MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Charlie Weis' first season at Kansas went horrible, and a blowout loss in the season finale left him wanting to build for the future.
"I'm fully aware of our deficiencies," Weis said after a 59-10 loss at West Virginia on Saturday sent the Jayhawks to their 11th straight loss. "In about five seconds, I want to be out recruiting so I can plug some of these deficiencies."
There are plenty of them on both sides of the ball.
Going up against one of the nation's worst defenses, two Jayhawks quarterbacks combined to complete just 7 of 16 passes for 117 yards.
"You saw a gross mismatch out there and it didn't take a brain surgeon to figure out whose players were exposing the other team's players," said Kansas coach Charlie Weis. "(West Virginia) played tough on defense, and they were dynamic on offense — just the way I expected them to be."
The lone bright spot Saturday was junior James Sims becoming the school's first 1,000-yard rusher since Brandon McAnderson in 2007. Sims had 57 yards to finish with 1,013 for the season.
Quarterback Dayne Crist got his first start since Oct. 13, a span of six games. But he lasted just two series before Michael Cummings relieved him. Cummings found some success on the option read and led the Jayhawks to their only touchdown in the second quarter. Cummings and Christian Matthews took snaps in the second half.
The Jayhawks were outgained 647-274. Each of West Virginia's five first-half TDs were set up by plays of 31 yards or longer.
"It was definitely big plays," Weis said. "The games that we've struggled on defense was because of giving up the big play and today was just another one of those days. No matter how good their players are, you just can't give up that many big plays."
The losing streak for Kansas (1-11, 0-9) is the longest since the Jayhawks lost 17 straight from 1953-55.
In his final home game, West Virginia quarterback Geno Smith completed 23 of 24 passes for 407 yards and three touchdowns. His 95.8 completion percentage matched the single-game Bowl Subdivision record set by Tennessee's Tee Martin against South Carolina in 1998.
"It's about as good as it gets," Smith said. "I really challenge myself every game to not throw any incompletions. Every play is critical and every down counts."
Smith went over the 4,000-yard mark for the second straight season and became the first West Virginia quarterback to throw for 40 touchdowns.
"I'm proud of his accomplishments," said West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen. "He's a great kid. He'll be remembered around here for that for a long, long time."
In its debut season in the Big 12, the Mountaineers (7-5, 4-5 Big 12) finished tied for fifth place with Baylor, TCU and Texas Tech.
Now all that's left is for West Virginia to find out Sunday where it will play in a bowl for the 11th straight season.
Biletnikoff Award finalist Stedman Bailey had 159 receiving yards and two touchdown grabs to boost his Bowl Subdivision leading total to 23.
Andrew Buie, who rushed for 100 yards, had a 42-yard reception on a screen play set up Bailey's second touchdown, an 18 yarder that put the Mountaineers ahead 45-7 midway through the third quarter.
Weis hoped to use a bye week to try to figure out a way to slow down Austin, but the Jayhawks had little luck.
Austin set up three first-half touchdowns with long plays. He had four catches for 110 yards, 77 rushing yards and a score and broke his own single-season school record for all-purpose yards.
Austin has 2,760 total yards this season, second in the FBS to Western Kentucky's Antonio Andrews (2,977).
West Virginia surpassed 200 rushing yards for the third straight week since Austin was inserted into the backfield as well as playing his slot receiver spot. In the three games before that, the Mountaineers failed to reach 100 yards on the ground.
"When we get the ground game going, that alleviates the pressure for (Smith)," Holgorsen said. "Us being able to run the ball makes his stats look a whole lot better."
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