During a rebuilding season with a new coach, a football team expects to encounter its share of problems.

One of the biggest problems for 0-2 Kansas is the Jayhawks’ tendency to allow big plays.

“We’re doing a better job against the run and doing a nice job against the pass,” said KU coach Mark Mangino, whose team allowed 435 yards in Saturday’s 31-20 loss to UNLV Â which was 76 yards less than Kansas allowed in a 45-3, season-opening loss a week earlier at Iowa State.

“Our problem is that we’re giving up big plays, and we can’t allow the offense to make big plays on us,” Mangino said Monday during the Big 12 teleconference. “We’ll make good stops, and then on third down we’ll give up a big play. That’s something we’re going to continue to work on.”

Case in point: KU trailed 24-3 at Iowa State entering the fourth quarter. ISU put the game out of reach on its first possession of the quarter with an eight-play, 65-yard drive. The key play came on third-and-six from the ISU 39 when Seneca Wallace completed a 42-yard pass to Jack Whitver.

The Cyclones scored a touchdown three plays later.

Iowa State had four passing plays of 25 yards or more against KU. Two of them came on third down and three led to scores. The only drive of the four that wasn’t capped by a Cyclone score ended with a missed field-goal attempt.

At UNLV, KU allowed three plays of at least 34 yards  one passing and two rushing. Two of the three plays led to Rebel scores, while Joe Haro’s 35-yard run to the KU 30-yard line happened on the final play of the first half.

KU’s defense only has four returning starters from last season’s team. Three of the seven new starters  red-shirt freshman nose tackle Tim Allen, red-shirt freshman cornerback Donnie Amadi and junior college transfer Remuise Johnson at cornerback  are first-year players.

Several key reserves, including red-shirt freshman cornerback Ronnie Amadi and true freshman Nick Reid at linebacker  are equally inexperienced.

“We’ve had some young guys step up on defense, no question,” said Mangino, who singled out sophomore free safety Johnny McCoy, senior linebacker Greg Cole, sophomore defensive end David McMillan and Amadi for their play.

McCoy led the team with 10 tackles against UNLV, while Cole had seven and blocked a field goal.

While KU has allowed big plays on defense, that unit hasn’t generated many big plays of its own. Through eight quarters, Johnson’s interception at Iowa State is KU’s only takeaway this season.

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More on Whittemore: Bill Whittemore completed 22 of 42 passes against UNLV for 225 yards with one touchdown and no interceptions. He also ran for a TD.

Mangino was pleased with Whittemore’s first start, but the coach though the junior quarterback’s passing statistics should have been better.

“We just had too many drops,” Mangino said, “and that’s something we’ll continue to work on in the passing game.”

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Home opener: KU will play its first home game Saturday night against Southwest Missouri State. The Bears are 2-0 with victories against East Central and Hampton. Division I-AA SMS was 6-5 last season. The Jayhawks have won 10 of their last 11 home openers. The game is also Band Night.

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Free money: For the second year in a row, Kansas University Endowment Association will give away 25 scholarships worth $1,000 each to KU students at the game. Students must be enrolled, have their student I.D. and wear one of the 17,000 KU First T-shirts that will be given away.