Kansas players take a knee on the sidelines as trainers tend to defensive end Keon Stowers, who was injured during the second quarter at McLane Stadium on Saturday, Nov. 1, 2014 in Waco, Texas.

Waco, Texas ? McLane Stadium, Baylor University’s beautiful, brand-new stadium alongside the Brazos River, isn’t likely to be sullied by as poor a Big 12 performance as the one put on by the visitors Saturday for quite some time.

Baylor 60, Kansas 14 didn’t begin to tell the story of how lopsided a game it was. But in one sense, it was a good day for the Jayhawks to have such a brutal day because their best wouldn’t have been good enough to hang with the juggernaut Art Briles has built. First came the coach. The players followed. Then the fans and finally the donors. Up popped McLane Stadium, a monument to just how far Baylor football has put KU in its rear-view mirror, for anyone too entranced to notice that the scoreboard also reflected the disparity.

Kansas (2-6 in the Big 12, 0-5 overall) administrators can’t generate much interest among donors to finance meaningful stadium renovations. KU doesn’t field a Big 12-caliber roster in terms of either quantity or quality. But that doesn’t mean it can’t play in a big game. It just so happens that game is the same one so many in Lawrence had circled on their calendars Jan. 6, the day Iowa State coach Paul Rhoads hired Mark Mangino as his offensive coordinator.

The circled game takes place Saturday in Lawrence, where many fans expected to shower praise on Mangino as a way of emphasizing disapproval for the job done by Charlie Weis, Mangino’s second successor, who took the job after unpopular coach Turner Gill lasted just two years. 

Now the focus shifts somewhat away from Mangino and onto his former assistant, KU’s interim head coach/defensive coordinator Clint Bowen. Mangino is familiar with Bowen’s philosophies and tendencies and Bowen with his former boss’.

If Kansas does the figurative impersonation of what Plaxico Burress literally did six years ago to the extent it did Saturday against Baylor, an Iowa State team that was blasted by Oklahoma, 59-14, Saturday in Ames will leave the ranks of the winless in the Big 12 standings and leave Kansas all alone in the basement.

Big games come wrapped in all sorts of costumes, even those pitting winless teams against each other.

Iowa State represents the most realistic shot at a Big 12 victory for Kansas, even though the Cyclones outscored KU by a combined 85-23 the past two seasons.

Bowen and Mangino have different personalities but believe in the same slow steady approach. Yet, the circumstances of Bowen’s first opportunity to head a program don’t allow for much patience since it amounts to an eight-game tryout, half of which is behind him. Bowen gave quarterback Montell Cozart one half to prove himself and then benched him for Michael Cummings, a significant upgrade.

Moments before kickoff Saturday, Kansas announced that wide receivers coach Eric Kiesau, not offensive line coach/coordinator John Reagan, would call the plays and would do so from the sidelines. 

KU’s badly overmatched offensive line made it pretty tough to read the differences brought about by that change, although it did signal a move away from the run and toward the pass. Cummings, an easy target for blitzers, did a nice job throwing the ball, completing 21 of 30 passes for 288 yards and two touchdowns without throwing an interception. He also was involved in two fumbles, one on a bad snap and was dumped for 28 yards in losses.

It was the first sloppy loss under Bowen, but he said he didn’t expect that to chip away at the drive of his players.

“We have a plan to continue to work, to continue to prepare and to continue to try to win football games,” Bowen said. “There’s nothing that’s going  to stop it. There’s no doubt in their minds that we’re on a path here to improve Kansas football and they’re 100 percent on board.”

It took years for Mangino to field a consistent winner. Bowen, who will be judged on more than his record, has four more weeks to win a game. Stopping Mangino’s offense represents the best shot at getting one.