Perhaps no one suffered more mental anguish following Kansas University’s season-opening football defeat than Justin Sands.

Sands, a fifth-year senior offensive tackle and team co-captain, is a native of Iowa, and the lopsided 45-3 loss at Iowa State left a bitter taste.

“I had to get 30 to 40 tickets for all my friends and relatives,” Sands said. “Then I had to deal with everybody after the game.”

What made dealing with the folks from his hometown of Lawton, Iowa, particularly rough was the fact Sands knew he had played a role in the Jayhawks’ inability to generate any meaningful offense.

“There was no excuse for the way we played,” Sands said. “I played poorly.”

As the only returning starter on the offensive line, the hulking 6-foot-7, 305-pound Sands shouldn’t have played as poorly as he did and dismisses the notion he felt the pressure of playing in front of friends and relatives.

“Playing under pressure, that’s expected,” he said. “I should be able to handle it.”

Then perhaps the line struggled because of the Strother Martin Factor. No area on a football team needs to talk more than the offensive line, and there may have been a failure to communicate.

“I think we were communicating,” Sands said, “but we weren’t communicating the right things.”

After spending a red-shirt season in 1998, Sands broke in as a defensive end the next season. His debut in the 1999 season opener against Notre Dame was memorable. Sands blocked a field-goal attempt, intercepted a pass and was credited with eight tackles.

“That’s so long ago I can barely remember it,” Sands said, smiling. “It seems like 10 years ago.”

Sands’ career as a defensive end went downhill from there, however, and he was shifted to the offensive line. As a sophomore, he started four games at guard and played some back-up tackle. Last year he started all 11 games at left tackle.

Now Sands is hoping the old adage that a football team makes its most improvement between its first and second games holds true.

KU’s second game will be tonight at Nevada-Las Vegas.

“We have to keep a positive attitude. Otherwise, it’s going to be a really long season,” Sands said. “We still have a lot of games left. I’m ready. I want to go out and play again, fix all our mistakes and do our assignments.”

One unusual assignment will be a bus tour of the Las Vegas strip  a diversion coach Mark Mangino devised to help break up the monotony prior the 7 p.m., PDT, kickoff.

Sands, who has never been to Las Vegas, was surprised but happy when he learned of Mangino’s sight-seeing excursion.

“I figured we’d be in the motel all day,” he said.