Through the first 13 quarters of the 2002 football season, Kansas had lost only one fumble.

In a span of less than five minutes Saturday night at Memorial Stadium, the Jayhawks fumbled twice and muffed a kickoff in a 39-16 loss to Bowling Green.

Kansas' Remuise Johnson, left, and Greg Heaggans hang their heads late. The Jayhawks suffered a 39-16 loss to Bowling Green on Saturday at Memorial Stadium.

Those three gaffes led to 22 points for the Falcons.

“You can’t give a good football team an advantage like that,” KU coach Mark Mangino said. “We’re not a good enough football team to give points away like and come back and win the game.”

It looked like Big 12 cellar-dweller KU (1-3) could hang with Mid-American Conference power Bowling Green (3-0) in the early going.

Kansas had the ball for more than 10 minutes in a scoreless first quarter, and the Jayhawks took the lead early in the second quarter with an 11-play drive aided by two Bowling Green penalties.

The Falcons, who also beat Big 12 member Missouri by a 23-point margin a week earlier, were penalized 12 times for 118 yards.

On third-and-11 from the 16, Whittemore scrambled away from lineman D.J. Owchar and lofted a pass over defensive back Keon Newson to Marcellus Jones in the end zone for a 6-0 lead.

But Groza Award candidate Johnny Beck missed the point-after attempt, the first sign that it wouldn’t be KU’s night.

“There’s no question about it,” Mangino said. “We didn’t deserve to win the game. They capitalized on our mistakes. When they made a mistake, they were able to overcome it. We were not able to do that.”

It didn’t take long for Bowling Green to take the lead. Charles Sharon beat cornerback Remuise Johnson on a 44-yard reception to the KU 17, and quarterback Josh Harris scored two plays later on a 9-yard run.

KU countered with a nine-play drive, aided by two Falcon penalties, to the Bowling Green 1. Kansas appeared to score a touchdown on run by Whittemore, but KU settled for Beck’s 22-yard field goal after an illegal-shift penalty negated the TD.

Mangino was livid that the mistake happened after KU spent a timeout to setup the play.

“We’ve got six inches to go for a touchdown, and we don’t have the right wide receiver personnel in the game,” he said. “Consequently, we got a motion penalty for a guy who had to get out on the field late.”

KU’s defense forced Bowling Green to punt on its next possession, but that didn’t stop the Falcons from scoring twice in 68 seconds.

Facing third-and-11 from his own six, Whittemore attempted to pass from the zone. But lineman Alex Glantzis forced the junior quarterback to fumble, and linebacker Mitch Hewitt recovered for a touchdown.

Moments later, freshman Greg Heaggans who set a KU record with 195 return yards a week earlier against Southwest Missouri State muffed Bowling Green’s kickoff, and Michael Malone recovered at the KU 23.

“Glory is fleeting, isn’t it,” Mangino said of his special teams, which played a vital role in a 44-24 victory against SMS.

Three plays later, tailback Joe Alls tossed a 15-yard touchdown pass to Harris. The junior quarterback’s third touchdown catch of the season gave Bowling Green a 22-9 halftime lead, and it took the Falcons only 45 seconds to pad their advantage in the third quarter.

On Bowling Green’s opening drive of the second half, Alls carried three times for 41 yards including an 11-yard TD run as coach Urban Meyer’s team opened a 29-9 lead.

“Coach told us after the first half that we needed to go out there and take the momentum away from KU,” said Alls, who rushed for 161 yards. “That’s what we did. There were some holes, and I hit them.”

After the end of that scoreless first quarter, Bowling Green had gained 15 total yards. The Falcons finished with 503 total yards, including 350 yards rushing.

KU has surrendered at least 275 rushing yards and 400 total yards in all three of its losses.

“We can’t stop the run,” KU defensive tackle Travis Watkins said. “If you can’t stop the run, you can’t stop anybody. If you can’t stop the run, you can’t play Division I college football.”

KU gave the ball right back on Whittemore’s second fumble, and Hewitt recovered again at the Bowling Green 34. Alls had runs of 28 and 20 yards to set up a 2-yard TD run by Harris.

Harris finished with 138 yards passing, 98 yards rushing and 15 yards receiving.

The Jayhawks ended the third quarter with an eight-play scoring drive capped by Dan Coke’s 2-yard TD run, but it was clear the Jayhawks’ hearts weren’t in it.

Mangino questioned his team’s mental toughness after the game, and a few players said that some of their teammates quit in the second half.

“That’s frustrating,” said freshman running back Clark Green, who rushed for 56 yards on 18 carries and caught four passes for 33 yards. “You never want people to quit on you. We have to play harder.”

Bowling Green capped the scoring with a 39-yard field goal by Shaun Suisham early in the fourth quarter.

Kansas plays Saturday at Tulsa (0-4), which suffered its 14th straight loss against Baylor.