Mark Mangino said during the preseason that one game wouldn’t “make or break” Kansas University’s football season.

The coach didn’t waver from that philosophy after the Jayhawks suffered a 28-20 loss to Northwestern in Saturday’s season opener.

“Our kids played their tails off,” Mangino said Monday during the Big 12 teleconference. “We didn’t prepare for one game this season, we prepared for 12. There is going to be adversity along the way. I feel good about our team. Certainly I wanted to win the game and our kids wanted to win the game, and we feel terrible about that. At this stage in our program, we are looking to get better.”

One reporter asked if the coach owed KU’s fans an explanation after the loss. Mangino said KU’s improvement should be obvious.

“The fans that watched last year’s games that are sitting there watching this year’s games, we don’t have to explain much,” he said. “They can see it.”

The announced attendance was 27,775. When it was over, Mangino directed his players to the stands to thank fans who endured persistent rain.

“We appreciate all of those fans that stayed to the bitter end,” he said. “I said on the postgame radio show that all of those loyal KU fans that sat in the rain showed a lot of class. The players appreciated it, I appreciated it and that’s the kind of spirit that we need. We are very proud of our fans and very appreciative of the fans that sat in the driving rainstorm all night long.”

After a 2-10 season in 2002, Mangino was pleased to see progress — if not a victory.

“We played a lot of new kids who were playing their first college football game Saturday night on both sides of the ball,” said Mangino, whose starting lineup included eight players making their major-college debuts.

¢ 6Sports video: Dreary Saturday for Mangino’s team¢ Hear Mark: Sept. 1 Big 12 coaches teleconference

Red-shirt freshman Jonathan Lamb, a walk-on safety, made eight tackles — including two for loss.

Mangino had praise for the Olathe North product as well as red-shirt freshman offensive lineman Bob Whitaker and a handful of junior-college transfers, including linebacker Gabe Toomey, defensive back Shelton Simmons and center Joe Vaughn.

“We had a lot of encouraging play by our newcomers,” he said. “With all of the new faces out there, they played together pretty well.”

The coaching staff also was encouraged by the “outstanding performance” of Adrian Jones, who made his first start at left tackle since moving from tight end during spring drills.

“I don’t believe the person he was assigned to block had one tackle all evening, and his man never got near the quarterback,” Mangino said.

¢

Up next: Kansas will play host to UNLV at 6 p.m. Saturday. The Runnin’ Rebels defeated Toledo, 28-18, in their season opener Friday night in Las Vegas. Coach John Robinson gave his team a “C-plus, no better” after UNLV turned the ball over three times and was penalized 13 times for 104 yards.

Quarterback Kurt Nantkes passed for 308 yards and three touchdowns, despite the fact that his top receiver — Earvin Johnson — was one of three players suspended for the game because of misuse of assistant coach John Jackson’s phone card.

Citing student-privacy laws, UNLV did not release the names of 10 other players who faced disciplinary action. Johnson, who caught 51 passes for 793 yards last season, signed a waiver allowing the school to make his suspension public because his absence from the lineup would have raised questions.

More suspensions were expected in the next few weeks. A UNLV spokesperson said Monday that no players on the Rebels’ two-deep will miss Saturday’s game against KU.