In coach David Beaty's tenure _ and even before _ the Kansas football program has made a habit of being uncompetitive in Big 12 road games.
That wasn't the case Saturday at Milan Puskar Stadium in Morgantown, W.Va.
The Jayhawks' defense forced four turnovers _ including three red-zone interceptions from Heisman candidate Will Grier _ while keeping it close in a 38-22 loss to No. 9 West Virginia.
KU, which entered as a 27-point underdog, had a bounceback defensive effort after struggling in last week's 48-28 loss to Oklahoma State. The Jayhawks sacked Grier five times, which was notable considering that the team had only five sacks in the first five weeks combined.
Offensively, though, KU didn't do enough. After announcing Carter Stanley would be the quarterback earlier this week, Beaty stuck with him only three possessions, replacing him with Peyton Bender with two minutes left in the first quarter. The two rotated the rest of the game.
KU was about to get great field position trailing 28-14 in the fourth quarter before Kwamie Lassiter muffed a punt return, with West Virginia recovering.
Beaty, meanwhile, showed uncharacteristic fire on the sideline and aggressiveness with his playcalls. Once, after taking a second-half timeout before a second-down play, Beaty borrowed a staff member's headset to chew out one of his assistants in the booth. The Jayhawks also ran a clever fake punt in the first half, picking up a first down on an eight-yard run by Ryan Schadler.
KU (2-4, 0-3 Big 12) has its bye week before playing at Texas Tech on Oct. 20.
