a preseason Heisman
Trophy hopeful, for the second straight year until the fourth quarter, sacking
him six times. Smith was 15-for-40 for 262 yards, most of it after the game was
out of reach, and had minus-41 yards rushing on 13 carries, a year after the
Jayhawks held him to 95 total yards.
Coffey's receptions of 34 and 11 yards gave him a school-record 10 touchdown
catches this season, but Missouri was held to minus-6 yards rushing on 27
attempts.
Green scored on a 12-yard run in the first quarter, Brandon Rideau caught an
8-yard scoring pass early in the second quarter, and his 24-yard reception set
up a 1-yard run by Austine Nwabuisi for a 21-0 lead with 3:42 left in the half.
Rideau had eight catches for 100 yards.
Missouri didn't make it into Kansas territory until 1:18 remaining in the
first half, but Adam Crossett missed on a 46-yard field goal after a 16-yard
sack by McMillan.
James Kinney, a senior linebacker, had 10 tackles for Missouri and has 416
for his career, breaking the previous school mark of 415 set by DeMontie Cross
from 1994-96.
