Despite KU quarterback Kevin Morton breaking the record for all-time passing yards in school history, the No. 21 Golden Bears (1-2,0-1) lost to No. 12 Bloomsburg Huskies (3-0,1-0) 44-37 in week three of the regular season. This is their second consecutive loss to a ranked opponent.
Morton now has 9,184 career passing yards in his senior season. He broke Andy Breault’s record of 9,096 total yards, which stood since 1992.
The KU offense looked sharp early as they started with the ball, marching 75 yards downfield on their first drive to score a touchdown. Morton put their first points on the board with a six yard rush, his second rushing touchdown of the season.
Bloomsburg’s first drive was cut short when defensive back Jason Ulmer forced a fumble that was picked up by the Golden Bears at their own 35 yard-line. Two plays later, Bloomsburg quickly gained back possession of the ball when Morton threw his only interception of the game, his third of the year.
After the turnover, the Huskies went on a nine-play, 45-yard drive to score their first touchdown of the game to even the score at seven. They scored on a ten-yard rush by running back Eddie Mateo, who had 88 total rushing yards in the game.
The second quarter went back and forth with the teams exchanging the lead a total of five times. Bloomsburg struck first, on the first drive of the quarter, with a pass to Ryan Maggs from quarterback Tim Kelly, but the kicker missed the extra point and the score stood at 13-7.
With the help of back-up running back Curtis Wortham, the Golden Bears crafted a seven play 67-yard drive, ending with a Morton touchdown pass to Brett Fox for 22 yards. Wortham carried the ball four times on the drive for 29 yards.
Wortham played well in place of the starter, Josh Mastromotto, eclipsing the 100-yard rushing mark on 21 carries in the game. Mastromotto was not able to play this week because of an arm injury.
The Huskies engineered two more successful scoring drives in the quarter with another passing touchdown and a 42-yard field goal by Dan Fisher. Morton threw his second touchdown pass of the game in the quarter, this time to Kodi Reed for 18 yards, and the Golden Bears went into halftime trailing 23-21.
In the opening drive of the second half, Bloomsburg scored again on a 2-yard rushing touchdown by Franklyn Quiteh. Quiteh had a tremendous game for the Huskies, totaling 152 yards on the ground with two touchdowns, both in the second half.
KU’s next possession turned ugly when Morton had to leave the game, due to an apparent left-arm injury after an eight-yard rush. He left the game after throwing for 182 yards with two touchdowns and an interception. Freshman back-up quarterback Josh Luckenbaugh entered the game for his second appearance of the season.
The Golden Bears were forced to punt from the Bloomsburg 43 yard-line after Luckenbaugh threw for a first down. The Huskies return man mishandled the punt, and it was picked up by KU’s TaJae Bryant at the Bloomsburg 23.
Two plays later, Luckenbaugh threw his first career touchdown pass to Kodi Reed for 19 yards. Reed amassed 119 yards on eight catches and had his first two receiving touchdowns of the season. After the KU touchdown the score was 30-28 in Bloomsburg’s favor with 7:14 left to go in the third quarter.
Before the close of the third, a devastating turnover gave Bloomsburg’s Tony David a fumble recovery for a touchdown to put the Huskies ahead 37-28.
The game started to look out of reach in the fourth quarter when Quiteh broke away for a 47-yard touchdown, his second of the game. With 8:06 left in the fourth quarter, the Huskies were up 44-28.
A KU comeback looked possible when they scored quickly on their next drive. Luckenbaugh completed five passes, the last one a seven-yard touchdown strike to Anthony Kelly. However, their two point conversion failed and they remained down by 10 with 6:23 left to play.
Luckenbaugh showed promise in his first true minutes as a Golden Bear. Coming off the bench, he completed 16 passes for 194 and two touchdowns.
The game got interesting on the Huskies next drive, when Eric Condron forced a fumble that was recovered by KU’s Adam Goeringer at the Bloomsburg 38. After a 30-yard completion to Curtis Wortham, the Golden Bears were stopped on third down at the Bloomsburg nine-yard line. Jack Ruggieri chipped in a 26-yard field goal to cut the lead to 44-37.
Another fumble recovery for KU, this time by Cody Waltimyer, gave the team hope as they started the drive on their own one-yard line with 2:17 left on the clock. The Huskies fumbled the ball seven total times in the game and the Golden Bears recovered five of them.
After completing three first downs, Luckenbaugh came to the line with the team on their own 46. Luckenbaugh dropped back to pass but was picked off by Terrell Oglesby, who ran out of bounds after a nine-yard return. Bloomsburg was able to run out the clock to earn the victory 44-37.
KU hopes to turn their season around when they face West Chester University at home on Saturday, Sept. 22, 2012 at 1:05 p.m.
by: Billy Felo