LAWRENCE, Kan. - Kansas thought it silenced the critics when it beat nationally ranked and highly regarded Virginia Tech in the Orange Bowl.

Naysayers who'd been harping on a soft schedule as the reason for Kansas' great 12-1 season of 2007 had to be quiet - for about 10 months.

Now they're bound to speak up again after No. 4 Texas soundly whipped Mark Mangino's team 35-7 on a cold, blustery field Saturday in Lawrence. The loss dropped Kansas to 6-5. They'll be decided underdogs in two weeks when they take on No. 12 Missouri in the final regular-season game and will probably finish 6-6.

It will have taken the program only one season to drop right back into the mediocrity that Kansas fans thought - hoped - they'd escaped.

Texas' dominating victory behind the cool and efficient Colt McCoy was probably toughest on Kansas quarterback Todd Reesing, the Austin, Texas native who has rewritten the school passing record book and wanted so desperately to do well against the school he grew up rooting for and dreaming to play for.

But his receivers kept dropping his passes. Plus, his main running back, Jake Sharp, and top receiver, Kerry Meier, were both banged up. And so was Reesing. He was sacked four times by Texas and has taken a battering all season like he never had to take last year when his offensive line was much better.

"It is a lot of fun playing against those guys and having a lot of family and friends up. You wish you could have had a better performance," he said. "But I played as hard as I could and did the best I could."

Texas, Texas Tech and Oklahoma were three Big 12 schools Kansas did not have to play last year. This year, the Longhorns, Red Raiders and Sooners walloped them by a combined score of 143-59.

"Physically, we've been just a little overmatched against those teams. They've had a little better talent," Reesing said.

The Longhorns (10-1, 6-1 Big 12) are off now until they meet Texas A&M on Thanksgiving. That may be good in the sense that a few bumps and bruises will have time to heal. And it may be bad because Colt McCoy, playing about as well as any quarterback in the country, will have time to cool off.

McCoy accounted for 333 yards and three touchdowns in the coolly efficient victory over an outmanned foe. His 255 yards passing included touchdown strikes of 9 yards to Quan Cosby and 36 yards to Brandon Collins. He also ran 4 yards for a score.

"In these conditions, I thought the offense played great," McCoy said. "The wind was blowing 30 mph in your face, and it's hard to complete the passes. But give credit to the receivers, they caught the ball well. The offensive line blocked well. There was some times where I could run the ball, and my leg felt better this week. We took care of the ball, and that's important to do on the road and we did that."