Blitzing from the blind side, Kansas University safety Jerome Kemp buried Texas A&M quarterback Stephen McGee for a big, painful sack.

On the next play, McGee hit big tight end Martel Bennett with an on-target pass, and Jayhawks middle linebacker Mike Rivera stuck him with such a vicious hit the ball popped loose and tumbled to the turf for an incomplete pass.

KU took over on downs at its 35 with a tick inside five minutes left, and those two plays should have stood as the exclamation point on a 10th consecutive home victory, warts and all.

Those plays should have replayed nonstop in the minds of the 46,445 who watched Texas A&M storm from behind to win, 21-18, at Kivisto Field at Memorial Stadium.

Instead, the image playing repeatedly in at least one mind was that of the air-headed cyclist who a couple of weeks ago ignored the barrier surrounding the fresh concrete at the intersection of Seventh and New Hampshire. He plowed right through, slowed to a halt, started to sink, tilted to one side and plopped into the soupy mess. The workers who had done such a fine job were forced to start all over again.

And that’s what the KU offense repeatedly did to the defense. That put the defensive coaches in the position of again having to play with the fire that was trying to camouflage the glaring weakness of having no pass rush. In order to put pressure on McGee, KU had to blitz. Everybody in the stands loves to see linebackers and defensive backs blitz. Nobody loves the blitz more than pyromaniacs.

Allowing McGee far too much time when the blitz wasn’t on, KU brought the heat one time too many, and McGee hit L’Tydrick Riley with a screen pass that resulted in a 35-yard gain, the back-breaker of a 12-play, 80-yard, game-winning drive that ate just 2:57 of the clock and would have taken less time if KU had used one of its remaining timeouts.

Make no mistake, though – this bad loss was on an offense that featured a game Jon Cornish rushing for 128 yards, despite an injury that left him hobbling.

Otherwise, the offense did nothing.

Adam Barmann turned back into Adam Barmann. Kerry Meier, his shoulder still not ready for game action, watched while wearing a baseball cap. Playing catch at halftime, Meier at one point bent over at the waist and swung his right arm like a pendulum, trying to coax life back into it. No luck. Meier took snaps with the first string Tuesday and Wednesday. It was determined before Thursday’s practice he didn’t have any shot of being ready by game time.

Whatever quarterback controversy Barmann might have created by performing so well against South Florida and Nebraska vanished for good Saturday, when he completed 13 of 31 passes for 127 yards and looked so overwhelmed by the task of trying to get his team into field-goal range with 30 seconds left, the ball on the 20, and two remaining timeouts that never did get used.

The best that could be said about Barmann was that he didn’t turn the ball over. Playing not to lose didn’t cut it. The Jayhawks needed a playmaker, and Meier, especially when he runs the ball, is that. Look for Meier to return Saturday, even if he has to pass left-handed.