Despite struggling on the gridiron throughout the decade, Kansas football pulled off a comeback for the ages in 2010 against Colorado.
Despite finishing the season 3-9, Kansas football had a couple of big wins during the 2010 season. The first came in a non-conference game where the Jayhawks beat No. 15 Georgia Tech 28-25. The other was during their ninth game of the season against Colorado.
The Kansas Jayhawks were coming off of a 16-28 loss the week before when they faced the Buffaloes. Both Colorado and Kansas were struggling at this point in the season, so at the time, the game didn’t mean a ton.
Colorado jumped out to a 35-10 lead that they took into halftime, and it was looking like Kansas would be facing another blowout. That notion seems even more certain after the conclusion of the third quarter, where the Jayhawks were still losing 17-38.
Something crazy happened though, and in the fourth quarter, Kansas turned it on. They outscored Colorado 35-7, winning the game 52-45 in a massive comeback.
Running back James Sims was a huge part of the Jayhawks getting back in the game, scoring four touchdowns in the second half and rushing for a total of 123 yards on the day. Kansas quarterback Quinn Mecham also had a decent outing, throwing for 252 yards and two touchdowns with two interceptions.
One of the game’s defining moments came midway through the fourth quarter when Colorado fumbled the ball around midfield. The ball was picked up by Kansas’ Tyler Patmon who returned it for a touchdown to put the Jayhawks within one score of the Buffs.
A 28-point comeback is quite incredible, even if the rest of the season wasn’t so great. The Kansas-Colorado game is still one of the most compelling in Kansas football history, and probably will be for a very long time.