photo by: AP Photo/Mitch Alcala

Kansas's Trevor Wilson is tackled by Oklahoma State's Dylan Smith, right, and Kendal Daniels, left, during the second half of an NCAA college football game in Stillwater, Okla., Saturday, Oct. 14, 2023.

Kansas tight end Mason Fairchild broke free for two wide-open touchdowns in two minutes Saturday at Oklahoma State, after being held without a score for the first six games of the season.

Chances are, though, that’s not what he’ll remember when he looks back on his trip to Stillwater.

“We have a tendency to look at the things we did wrong,” he said postgame. “I’m my biggest critic. I’m not really paying attention to what I did right, I’m going to look at what I did wrong and really start to work to fix those (mistakes).”

Case in point: Describing the unsuccessful fourth-and-5 in OSU territory late in the game, Fairchild said he and his teammates needed to do a better job getting open to justify their coaches’ confidence in going for it.

Even so, the fact remains Fairchild put together his best statistical game of the season, and he was certainly not alone. After streaky starts to the season, many members of the receiving corps benefited from Jason Bean’s career-high 410 yards and five touchdowns, including a return to form for Lawrence Arnold (five catches, 68 yards) and breakout performances from Quentin Skinner (two catches, 91 yards, two touchdowns) and Trevor Wilson (four catches, 86 yards, a score).

It could be Bean or Jalon Daniels who ends up looking for those pass-catchers against Oklahoma on Oct. 28, which undoubtedly will be a hot topic throughout the upcoming bye week. Either way, the quarterback will be playing with three targets — Fairchild, Skinner and Wilson — coming off season-high showings in Stillwater.

Head coach Lance Leipold praised Skinner postgame: “He’s got excellent speed, he’s made a lot of contested catches in his time.” And Fairchild’s reincorporation into the offense was an encouraging sign for the Jayhawks, who called on him for 20 catches in the final four games of 2022 but hadn’t even targeted him 20 times total on the season by the time the OSU game came around. (Bean looked for him nine times Saturday.)

Perhaps most striking, though, has been the rise of the backup receiver Wilson as a deep-ball target, and particularly the continued development of his rapport with Bean.

“The chemistry between me and Bean, we’ve been friends for a while,” Wilson said on Leipold’s “Hawk Talk” radio show last week. “We were roommates once. Just (from) late-night practices with Bean, he just knows exactly where it’s supposed to be.”

Wilson has received 12 combined targets — including six at OSU — in Bean’s four starts this year, compared to just three targets in the three games with Daniels running the offense. At both Texas and OSU, Wilson broke through the defense for long touchdowns to help stem the tide as KU risked falling too far behind early on. In between those losses, he returned a punt for a touchdown in the home victory over UCF and earned Big 12 Conference special teams player of the week honors, meaning he has a three-game scoring streak going.

“We brought him in to make those kinds of plays,” Bean said Saturday.

Wilson started his career under Leipold at Buffalo in 2019. He followed the coach to KU in 2021 and — again primarily with Bean at the helm — hauled in 27 catches for 364 yards and a touchdown, including a 122-yard showing at Duke. But he saw his role dramatically diminished the following season after he got charged with aggravated assault with a handgun just before the start of the year. He was suspended indefinitely, eventually returned after the charge was dismissed, but only played in four games and made two total catches.

“He’s had a rough couple of years on and off the field,” Bean said. “I love the way that he has fought back and continued to make plays, continued to keep his head down, continued to work. I’ll forever thank him for that and just his ability to get over tough times and continue to keep his head down.”

photo by: AP Photo/Mitch Alcala

Kansas’s Jason Bean (9) passes the ball during the second half of an NCAA college football game against Oklahoma State in Stillwater, Okla., Saturday, Oct. 14, 2023.

photo by: AP Photo/Mitch Alcala

Oklahoma State’s Cam Smith (3) tackles Kansas’s Lawrence Arnold (2) during the first half of an NCAA college football game in Stillwater, Okla., Saturday, Oct. 14, 2023.

photo by: AP Photo/Mitch Alcala

Kansas’s Mason Fairchild (89) runs for a touchdown during the first half of an NCAA college football game against Oklahoma State in Stillwater, Okla., Saturday, Oct. 14, 2023.