AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Everything was going against Kansas late. The momentum. The crowd. The score.
Even history.
And then first-year Jayhawks coach Lance Leipold decided go for the win and got it.
Jalon Daniels hit Jared Casey on a scrambling pass for a 2-point conversion in overtime and Kansas stunned Texas 57-56 Saturday night to snap the Jayhawks’ eight game losing streak this season and a 56-game losing streak in Big 12 road contests that stretched back to 2008.
“It really says a lot about the young men we have in the locker room,” Leipold said. “They’ve been starving. It’s one win. We have to build on it.”
Leipold knew he had nothing to lose on the conversion attempt. Lose the game? So what? Leipold is trying to rebuild the worst program in the Big 12.
But make it and beat Texas — even a struggling Longhorns program now mired in its worst losing streak in more than 60 years — and Kansas (2-8, 1-6 Big 12) could grab college football’s attention with a stunner.
It worked to perfection after the Jayhawks nearly let it slip away.
Texas had rallied from 21 down in the second half to force overtime on Casey Thompson’s touchdown pass to Cade Brewer with 22 seconds left.
Texas got the ball first in overtime and scored on Marcus Washington’s scoop-and-stretch touchdown catch. But an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty set up Kansas with a short field and the the Jayhawks answered with Devin Neal’s 2-yard touchdown run.
Leipold never hesitated on the decision to go for the win. Kansas players stormed onto the field when Daniels found Casey trailing the scrambling quarterback across the middle of the field and the fullback cradled the throw for the score.
“I didn’t actually see the catch … But I saw everybody running toward them, so I made my way toward them too and jumped into the dogpile,” Neal said. “It was just truly remarkable.”
Casey, a walk on, hadn’t caught a pass this season until that play.
“He’s got one of the best hands on the team,” Daniels said. “I’ve seen him make some miraculous catches with just one hand. Walk-on or not, he’s going to be a ball player when it counts.”
While Kansas players ran around the field, one Texas player sat near the goal line and pounded the turf with his helmet in frustration.
