Time to continue our series on the best and worst moments of 2012 for each team in the Big 12. Next up: Kansas.
Worst moment: Oh, So Close
There's a ton of candidates here in Charlie Weis' first season. Was it losing to Rice on the last-second field goal in the second game, becoming the first Big 12 team since the league's birth to lose to the Owls? Blowing a double-digit lead in a loss to BCS-bound Northern Illinois? What about rallying from a double-digit deficit to force overtime in Lubbock against Texas Tech, only to lose?
Nope, I'm going with the one conference game KU absolutely should have won: Texas. The Jayhawks hosted the Longhorns and David Ash played one of his worst games of the year, being benched after completing just 8-of-16 passes for 63 yards and a pair of interceptions. Case McCoy stepped in and the Longhorns used the ground game to tie the game at 14, but with 2:28 to play, Nick Prolago kicked what looked like a game-winning field goal. McCoy had other ideas. He hit Mike Davis for a 39-yard bomb and won the game in the final seconds with a one-yard touchdown pass to TE D.J. Grant. Just like he did against A&M in 2011, McCoy rescued the Longhorns on the road, but in the process, provided the most painful moment of KU's season in a year full of them, helping extend the Jayhawks' Big 12 losing streak to 21 games, where it will sit until 2013.
Best moment: Tasting Victory
There's really only one candidate here, even if it's a small one. KU hasn't done a lot of winning lately, but it got to taste victory in its season opener. Running backs Anthony Pierson and Taylor Cox combined for 245 yards and three touchdowns in the 31-17 season-opening win against South Dakota State. Dayne Crist even hit former Notre Dame teammate Mike Ragone for a touchdown. It was a bit of a shaky start for Crist, who completed just 17-of-36 passes for 169 yards, but there was still plenty of hope that he'd pick it up as his chemistry with his receivers grew.
More best and worst of 2012:
