The Kansas football team’s 2:30 p.m. kickoff against No. 18 Oklahoma State on Saturday will mark the Jayhawks’ first home game in 28 days.
While four weeks have passed since they last played in front of their home crowd, some of the core elements and challenges surrounding the Jayhawks’ season remain the same today as they were in October.
After losing three consecutive games following their 5-0 start, the Jayhawks are still searching for a sixth win that would make them bowl eligible for the first time since the 2008 season.
In addition, injuries remain a huge part of the storyline, with Kansas hoping to get a number of starters back on both sides of the ball. Earlier this week, Kansas coach Lance Leipold said that starting QB, Jalon Daniels, was back at practice, but the junior who started the Jayhawks’ first six games of the season is not expected to play on Saturday.
Meanwhile, OSU has injury concerns of its own, with the Cowboys facing the possibility of taking on the Jayhawks without starting QB Spencer Sanders.
Leipold also pointed out that Kansas enters this one on the heels of a bye week but facing an opponent that was dealt a significant blow, be it by loss or by injury, the week prior to playing the Jayhawks. In this case, it’s both, with OSU losing to Kansas State 48-0 and losing Sanders. That, Leipold said simply, “adds to the challenge.”
While that’s just a small glimpse at the list of things the Jayhawks have to be mindful of this week, sophomore running back Devin Neal said the matchup with Oklahoma State was really about one thing.
“They’re really disciplined,” Neal said of the Cowboys, who have committed the fewest penalties (31) in the Big 12 and been penalized the least number of yards in the conference at 35 penalty yards per game. “They force teams to execute well, so that’s what our goal’s going to be. I think we’ve just got to put together four quarters in all aspects of the game. We know that Oklahoma State’s one of those top teams in the Big 12 that’s going to compete every down.”
While last week’s 48-0 loss at Kansas State might not have been a true indicator of who the Cowboys are, playing shorthanded on offense could make any game a challenge from here on out.
OSU enters this week ranked second in the conference in scoring offense (at 39 points per game) but also is last in the league in total defense (giving up 455.25 yards per game) and second-to-last in scoring defense, surrendering 31 points per game. So, there is room to attack.
Kansas simply has to find the sweet spot, and KU coach Lance Leipold is not expecting that to be easy.
“Mike Gundy’s an excellent football coach and he’s been doing this a long time,” Leipold said. “And that’s an excellent program. They’ll get healthy, they’ll get it corrected and they’ll come in here ready to play. We have to make sure we match that intensity.”
Kansas (5-3, 2-3 Big 12) vs. No. 18 Oklahoma State (6-2, 3-2 Big 12)
• David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium, Lawrence, Kansas, 2:30 p.m.
• Broadcast: FS1
• Radio: KLZR 105.9 FM / KLWN 1320 AM
• Betting line: Kansas -1.5; over/under 63
• Series history: OSU leads, 40-29-3 with a 12-game winning streak that dates back to 2007. KU has not defeated OSU in Lawrence since 1994.
This season:
Points per game: Kansas 38; OSU 39.1
Points allowed per game: Kansas 30.6; OSU 31.1
Yards per game: Kansas 420.88 (189 rushing, 231.88 passing); OSU 435.6 (141.3 rushing, 294.4 passing)
Yards allowed per game: Kansas 439.1 (161.6 rushing, 277.5 passing); OSU 455.2 (152.6 rushing, 302.6 passing)
Season turnover margin: Kansas +4; OSU -1
• Match OSU’s physicality – All week, whether talking to Neal or veteran edge rusher Lonnie Phelps Jr., the one thing the Jayhawks kept emphasizing about this week’s opponent was how big and physical the Cowboys are. OSU’s offense may be dinged up and missing a couple of key pieces, but the defense is healthy and likely fuming from giving up 48 points at Kansas State a week ago. KU doesn’t have to be the more physical team in this one, but the Jayhawks have to match OSU’s physicality throughout the game and especially early.
• Start faster – Now deep into his second season as the Jayhawks lead running back, Neal pointed out this week that the 2022 Jayhawks have started been victims of the opposite problem that the 2021 squad had. “Last year, we had really fast starts and then we’d kind of slow up in the second half,” Neal said. “Now, it’s kind of reversed to where (we have a) slower start and then pick it up at the end. … We just have to start out faster.”
• No turnovers – Kansas has averaged two turnovers per game during its three-game losing streak after turning it over just twice total during its 5-0 start. At this point in the season, KU’s defense just isn’t playing at a high enough level to weather than kind of setback. Winning the turnover battle is a key every game and for every team, but it has emerged as a particularly important aspect of the game for Kansas, which has played from behind in each of the past three outings. It’s hard to climb out of any hole when you limit the number of chances your offense has to score.
5: The Jayhawks are one of just five teams in the country — KU, Tennessee, TCU, Oregon and Ohio State — that have recorded 20 rushing touchdowns and 20 passing TDs so far this season. A decent chunk of that has come with injured quarterback Jalon Daniels on the bench during the past three games. In addition, Kansas’ 42 touchdowns through eight games — 20 rushing TDs, 20 passing TDs, one special teams TD and one defensive TD — are KU’s most in a single season since the program scored 42 in 12 games during the 2009 season. The way this offense has gone, topping 60 for the season is not out of the question. The Jayhawks are going to need all of the offense they can get in the final four games to help a defense that has surrendered 125 points in its three losses.
57.14: While Kansas’ offense has proven to be explosive throughout much of the season, getting touchdowns has been more important for this program than one might realize. KU currently ranks last in the Big 12 in field goal kicking, having made just four kicks in seven attempts for a 57.14% success rate. That’s the lowest made and the second-lowest attempted through eight games, and it has made for a couple of tough choices in each game about whether to go for it on fourth down or let junior place kicker Jacob Borcila try the field goal. Oklahoma State, meanwhile, has been nearly perfect, with Tanner Brown knocking in 14 of 15 on the season, with a long of 52 yards. Borcila’s longest make this season came from 40 yards out.
40,000: The Jayhawks’ hot start to the season inspired Kansas football fans to come out in droves, packing Memorial Stadium for three consecutive weeks of sellouts in late September and early October. Weather, the three-game losing skid and the start of basketball season arriving have tamed the fevered pitch of many KU football fans, but the program is still expecting a crowd of more than 40,000 for Saturday’s game with the Cowboys. While that might seem a little disappointing given the crowds of 47,233 that showed up to watch KU earlier this season, it’s still hardly anything to sneeze at. Kansas football drawing a crowd of 40,000 or more has been a rarity over the past 14 seasons, and no matter how big the number is this weekend, getting the crowd about the 40,000-fan mark will remain a significant achievement.