Notes & Numbers: KU-K-State

Throughout each season, there are interesting notes and nuggets of information that come out of every game, win or lose.

Here’s a quick look at some of the more interesting and noteworthy facts and stats from KU's gut-wrenching, 31-27 loss to in-state rival Kansas State on Saturday at David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium.

The loss dropped KU to 7-4 overall and 4-4 in Big 12 play. Next up, Kansas will travel to Cincinnati to close the regular season against the Bearcats. Kickoff is slated for 6 or 6:30 p.m. on ESPN2.

Series History: Kansas leads 65-51-5, Kansas leads 37-23-2 in Lawrence. This game marks the 121st time the two teams have faced off and is the ninth longest played rivalry game in FBS football. It is also the longest in KU program history, surpassing Kansas vs. Missouri’s 120 games played from 1891 to 2011.

Kansas Captains: Mason Fairchild, Rich Miller, Mike Novitsky, Kenny Logan Jr.

Coin Toss: Kansas won the toss and deferred

Team Notes

• Kansas is now 604-680-58 all-time, including 15-22 in the Lance Leipold era.

More from Saturday's 31-27 KU loss to No. 23 K-State...

• Photo Gallery

• Moments That Popped

• 'That's Not On Rich'

Offensive Notes

• Luke Grimm had three receptions and is now 10th all-time in career receptions by a Jayhawk, passing Richard Estell with 119. He finished with 44 yards,
passing 300 yards for the season with a total of 339 yards, and moving him into the 12th all-time for career receiving yards with 1,566. He passed Harrison
Hill, Quintin Smith, Kwamie Lassiter II and Termaine Fulton.

• Devin Neal’s 36-yard touchdown run with 2:05 remaining in the first quarter pushed him into a tie with Tony Sands for the third most career rushing
touchdowns in program history. Neal would go on to score a 9-yard touchdown early in the second quarter, moving into sole possession of the third spot in
the record book. Neal’s 2-yard touchdown at the beginning of the third quarter, pushed his career total to 30 touchdowns. It’s the eighth time this season
Kansas has scored on the first drive of the second half.

• Neal went over 1,000 rushing yards for the second consecutive season, becoming the third player in program history to rush for at least 1,000 yards in
back-to-back years, joining Pooka Williams (2018-19) and James Sims (2012-13).

• Neal’s 140 total yards brought his career all-purpose yards to 3,354, moving him into ninth all-time on the career all-purpose yards list, passing Charlie
Hoag and Ray Evans.

• Neal now has three games in his career with three rushing touchdowns, including twice this season. The last Kansas player to rush for three touchdowns
in a home conference game was James Sims on Nov. 16, 2013 versus West Virginia. Neal has also scored at least one touchdown in 18 career games.

• Neal finished with 138 yards on the ground, marking the fifth time this season and the 11th time in his career he’s rushed for over 100 yards. He became
the first Jayhawk to rush for 100 yards against Kansas State since James Sims in 2012.

• Lawrence Arnold scored on a 5-yard pass at the end of the second quarter, tallying his third of the season and 10th career touchdown. Arnold is now in
sole possession of the ninth spot in career receiving yards, where he was previously tied with Brandon Rideau. Arnold has 576 receiving yards on the
season and 1,653 career yards.

• True freshman quarterback Cole Ballard got his first start and went 11-of-16 for 162 yards. Ballard threw his first career touchdown on a 5-yard pass at the
end of the second quarter to Lawrence Arnold. The touchdown drive lasted 13 plays, which tied the longest scoring drive of the season.

• Kansas led 20-16 at half. The last time Kansas led Kansas State at half was 3-0 on Nov. 10, 2018, in Manhattan.

• Mason Fairchild recorded the longest reception of his career on a 59-yard gain to put Kansas inside the 10-yard line at the beginning of the third quarter.
The reception pushed him over 1,000 career yards, now with a total of 1,056. It also gave him sole possession of the fourth spot for career receptions by
a tight end with 79.

Defensive Notes

• Hayden Hatcher recorded a 1-yard tackle for loss in the first quarter on K-State’s second drive of the game. This marks his fourth season and seventh
career tackle for a loss.

• Mello Dotson tallied his fourth interception of the season and eighth of his career in the third quarter. Dotson is third in the Big 12 in interception return
yards.

• Kenny Logan Jr. and Austin Booker both led the team in tackles with six. Seventeen players recorded at least one tackle.

• Austin Booker recorded his eighth sack of the season in the fourth quarter, moving into a tie for ninth on KU’s single-season sack list, matching Phil Forte
from 1984. He moved into second place in the Big 12 in sacks. Booker also added two tackles for a loss, both coming in the fourth quarter. He now has 11
tackles for a loss on the season.

• Craig Young added his fourth season tackle for loss as time expired.