Kansas belts Cougars

FORT WORTH (AP) — Jason Swanson started the season hurt. He ended it by leading the Kansas Jayhawks to their first bowl victory and first winning season in 10 years.

Swanson threw for 307 yards and four touchdowns, one more than he had in the regular season, and the Jayhawks beat Houston 42-13 Friday night in the Fort Worth Bowl.

“I couldn’t even have imagined this happening,” said Swanson, who in late October became the Jayhawks’ third starting quarterback this season.

Houston, with record-setting quarterback Kevin Kolb, came in as the team touted for its high-powered offense. Instead, the Jayhawks (7-5) had a season high 538 yards and won for the fourth time in five games _ all since Swanson became the starter.

“We knew we’d have an opportunity to throw big on them,” Swanson said.

“We just had to come out and do it. ... We saw they had a lot of schemes and blitz a lot. When a team blitzes, you have an opportunity to throw a lot of those dinks.”

Tailback Jon Cornish turned two shovel passes — his only two catches — from Swanson into scores of 13 and 30 yards. He also rushed for 101 yards on 16 carries. Brian Murph, who hadn’t returned a kick all season, turned a muffed punt into an 85-yard score in the first quarter that put the Jayhawks ahead to stay. He also caught a 48-yard TD pass.

After leading Conference USA with 457 total yards per game during the regular season, Houston (6-6) was held to a season-worst 244. That was 126 yards below their previous low.

Kansas had been in only one other bowl since a victory over UCLA in the 1995 Aloha Bowl capped a 10-2 season. The Jayhawks lost 56-26 to North Carolina State in the 2003 Tangerine Bowl that ended Mark Mangino’s second year as coach.

“It’s a winning season for the first time in 10 years. Our players worked hard to achieve that,” Mangino said. “It was a good day for us.”

Houston has lost six straight bowls since winning the 1980 Garden State Bowl.

“It hurts not to win. We had high hopes, high aspirations,” coach Art Briles said. “But when somebody slaps you in the face two or three times, it’s going to be hard to welcome Santa.

“It’s going to take a while to get over this because it would have been a great step for a program,” he said. “But now we’re going to have to start fighting back up that hill again.”