Boulder, Colo. ? Hello, Lee Corso. This is the present speaking. Please tune in and stop worrying about statistical data from bygone years that supports your contention that this Kansas University football team is a fraud.

Corso, the ESPN “Game Day” analyst who loves to be hated, needs to find a different football program to pick on. This Kansas team is too tough, too smart and too confident to be passed off any longer as a cute little undefeated novelty.

Tough, smart, and confident are the best words to describe the leader of the team, sophomore quarterback Todd Reesing, who again did his best work when his team fell behind against Colorado at lively Folsom Field.

Both defenses executed so well that it came down to the team that had the quarterback being able to make something out of nothing, winning, 19-14.

For the seventh time in a 7-0 season, Kansas had the better quarterback.

Colorado coach Dan Hawkins made the decision to take the pass away, and the fleet KU receivers had trouble getting open downfield, forcing Reesing (20 of 29 passes for 153 yards, one touchdown and no picks) to make do with shorter passes and considerable improvisational skills.

In the first quarter, Reesing couldn’t find anyone open on third and nine, so he started scrambling. By the time he stopped, he had a 53-yard gain, the key play in a drive that ended with Scott Webb drilling a 48-yard field goal. Reesing nearly was sandwiched for a sack by two Colorado defenders at the start of the big play. He slipped away, sprinted to the right, executed a terrific pump-fake and made good use of a long-standing Derek Fine block.

On the first play of the fourth quarter, again on third-and-nine, Reesing side-stepped a potential sack, kept looking for an open receiver, couldn’t find one, made another cut out of trouble and dashed along the left sideline before stepping out of bounds with a 17-yard gain.

Like all clever quarterbacks, Reesing (84 rushing yards, seven attempts) has terrific peripheral vision, which grants him a near-perfect feel for precisely when to run. Still, how does an undersized man not blessed with terrific speed run so well?

“He knows when to pull it down,” sixth-year Kansas coach Mark Mangino said. “He isn’t fast in terms of a quick burst, but he has quick feet, and he can change direction on you. He is one of those tough kids I was talking about. He just gets it done.”

Reesing said of his two big third-down runs: “It was either throw the ball away or try to make a play. If it comes down to that, I’m going to try make a play in any situation.”

That’s what you want in a quarterback, a guy who wants the action, the responsibility, the pressure. The improvement of a healthier, faster defense, and the way Reesing has stabilized the QB position are the two biggest reasons KU already has surpassed last season’s victory total.

“He has made a major difference,” Mangino said. “Our first five years here, I cannot explain to you just how difficult it has been with all of the injuries and problems at that position. Especially the injuries, they just rip the heart out of you.”

Now it’s Reesing ripping hearts out of foes by taking what the defense gives him.