The Kansas bench watches as running back Jake Sharp is sent out of bounds by South Florida linebacker Brouce Mompremier. Sharp and the rest of the Jayhawks have been unable to establish a running game so far this season.

Since Kansas University’s football team opened its 2008 season Aug. 30, explanations for the Jayhawks’ dismal running game have been plentiful and well documented.

Not to worry, the team’s coach assured after lowly Florida International held the Jayhawks to under 150 yards rushing for just the second time in 18 regular-season games. That was simply a product of a Golden Panthers defense that was willing to give up the pass to stop the run.

And don’t fret, he said after Louisiana Tech held Kansas to even more meager totals. Just more of the same. Stacking the box. Blitzing heavily. And why even worry about the run when our quarterback can pass for 412 yards in a single evening?

Finally, after last Friday’s loss, in which the Jayhawks failed to control the clock in giving up a 10-point second-half lead, Mark Mangino and Co. relented in their numerous – and sometimes humorous – explanations for the stagnant run game.

“I don’t think it takes a whole lot to figure out that we’re going through some growing pains,” Mangino admitted.

Following the loss to South Florida, Kansas’ worst rushing performance of the young season, the Jayhawks rank last in the Big 12 in rushing offense. They’ve totaled just 315 yards on the ground this season – conference leader Oklahoma State, by contrast, has averaged 334.3 rushing yards per game through the season’s first three weeks – for a minuscule 3.5 yards per carry.

Having had time to pick apart game film and identify the deficiencies, Kansas’ coaches have determined, at least publicly, that the blame for the running-game ills can be spread widely.

The Cliff’s Notes version of the team’s running struggles goes like this: The offensive line isn’t opening holes. When it is opening holes, the running backs aren’t finding them. And when the offensive line is opening holes and the running backs are finding them, the receivers aren’t blocking well enough on the perimeter to spring big plays.

“We’re not going to blame it on the running backs,” offensive coordinator Ed Warinner said. “It’s a group effort in terms of running the football.”

Still, none of the team’s three running backs has performed particularly well thus far. Junior Jake Sharp, who amassed over 800 yards as a backup last season as a complement to starter Brandon McAnderson, has yet to come close to the production he provided as a sophomore. Highly touted transfer Jocques Crawford – who felt it necessary to tell a group of reporters before the season that he intended to rush for 2,000 yards – hasn’t fared much better, and junior Angus Quigley sits in a kind of no-man’s land.

After Mangino said before Friday’s game that Quigley, the team’s leading rusher, would see carries earlier in the South Florida game, he didn’t record his first carry until midway through the third quarter, roughly the same time he entered games earlier this season.

In all, Kansas running backs carried the ball just 12 times against the Bulls – compared to 51 pass attempts – and ended the game with 48 rushing yards, by far its lowest total of the season.

In the meantime, Kansas has leaned heavily on the right arm of quarterback Todd Reesing, who nearly helped the Jayhawks overcome a 14-point fourth-quarter deficit against South Florida and has been the biggest constant so far this season.

But as good as Reesing has been up to this point – he ranks in the top five nationally in total offense, passing yards and completions – it’s hard to imagine the Jayhawks thriving in the Big 12 without some semblance of offensive balance.

“Our run game is important,” Mangino said. “Can we live without it? Yeah, we could. But it goes back to being in control of the game. Not just scoring points, but controlling the game and controlling the clock a little bit. Those are things that are important to having balance in your offense.”

Mangino also discussed the pressure a non-existent running game puts on a team’s defense, which he said likely contributed to the Jayhawks’ lackadaisical performance in the South Florida loss.

“We’re kind of leaving our defense out there for a long time,” he said. “And the reason why our defense has been good here, especially in the last year, is because we left them off the field. They didn’t have to play a zillion snaps.”

Because no other aspect of the game should pose too great a problem for Kansas today, the team’s coaches should have ample time to focus on jump-starting the ground game.

And entering its final non-conference game of the year, Kansas is faced with this undesirable reality: If the Jayhawks can’t run against Sam Houston State, a Div. I-AA team that hasn’t played in three weeks, then it does not bode well for the future of this team.