Without a 12-game schedule, it’s doubtful Kansas University’s football team would have qualified for a bowl game following the 2003 season. After all, the Jayhawks failed to win a single Big 12 Conference road game last season.

In fact, third-year KU coach Mark Mangino never has won a conference game on the road. The Jayhawks are 0-10 against league foes away from home under Mangino, and the bulk of those defeats have been ugly.

Mangino probably won’t have a better opportunity to wipe out that goose egg than Saturday at Iowa State, where the Jayhawks have been installed as 41/2-point favorites. KU quite likely will be an underdog in its other remaining league road contest, Nov. 20 at Missouri.

Which Kansas defense will show up in Ames, Iowa — the one that held Nebraska to 14 points in Lincoln, Neb., or the one that surrendered 41 points to Oklahoma last weekend in Norman, Okla.?

Although few noticed at the time, that defensive performance Oct. 2 in Lincoln was the best by a Kansas football team in a league road game since KU became a part of the Big 12 in 1996. Nebraska’s 14 points were the fewest allowed by KU in its 34 Big 12 road contests.

At the same time, the 41 points KU allowed Saturday to Oklahoma were about average for a Mangino-coached team against conference foes away from home. The average is 39.7 points.

Here’s a look at the only four Big 12 road victories registered by Kansas:

1996 — Kansas 52, Oklahoma 24. This also was KU’s first Big 12 game and featured a 100-yard kickoff return by Eric Vann, a 94-yard punt return by Isaac Byrd and a 54-yard return of a blocked field goal by Patrick Brown.

1996 — Kansas 34, Iowa State 31. June Henley rushed 40 times for 226 yards, and quarterback Ben Rutz, in his first college start, passed for 204 yards, including an eight-yard TD toss to Byrd with less than two minutes remaining for the decisive score.

2000 — Kansas 38, Missouri 17. Roger Ross scored twice — on an eight-yard pass from Dylen Smith and a 64-yard punt return — and Tim Bowers scored on a 32-yard interception return. KU stole four MU passes — two by freshman cornerback Carl Ivey — and held the Tigers to just 10 rushing yards.

Don’t plan Arrowhead tailgate yet Whack Woodling ‘Hawks Football Forecaster — Week 8 X-Factor Week 8 — Iowa State 52, Kansas 31

2001 — Kansas 34, Texas Tech 31, 2 OT — Deadlocked at 24 after regulation, both teams scored a touchdown in the first overtime. In the second OT, freshman Johnny Beck kicked a 37-yard field goal. Then KU linebacker Marcus Rogers intercepted a B.J. Symons pass to end it. KU running back Reggie Duncan had a career day with 38 rushes for 227 yards.

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Win No. 5 could come Saturday. Don’t think so? Then you need to enter the Wanna Whack Woodling? contest. All you have to do is go to KUsports.com and follow the prompts. You might be lucky enough to win a We Whacked Woodling T-shirt.

Here are this week’s picks:

Oklahoma 25, Oklahoma State 12 — Battle of two of only three Big 12 schools unbeaten at home — Texas is the other — and the list will shrink to two after this one. Sooners’ 1-2 punch of senior Jason White and freshman Adrian Peterson will roll, and Sooners’ no-name defense will rock OSU mail-carrier Vernand Morency.

Nebraska 19, Missouri 16 — Much-maligned Blackshirts overachieve and give Cornhuskers one-game lead in battle to determine which Big 12 North team will be devoured by the South winner in the league championship game.

Texas 29, Colorado 19 — Buffaloes have surrendered, by far, more yards than any team in the league, meaning UT’s Vince Young and Cedric Benson are licking their chops about frolicking at Folsom Field.

Texas A&M 40, Baylor 20 — Reggie McNeal and a host of other ampersands bale hay on the baleful Bears of the Brazos while Kansas, Colorado and Kansas State — the only Big 12 teams missing from Baylor’s schedule — wonder why they are victims of such an inexorable fate.

Texas Tech 31, Kansas State 30 — Red Raiders return to Sunflower State for first time since 31-30 late-September win at Kansas and, by strange coincidence, knock off Wildcats by same score.

Kansas 13, Iowa State 9 — Iowa State can’t find the end zone with a GPS system and Kansas can’t score on the road — Jayhawks have averaged 11.7 points in previous three road outings — so kickoff teams will make the Maytag repairman look like a whirling dervish.