Austin, Texas ? Soak this sucker in: With 4:13 left in the second quarter – the second quarter! – scores of fans packed their belongings and filed out of Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium.

Texas fans. Going home. With Texas winning, and roughly three-fifths of the game left to be played.

Eventually, second-ranked Texas beat – no, destroyed – Kansas University, 66-14, Saturday, most of it coming in front of far fewer than the announced attendance of 83,696.

That’s how painful it was for those witnessing King Kong’s burnt-orange rampage: Some of the Longhorn lovers couldn’t stick around to see such destructive behavior toward fellow humankind.

How historically lopsided was Saturday’s game? Pretty historical. And unbelievably lopsided.

Texas was halfway to 100 points by halftime, believed to be the first time ever a team has dropped 52 points on the Jayhawks in the first two quarters. Texas had 340 yards more offense piled up than KU did by halftime – and that’s with UT’s biggest threat, Vince Young, rushing for minus-four yards.

Texas, in fact, went to keepaway, run-the-ball-a-lot mode with 30 minutes left – at the start of the third quarter.

Young was out of the game after one drive in the second half.

All of the carnage raises the most obvious of questions: What in Hades happened?

“I don’t know if we were tired or what,” linebacker Kevin Kane said, “but there was definitely a lack of energy in warmups.”

Against Texas, that’s a big no-no, because the Longhorns (10-0 overall, 7-0 Big 12 Conference) had plenty of weapons to dismantle Kansas without the Jayhawks offering up assistance with intensity woes.

Saturday’s game goes beyond who wanted it more, though. UT’s first touchdown – of nine total – illustrated the undeniable physical superiority Texas possessed over the Jayhawks.

Heisman Trophy candidate Young flung a side-armed pass 45 yards downfield toward Limas Sweed. KU senior Theo Baines had tight coverage on Sweed, but Sweed’s six-inch height advantage did wonders, and the Texas wideout snagged the ball over Baines’ head for six points.

• Hear Mark: Texas postgame comments
• Get the stats: KU vs. Texas box score
• Hooked & cooked
• Keegan: Texas made KU look bad
• KU turns focus to make-or-break finale
• Young ‘impressive’
• From the other side: UT seniors add to legacy
• Notebook
• How they scored

When asked to answer, Kansas instead broke ground on its own grave. Greg Heaggans fumbled the ensuing kickoff, and Texas recovered at the 10-yard line and scored on the next play. All of 13 seconds had elapsed.

The big gorilla’s rampage had begun. Hide the women and children.

“You can’t give Texas 14 points right off the bat,” KU coach Mark Mangino said. “That’s not good football.”

KU didn’t play well, but the Longhorns played like they always have – like one of two undefeated teams in Division I-A and a squad destined for the Rose Bowl in January. They have two games left, against Texas A&M and the Big 12 title game in Houston next month.

“I don’t think I’ve been on a field where I’ve seen so many big, strong, fast, talented kids,” Mangino said. “The first level, the rotation guys, the number 2’s – just an impressive football team.”

Case in point: KU’s strong run defense was simply annihilated to the tune of 336 rushing yards by Texas.

It was a multi-headed monster in the backfield, too – Ramonce Taylor, Jamaal Charles and Henry Melton each had 70-plus yards rushing. And they’d be considered the second, third and fourth-best runners on the team behind Selvin Young and Vince Young.

“We didn’t see too much (Vince) Young this year,” linebacker Nick Reid said. “But the running backs : they ran an ungodly amount.”

So it’s 10 down, one big one to go, now for KU. In the Jayhawks’ first 10 games with a season-long goal of bowl-eligibility looming, KU jousted to a 5-5 stalemate.

That said, the Nov. 26 regular-season finale with Iowa State comes with so much at stake – a winning record, bowl-eligibility and a happy ending to a roller-coaster season.

As impossible as it might seem, KU better had get over the Texas debacle fast.

“They’re a great team. They put it to us in all aspects of the game, and they deserved to win,” Reid said. “We’ve got to put it behind us. It’s a one-game season now.”