A basic offensive game plan almost bit Kansas University’s football team Saturday.

In edging by Louisiana-Monroe, 21-19, at Memorial Stadium, KU got by with a lot of what it appears to savor in its playbook – short passes toward the sideline and a variety of handoffs to running back Jon Cornish.

It led to an inconsistent night against the Warhawks. Yes, KU sustained three long scoring drives and had 351 yards of total offense. But the Jayhawks also had eight drives that failed to produce a first down.

As it turned out, three touchdowns – two short passes and a short run from quarterback Kerry Meier – barely held up against a productive ULM passing attack.

“We were very close to having some big plays on offense,” KU coach Mark Mangino. “But we didn’t, and that’s the bottom line. We have to create some more big plays as well as be consistent in moving the chains.”

The longest play of the night was a 46-yard completion from Meier to Cornish that actually was a screen pass Cornish caught behind the line of scrimmage. The next longest was a completion along the left sideline to Marcus Herford that went for 29 yards.

Meier completed 16 of 27 passes for 185 yards, throwing two touchdowns and two interceptions. One pick was a hail Mary at the end of the first half.

“That’s a throw-up ball,” Mangino said. “You can hardly blame him for that.”

Kansas, though, clearly failed to get into a rhythm offensively, leading Kyle Tucker to boot six punts. Kansas also tried a fourth-down conversion but failed.

“They were just doing a lot of different things on their defense,” Cornish said. “They were switching it up.”

Cornish finished with his second-straight 100-yard rushing game of the season, getting 103 yards on 23 carries. Meier, meanwhile, had 30 yards rushing and a touchdown to go with his passing numbers.

“I thought he did pretty good,” Mangino said. “At times, he had a few struggles here and there. To his credit, he worked himself out of it. He stayed poised, he stayed confident, and when he had a few bumps in the road, he didn’t panic. That’s what you want.”