Kansas still can’t explain miracle comeback

LAWRENCE, Kan. — The Kansas players who pulled it off are still hard-pressed to explain what happened in what’s been dubbed the Miracle in Memorial Stadium.

Some say they simply forgot how far behind they were while scoring 35 points in the fourth quarter to stun Colorado 52-45 last Saturday. One recalls an eerie calm settling over the entire team.

Hardly anyone knew they’d set a record for the biggest comeback victory in school history until friends, family and even strangers started to call and message.

“Everything just kind of stood still,” said Jacob Branstetter, whose onside kick set up the touchdown that clinched the incredible comeback. “It was kind of surreal.”

Eight seconds into the second half, Colorado had a 45-17 lead on a Kansas team that hadn’t won a Big 12 game in more than a year, a team that had been blown out already this season by scores of 55-7, 59-7 and 45-10.

At that point, what were the odds?

But still ringing in the players’ ears was coach Turner Gill’s halftime speech in which he’d said, “We’re going to come back and win this game.”

“Every week it’s the same thing,” said cornerback Isiah Barfield. “But for some reason, I guess the guys bought into it.”

Then the unthinkable began to happen. Or, more precisely, the Kansas players began to make the unthinkable occur. James Sims, a true freshman, scored the first of his three fourth-quarter touchdowns on a 13-yard run. Then Quinn Mecham, making only his second collegiate start, tossed a 38-yard TD pass to Johnathan Wilson.

Next came Tyler Patmon’s 28-yard TD return of a fumble.

At that point, people who’d been filing out of Memorial Stadium disgusted at another looming loss began to hurry back in.

“We just got the determination we needed to win the game,” said Barfield. “Everything just seemed to be clicking.”

Offensive tackle Brad Thorson said it was almost as though the Jayhawks went into their own little world.

“I think we forgot how much we were down by,” said Thorson. “That was still a pretty big margin to climb. But we kept chipping away and kept going and then all of a sudden we realized we’re within 14. If we put the pedal to the metal, we can do this. We had some things go our way. I don’t know — it just felt like everything was going our way.”

It was.

The Buffaloes kept making mistakes and the Jayhawks kept capitalizing.

“Nothing slowed down,” said Branstetter. “But yet we were so composed on the field. it was like everything started clicking. That’s what was running through my mind as I watched my teammates make interceptions, get fumbles, score touchdowns, onside kick. Everything was just flowing. It was that moment where you feel proud as an athlete because you know all the work that you put in to get there.”

As Colorado’s lead melted away, the Jayhawks remained strangely calm.

“You’d think we’d all be running around crazy, but we really weren’t,” said Branstetter. “I remember a couple of times we scored touchdowns that I wasn’t expecting and I just stayed as composed as could be.”

Finally, after Branstetter’s perfectly executed onside kick, Sims dashed through a gaping hole up the middle and scored from 28 yards.

It was the second-most points scored in a fourth quarter to win a game in NCAA history. The 28-point deficit was the biggest any Kansas team ever made up. It was the most points Kansas ever scored in the fourth quarter, breaking an 87-year-old record.

And it was something the Jayhawks will never forget.

“All I could think about was, ‘Man, that was the funnest 60 minutes I can possibly think of,'” said Branstetter. “There’s nowhere else I would have wanted to be for 60 minutes of my life. It was amazing.”