BOULDER, Colo., Oct. 7 -- Colorado could handle adversity in beating Texas A&M. They could rally back from a 17-point deficit to beat Oklahoma. But when Kansas started to pull away from the fourth-ranked Buffaloes on Saturday, there wasn't anything left in the tank. June Henley rushed for two touchdowns and Manolito Jones returned a blocked punt 31 yards for a score, propelling the No. 22 Jayhawks to a 40-24 Big Eight triumph over the Buffaloes. 'It's absolutely unbelievable,' Kansas defensive tackle Brett McGraw said. 'I don't think anybody except us thought we could make it out of Boulder with a victory. We came here and we knew what we needed to do, then we did it. We have a special team.' Kansas (5-0, 1-0 Big Eight) snapped a 10-game losing streak to the Buffaloes, opening the season with five wins for the first time since their its Orange Bowl season of 1968. 'That wasn't an upset,' Kansas coach Glen Mason said. 'It's only an upset if in your mind you think you're a lesser team. I never felt that way.' With Colorado leading 24-23, Kansas moved in front to stay on Jeff McCord's 31-yard field goal with 1:50 left in the third period. The Jayhawks made it 34-26 on Henley's 43-yard TD run just 36 seconds into the fourth quarter. Mark Williams closed the scoring with a 7-yard scoring toss to Isaac Byrd just over five minutes later. Henley carried 23 times for 141 yards on the day, while Williams completed 25 of 35 passes for 299 yards.
'My hat's off to the Kansas team and staff,' Colorado coach Rick Neuheisel said. 'They played an excellent football game. They were as effective as anybody against our defense and I thought their defense was outstanding.' The Buffaloes (4-1, 1-1 Big Eight) lost just for just the second time in its last 10 meetings against ranked opponents. That included beating a pair of Top 10 teams the last two weeks in Texas A&M and Oklahoma. 'It might have been a letdown,' Colorado defensive end Greg Jones said. 'e should have been coming out to play because we knew they were a good team. We weren't concentrating enough.' Colorado quarterback Koy Detmer, who partially tore his anterior cruciate ligament against Texas A&M, made his first appearance since then in an attempt to spark the Buffaloes' offense. However, he collapsed under his own weight and was forced to leave the game. Detmer now will have surgery and will be lost to the Buffaloes for the rest of the season. 'We are going to go ahead and get it fixed,' Detmer said. 'I can't be effective the way it is now, no matter if I continue to condition it or strengthen it. It just isn't stable with a brace.' Neuheisel said: 'As it got to be the fourth quarter, it was obvious to me we needed a little lift, but Kot went out on that play and hurt his knee again. If you asked me if I'd do it again, I'd say probably because I had the advice of an outstanding group of physicians.' The Jayhawks jumped out to a 10-0 lead within the opening five minutes of the game. McCord kicked a 35-yard field goal to cap Kansas' opening drive and Jones extended the lead to 10-0 when he scooped up a blocked Andy Mitchell punt and rambled into the end zone. 'I very seldom go out on the line and tell my players that we're going to win, but I told them that all the way up here,' Mason said. 'It was a gut feeling, don't ask me why.' John Hessler, who started in place of Detmer, threw three touchdown passes, including a pair of first-quarter scores to Rae Carruth and Chris Anderson. Hessler finished with 15 completions in 32 attempts for 253 yards. L.T. Levine's 4-yard rushing touchdown 29 seconds into the second quarter gave the Jayhawks a 16-14 advantge. Colorado moved back in front with 3:41 left before intermission on Neil Voskeritchian's 19-yard field goal, but Kansas regained the lead on Henley's 2-yard run with 23 seconds left in the half. The Buffaloes took their final lead at 24-23 on Hessler's 23-yard scoring strike to Herchell Troutman early in the third quarter. 'Everybody is hurting. We thought we would come out and win this game,' said Troutman, who finished with 155 all-purpose yards. 'We just came out flat. You can't play football with a lot of turnovers and penalties.' The loss marked Colorado's first in its last 11 games at Folsom Field, where the Buffaloes had won 20 of their previous 21 contests.
