Reggie Duncan returned to Kansas University’s backfield Saturday, but the junior tailback’s presence wasn’t enough to spark the Jayhawks’ running game.

“It felt good to get back on the field,” Duncan said. “I missed a couple of weeks. I was happy to get back on the field, but disappointed we lost.”

Duncan, a Killeen, Texas, native, started in his home state against Baylor after missing three of the last four games because of a hamstring injury. He scored on a 13-yard touchdown run in the second quarter, but finished with only 15 yards on 10 carries in KU’s 35-32 loss.

Kansas had a season-best 257 yards rushing and 523 total yards last week in a 43-33 victory at Tulsa. The Jayhawks had no such luck on the ground against the Bears, who had lost 29 straight conference games before Saturday’s victory.

“One of their main priorities,” said KU quarterback Bill Whittemore, “was to stop the option.”

And they did.

KU managed a modest 116 yards rushing against the Bears. Seventy-nine of those yards came from Whittemore, who had touchdown runs of 34 and two yards among his 12 carries. The junior moved past freshman running back Clark Green for the team lead with 374 yards rushing.

Green, who had 19 yards on six carries, has 344 yards in six games. He took a back seat to Duncan on Saturday.

“On some of the schemes that we were running, we felt like Reggie had a better feel for them,” KU coach Mark Mangino said. “Now that Reggie is healthy, we will utilize both of them.”

Regardless of who is in the lineup, Kansas needs to run the ball more effectively. The Jayhawks’ 116 yards against BU (3-2 overall, 1-0 Big 12) was their best effort in any of their four losses.

KU (2-4, 0-2) managed only 89 rushing yards in a 39-16 loss to Bowling Green, had 69 in a 31-20 loss at UNLV and 69 in a 45-3 loss at Iowa State.

Not all the blame for Saturday’s last-second loss goes to the running game. Whittemore passed for 246 yards but could have had more. KU receivers dropped five passes in the first half.

“It was a Big 12 game on the road,” said senior receiver Marcellus Jones, who led KU with five catches for 75 yards. “We had a chance to even up the season at 3-3, so it hurts.”

Kansas will play host to Colorado in its homecoming game at 1 p.m. Saturday at Memorial Stadium. CU (3-2, 1-0) defeated Kansas State on Saturday at Boulder, Colo.