LAWRENCE | Two games in and Kansas continues to have problems running the ball. It didn&#8217;t matter Saturday in the 29-0 thumping of Louisiana Tech or last week&#8217;s romp over Florida International, but it will in less than a week when the Jayhawks travel to South Florida.</p><p>To make that shortcoming the game&#8217;s theme, however, undersells other qualities that will keep the Jayhawks competitive in every game this season.</p><p>Simply, where Kansas is good, it&#8217;s good on the highest level.</p><p>Just don&#8217;t call it championship level. Coach Mark Mangino wouldn&#8217;t Saturday. &#8220;I&#8217;m not going to measure it,&#8221; he said.</p><p>He doesn&#8217;t have to. The numbers do that for him.</p><p>Start with quarterback Todd Reesing, who continued to show he&#8217;s special. The accuracy is one thing, completing 32 of 38 passes. But his marksmanship under duress, after going through his progressions, is truly advanced.</p><p>Replays of the game&#8217;s highlight moment &#8212; Reesing&#8217;s 48-yard touchdown strike to Dezmon Briscoe &#8212; show Briscoe breaking tackle after tackle. Six in all as counted down by the 48,621 on the stadium&#8217;s big screen. What the camera misses is how long Reesing held the ball, how he escaped danger and then got drilled after the release.</p><p>What especially impresses Mangino is Reesing&#8217;s ability, while scrambling and considering his receiving options, to lock in downfield. Typically, a flushed quarterback will divert his attention to the altered path. Reesing takes that route without missing anything that&#8217;s happening with multiple targets.</p><p>&#8220;A lot of it is confidence in my offensive line to pick up blocks,&#8221; Reesing said. &#8220;And just over time I&#8217;ve become more relaxed back there.&#8221;</p><p>Forget any thoughts of Reesing as a one-year wonder. Against a capable opponent &#8212; remember Tech defeated Mississippi State last weekend &#8212; Reesing put up eye-popping totals, his 412 yards the third most in school history.</p><p>As good as Reesing was, he shares the game ball with safety Darrell Stuckey, who embodied an exceptional defensive effort that made the Bulldogs the program&#8217;s first Division I-A shutout victim since Missouri in 1999.</p><p>It took some fortune to get the goose egg, like the 23-yard field-goal attempt that doinked off the upright. But it mostly took effort after the Jayhawks surrendered potential back breakers like a 22-play, 82-yard drive and a 78-yard run.</p><p>Stuckey had a hand in stuffing both possessions, breaking up the pass that turned into an end zone interception that halted the long drive, and making the touchdown-saving tackle after the long run. For that he earned locker room praise from Mangino.</p><p>Now, about the running game. Most troubling was how Reesing&#8217;s amazing passing evening couldn&#8217;t open up the running lanes. Through three quarters, Kansas averaged fewer than 3 yards per carry.</p><p>The game&#8217;s most discouraging moment for the Jayhawks came on their second possession when they ran into a wall on a fourth and 1 from the 11.</p><p>The argument that many of Kansas&#8217; short throws work like runs is valid, but Mangino is going to try anything to juice the running game, even send a message.</p><p>&#8220;If I was playing us, I&#8217;d try to defend the pass,&#8221; Mangino said.</p><p>Got that, Jim Leavitt?</p><p>Friday&#8217;s reunion of former Kansas State assistants is the undercard to Saturday&#8217;s Southern California-Ohio State mega matchup, but the Bulls and Jayhawks represent something of a new college football order. Both rose as high as No. 2 last season, and the occasion is Kansas&#8217; first nonconference regular-season game with both teams ranked since 1960.</p><p>On several fronts, the Jayhawks are ready. But breaking open a running game this week would be a major accomplishment. South Florida surrendered only 76 rushing yards in its overtime victory over Central Florida on Saturday. Bulls defensive end George Selvie is a beast, and Kansas started two redshirt freshman at offensive tackle, Jeff Spikes and Jeremiah Hatch.</p><p>Bring the passing game and defense the Jayhawks showed Saturday, though, and they&#8217;ll match up with anybody.