Print edition: 
LAWRENCE — Kansas coach Turner Gill hasn't been around all that long, so forgive him if he doesn't quite understand what Saturday night meant.
Oh, Gill issued KU a butt-kicking or two during his days as the Nebraska quarterback. But he wasn't here year after year as the depressing results piled up and a fan base tuned out its football program.
Those same fans were paying attention on Saturday night, even after the Jayhawks lost their last seven games of the 2009 season. They hoped that nightmare finish was an aberration, that their program did in fact have some staying power. Gill's debut was supposed to be about moving on. Instead, it made KU fans want to live in the more recent past once again.
North Dakota State 6, Kansas 3.
The Night The Wheat Stood Still.
As shock and horror set in around Jayhawk Nation in the moments after, Gill was busy trying to rationalize his team's behavior, and his words likely won't be very comforting.
"One game," Gill said. "It's one game. That's the way I look at it. It's the first game, too. That (puts) it in a different perspective. It's the first ballgame. Again, until you play a football game, you don't know where you're at."
KU now knows it isn't very close. This was a performance lacking in creativity, originality and execution — a stinker deserving of a 0.0.
Somewhere in Naples, Fla., former coach Mark Mangino is feeling something. Validation, perhaps. His teams, no matter how woeful they were at the beginning, never lost to a team from Division I-AA, now called the Football Championship Subdivision.
"A loss is a loss," Gill said. "It hurts. Obviously, a team beat us from a lower division. I know that's gonna be the big talk. A loss is a loss."
A win, no matter how they got it, would have at least helped the Jayhawks save face. The players can take consolation in not having their names on the back of their jerseys for the first time since 1981.
How did this happen? KU lost to the Bison despite giving up just 168 yards of offense because it turned the ball over three times and could not block North Dakota State. Now, the Jayhawks will play No. 16 Georgia Tech next week on the same field. It could get ugly... but not any uglier.
Gill wasn't just brought here to clean up the language in the Anderson Family Football Complex — his mission was to resume KU's march to respectability.
For the most part, Gill has avoided real talk about expectations. Asked what he expects, the answer is "to win every game." Of course, that is not realistic for the Jayhawks, who lost all of their star power after last season. But Gill hasn't wanted to dip too far into reality since taking this job in December. He has preached building player relationships instead of wins and losses, and in the aftermath of Mangino's controversial departure, it was a noble idea to have different priorities in place.
But can a nice guy win at Kansas? Not yet.
"It's very disappointing because Coach Gill has treated us right," KU wide receiver Daymond Patterson said. "We really wanted to get the win for him."
Saturday couldn't have gone much worse offensively. KU couldn't run the football — except for a couple of nifty reverses by Patterson — totaling 32 rushing yards from running backs Angus Quigley and Deshaun Sands on 17 carries.
Quarterback Kale Pick, making his first career start, was ineffective. He completed 13 of 22 passes for 138 yards and a costly interception that kept the Jayhawks from a chance tying the score late in the third quarter.
"We have a young offense," Pick said. "A lot of these guys haven't stepped on the field yet. Some people had their good moments, and some people had their bad moments."
Backup quarterback Jordan Webb entered the game to big applause with 11 minutes, 27 seconds left and showed promise, but the redshirt freshman didn't get much help in his college debut.
Many Jayhawks will have regrets today. KU kicker Jacob Branstetter missed a 42-yard game-tying field goal in the fourth quarter wide left. Junior tight end Tim Biere fumbled to the Bison twice in the second half.
"One thing I know being a coach," Gill said, "young men and young people are very resilient."
This one will hurt, making KU fans wonder about their identity once again.
Hey, "Late Night at the Phog" is Oct. 15.
