Waco, Texas ? Kansas University football coach Mark Mangino and running back Jon Cornish appear to be in a disagreement over the extent of Cornish’s undisclosed injury.

Cornish played less frequently in the second half of KU’s 36-35 loss to Baylor on Saturday, and Mangino cited a lingering injury to the senior as the reason.

“We’re trying to get him through it,” Mangino said. “I don’t discuss the nature of injuries, but he was injured.”

Cornish, though, readily admitted that wasn’t exactly the case.

“I didn’t think I was (hurt). They assumed I was injured,” Cornish said. “I’m just fine.”

Asked if he could have kept going in the fourth quarter, Cornish simply replied, “Yeah.”

Cornish had a terrific game overall, rushing 24 times for 196 yards and two touchdowns. Many of the yards were picked up with freshman quarterback Kerry Meier running the offense.

With Meier in, KU likes to call “option read” plays, where Meier can choose to hand it off to Cornish or fake it and run with it himself. It obviously worked against Baylor, particularly in the first half. Meier finished with 62 yards on 12 carries, and Cornish had 134 first-half yards.

Meier, though, went out because of a shoulder injury on the last play of the third quarter when he was tackled near the KU sideline. And Cornish was used about half of the time from there on out. He had four carries for 10 yards in the decisive fourth quarter.

Perhaps it’s no coincidence that Kansas didn’t score a point after halftime.

“We lost personnel. It makes a difference,” Mangino said. “We ran the ball very well against Baylor until we had some personnel issues.”

Cornish admitted he came off the field with a limp a few times in the second half, although he said, “I always come off the field limping.”

“I just get stretched out, and then I go back in,” Cornish said. “Nursing an injury is difficult, but you’ve just got to play through it. Tonight was probably the first time I was as close to 100 percent since the first game.”

Mangino saw it differently, particularly after halftime.

“He reads things so well that you need him in there,” Mangino said, “but on the other hand, in the second half, he didn’t have the cutting and the explosion that you’d like to have from him.”

Asked if Saturday’s game set him back at all health-wise, Cornish bluntly said no.

“I’m feeling great,” he said.