Jayhawks savor TCU win and chance to celebrate

photo by: Mike Gunnoe

Kansas offensive lineman Malik Clark celebrates with running back Khalil Hebert after a touchdown Saturday.

The last time the Kansas football team actually got to celebrate a Big 12 victory, linebacker Joe Dineen Jr. felt more like a spectator than an active participant.

So when the Jayhawks defeated TCU, 27-26, on Saturday at David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium, Dineen reveled in taking some ownership in the on-field and locker room parties that followed.

“It was insane,” Dineen said of the scene, after KU ended a 14-game Big 12 losing streak. “Two years ago, we did it against Texas and it was crazy. But I didn’t get to play in that game (due to injury). It was really cool for me to be able to play in a game and get a win and see the fans come down. It was an awesome, awesome feeling.”

While navigating the turf once the game went final, Dineen posed for selfies with fans and students who left the stands to congratulate the Jayhawks (3-5 overall, 1-4 Big 12).

A Lawrence native, Dineen, after making 13 total tackles, described the postgame shenanigans as “kind of a blur.”

According to first-year KU receiver Stephon Robinson, the “amazing” part came after the players made their way from the field to the locker room.

“Jumping around with your brothers, celebrating with your teammates, it’s something you never forget,” Robinson said after catching four Peyton Bender passes for 59 yards. “You want to experience that every single week.”

KU senior linebacker Keith Loneker Jr. shared that witnessing so many familiar faces in the locker room — “people who have been through it with us” — enjoying a win for a change is what he and his teammates play for.

Still, Loneker didn’t fully partake in every portion of the festivities, which included some dancing.

“I can’t help in that department. I stay on the outside of the circle there and don’t get pushed in,” a laughing Loneker revealed. “I’m not going to help that. I’m just going to make everyone sad again.”

To say Dineen would have felt miserable Saturday if one early play had led to his removal from the field would be underselling it. For a moment in the first quarter, his availability seemed up in the air.

With TCU inside the Kansas 10-yard line, Dineen smashed quarterback Michael Collins, leading to an official review for targeting — an automatic ejection if verified.

Just five days earlier, when speaking about teammate Mike Lee’s ejection from KU’s loss at Texas Tech, Dineen admitted he found it difficult to know how targeting may be enforced from game to game.

“They’ll kick guys out for, I guess, anything. I hit him with my shoulder,” Dineen said of the collision with Collins that was ultimately deemed legal. “I’m glad they didn’t kick me out so I could keep playing. I thought it was a clean hit. I don’t know.”

Had Dineen been ejected on TCU’s first drive of the game, who knows whether the Jayhawks would have prevailed? If they had, Dineen would have again felt left out.

“It’s awesome for everybody,” the KU defensive captain said of experiencing a conference win and snapping this season’s four-game losing skid, which coincided with the start of Big 12 play. “All the stuff that we’ve gone through over the years, what people have said — the naysayers, the haters or whatever you want to call them — it’s pretty cool to get a win.”

Kansas senior QB Bender, who joined the program as a junior transfer before the 2017 season, got to experience his first league win, as well.

Bender threw for 249 yards — a KU season high — by completing 65.5 percent of his 29 passes, two of which went to Pooka Williams Jr. for second-half touchdowns.

“You know, it is a really good feeling,” Bender said after his 14th start at KU. “I’ve got to give credit to everyone else. It was a great team win. It feels good knowing we can get this done, I can win a Big 12 football game. It definitely is a confidence booster for me, and I think this whole team.”

While KU’s season certainly hasn’t gone as most of the Jayhawks thought it would, Bender figured the first victory since back-to-back wins over lowly Central Michigan and Rutgers felt “pretty good” for head coach David Beaty, the players and all involved.

“I think it’s a step in the right direction. Heading into these last few games of the season, our goals are still in front of us of reaching a bowl game,” Bender said with four games left on the schedule and KU three wins shy of a .500 season. “I think it’s going to be a big confidence booster for the whole team. We’ve just got to enjoy this one but come in tomorrow and be ready to work, because we’ve got another game next Saturday.”

KU, which reached three victories in a season for the first time since 2014, plays host to Iowa State (4-3, 3-2) this coming weekend. The Cyclones head to Lawrence coming off a 40-31 win over Texas Tech, in Ames, Iowa.

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