<table> </table> LAWRENCE | Kansas fans hoping to see more of true freshman wide receiver Daymond Patterson will get their wish on Saturday against Louisiana Tech.</p><p>KU coach Mark Mangino announced after Wednesday&#8217;s practice that senior receiver Dexton Fields will not play against the Bulldogs. Fields left the Jayhawks&#8217; game against Florida International late in the first quarter after coming down awkwardly after a high throw from quarterback Todd Reesing. Fields appeared to have injured his left foot or ankle and had to be helped off the field.</p><p>Mangino is hopeful that Fields, who led the Jayhawks with 63 catches last season for 824 yards and six scores, will be ready for No. 14 KU&#8217;s Sept. 12 clash at No. 17 South Florida.</p><p>&#8220;I can tell you that there&#8217;s no fracture,&#8221; Mangino said, &#8220;but he is in no way ready to play this Saturday for sure.&#8221;</p><p>Mangino will start Patterson &#8212; who caught three passes for 22 yards and returned four punts for 135 yards and a touchdown last week in his collegiate debut &#8212; in Fields&#8217; place. While Mangino clearly has confidence in Patterson, he wasn&#8217;t exactly biting on the idea that Fields missing Saturday&#8217;s game could be a positive.</p><p>&#8220;In college football,&#8221; Mangino said, &#8220;every game is for keeps. You don&#8217;t mind resting them in spring ball or in a practice, but you like to have your guys ready for every single game. There&#8217;s only 12 of them. You like to have everybody. The reality is, in college football, it doesn&#8217;t work that way most of the time.&#8221;</p><p>It&#8217;s a grim reality that KU avoided for most of last season. The Jayhawks &#8212; other than an early-season injury to cornerback Kendrick Harper and a late-season injury to left tackle Anthony Collins &#8212; didn&#8217;t have starters miss any action.</p><p>Fields will become the second KU offensive starter this season to miss a game due to an injury; redshirt freshman right tackle Jeremiah Hatch did not play against Florida International. Mangino said Hatch has looked good in practice this week and he&#8217;ll know for sure after today&#8217;s workout whether Hatch can start against the Bulldogs.</p><p>How Fields&#8217; absence will affect the Jayhawks should depend on Patterson&#8217;s ability to beat man-to-man coverage. KU has noticed that Louisiana Tech trusts its cornerbacks on the outside and often uses its safeties and linebackers to blitz.</p><p>&#8220;As a wide receiver, we love one-on-ones,&#8221; said KU receiver Dezmon Briscoe, who had three touchdown catches last week. &#8220;It&#8217;s the best matchup in football. I believe that we should be able to air it out a little more. I think the coaches trust the wide receivers and trust Todd to get us the ball and make plays.&#8221;</p><p>Mangino doesn&#8217;t seem to expect much of a drop-off from Fields to Patterson, who made a great 14-yard catch on third down against Florida International.</p><p>&#8220;One of the things we feel strongly about,&#8221; Mangino said, &#8220;is we have some good young kids to fill in and move up.&#8221;</p><p><strong>&#8226;WET WEATHER WELCOME: </strong>The Jayhawks practiced outside in the rain and unseasonably cool temperatures on Wednesday.</p><p>&#8220;The next week, we go down to Florida, and they&#8217;re having a lot of rain there with the hurricane season,&#8221; Mangino said. &#8220;So I guess it doesn&#8217;t hurt for us to practice in some wet weather.&#8221;</p><p><hr class="infobox-hr-separator" /> <div class="infobox"> @ Go to <strong>KansasCity.com</strong> for video blogs from the KU, MU and K-State beats.</p><p></div>