Kansas City, Mo. — Kansas entered Saturday’s game against Iowa State knowing it faced the unenviable task of winning four straight games, three against ranked teams, to earn a spot in the postseason.
So far, so good.
The Jayhawks scored on six consecutive drives against one of the nation’s best defenses. Then, when their lead became narrower and narrower as their offense faltered, Mello Dotson intercepted Rocco Becht and took it back for a touchdown for the second straight year.
The result, even in a flawed performance, was KU’s best victory of the season so far, a 45-36 takedown of the No. 17 team in the country at Arrowhead Stadium — and the Jayhawks’ third straight win overall against ISU.
“It’s kind of like an NBA basketball game, where you know it’s going to get close at the end somehow, some way, and it did,” head coach Lance Leipold said, “but for us to find a way to make it happen and pull out the win was good to see. It’s good when you can take a knee to end the football game.”
Devin Neal ran for 116 yards and a pair of touchdowns as he became the Jayhawks’ all-time leading rusher. Looking back on the arc of his career, he referenced Oklahoma State in 2022 as his favorite performance of his career, but added, “This was special in some way too because a lot of people counted us out, a lot of people said we didn’t have a chance, and we came out here and we showed otherwise.”
Jalon Daniels threw for 295, including a career-high 135 for Quentin Skinner, on just 12 completions, while running for 68 more and tallying three total touchdowns.
“For a team, a defense that … prides itself on not giving up a lot of big plays and really forces you to drive the field, we were able to find some seams and get behind some people,” Leipold said. “I thought (offensive coordinator Jeff Grimes) had a really good feel for what he wanted to do and got a nice rhythm and a lot of things were working.”
With the Cyclones playing from behind much of the game, as they got down as many as 25 points, Becht piled up 383 yards. Jaylin Noel presented a problem for KU all day, snagging eight passes for 167 yards and two of Becht’s three touchdowns.
In a series that did not much resemble the rest of the game, the Jayhawks crossed midfield on their first drive but punted on fourth-and-4. Any field-position advantage they gained from downing a punt at the 1-yard line evaporated instantly as ISU went for gains of nine, 10 and 15 yards, plus a 15-yard pass-interference penalty, before Becht found Noel for an easy touchdown in the corner of the end zone.
KU won back momentum immediately thanks to one of Daniels’ best plays of the year, a laser up the seam to Luke Grimm that Grimm took the rest of the way for a 70-yard touchdown.
“It was like, ‘Oh boy,'” Leipold said of the moments preceding the score. “They really found their stride and had a plan for us.
“For us to answer that quickly really settled it back down and got it back to neutral, I guess, for us and it was a big play.”
Daniels noted Grimm was the fourth option in his progression and added: “That pass to Luke Grimm is not a pass that we’ve kind of hit at all on that play recently in a while, at least, probably, since the beginning of fall camp.”
After a long punt by ISU, Daniels made another tough throw, a 32-yard lob downfield to Skinner for a diving grab. Trevor Kardell also grabbed a pair of catches on the drive before Neal took a pitch for a 13-yard score at the end of the first quarter.
Consecutive sacks by Dean Miller and rarely used Ronald McGee allowed KU to get the ball back in short order. An immediate face-mask penalty and a 22-yard pass from Daniels to Neal got the Jayhawks into scoring range again, and despite a holding call on Logan Brown, Daniels lofted the ball to a wide-open Skinner for a 24-yard touchdown to make it 21-7.
On a third-and-5 near midfield, Becht hit Dominic Overby on a slant for a key conversion, before going play-action out of a run-heavy formation for 39 yards to Noel. Becht missed Stevo Klotz on a well-designed second-and-goal play, then couldn’t get anything on a third-down rollout, forcing the Cyclones to settle for a chip-shot field goal.
The Jayhawks had no such issues on third down, with Daniels locating Skinner again down the right sideline for a 62-yard catch-and-run, setting up a fourth first-half touchdown.
Later, Tabor Allen made a career-long 47-yard field goal to give the Jayhawks their first points inside the two-minute warning all season. However, ISU used a 24-yard pass from Becht to Jayden Higgins to get into scoring range, and despite some poor clock management managed to add a field goal of its own.
The Cyclones got off to a promising start to their first drive of the second half, but on fourth-and-1 went with a sweep to Carson Hansen. JB Brown laid him out short of the first-down marker.
“We definitely needed that stop, just to get that momentum back on our side,” linebacker Cornell Wheeler said. “He filled the gap, kept scraping, filled him up pretty good on that sideline. It was a great play by JB.”
KU made its way into the red zone on a 17-yard pass from Daniels to Skinner on third-and-long, before Neal capped off a methodical series with his second touchdown.
ISU needed far less time to answer the score, as Becht immediately connected with Noel for 44 yards and Hansen punched it in a few plays later.
On the final play of the third quarter, Torry Locklin came uncovered downfield for a 31-yard reception from Daniels. The Jayhawks got lucky when Daniel Hishaw Jr. had a potential fumble overruled because his forward progress was stopped — then unlucky when they decided to kick on fourth-and-1 and Allen missed a chip-shot field goal, bringing the string of consecutive scoring drives to an end. It was also the first time KU had failed to score in the red zone all season.
Again, Becht hit Higgins and Klotz for long completions in key moments, and this time Jaylon Jackson did the honors, taking a short completion for a score before Becht ran in a two-point conversion to make it 38-28.
KU initially did well to kill the clock before Daniels nearly threw a pick on a deep shot to Jeremiah Cooper. The Jayhawks had to punt in enemy territory for the second time, but Becht’s pick-6 put KU back on track.
“I feel like even if I didn’t make that interception, we still would have gotten off the field and been able to close the game out,” Dotson said postgame.
ISU punted after a sack by Caleb Taylor, but got the ball back for another brisk touchdown drive, plus a two-point conversion to set the final margin at 45-36.
The Jayhawks, who at 3-6 still need to win three more games for a bowl bid, will travel to take on No. 9 BYU next Saturday at 9:15 p.m. Central Time.
How they scored
First quarter
9:02 — Jaylin Noel 27-yard pass from Rocco Becht. Kyle Konrardy PAT good. Seven plays, 99 yards, 3:38 TOP. ISU 7, KU 0.
8:13 — Luke Grimm 70-yard pass from Jalon Daniels. Tabor Allen PAT good. Two plays, 74 yards, 0:43 TOP. ISU 7, KU 7.
0:19 — Devin Neal 13-yard run. Allen PAT good. Eight plays, 90 yards, 4:04 TOP. KU 14, ISU 7.
Second quarter
10:32 — Quentin Skinner 24-yard pass from Daniels. Allen PAT good. Six plays, 73 yards, 3:01 TOP. KU 21, ISU 7.
7:06 — Konrardy 22-yard field goal. Ten plays, 71 yards, 3:26 TOP. KU 21, ISU 10.
4:43 — Daniels 2-yard run. Five plays, 76 yards, 2:16 TOP. KU 28, ISU 10.
1:01 — Allen 47-yard field goal. Nine plays, 32 yards, 2:46 TOP. KU 31, ISU 10.
0:00 — Konrardy 38-yard field goal. Nine plays, 55 yards, 1:01 TOP. KU 31, ISU 13.
Third quarter
6:27 — Neal 10-yard run. Allen PAT good. Eleven plays, 59 yards, 5:39 TOP. KU 38, ISU 13.
4:06 — Carson Hansen 11-yard run. Konrardy PAT good. Five plays, 75 yards, 2:21 TOP. KU 38, ISU 20.
Fourth quarter
11:03 — Jaylon Jackson 27-yard pass from Becht. Two-point conversion good. Six plays, 80 yards, 1:48 TOP. KU 38, ISU 28.
5:58 — Mello Dotson 25-yard interception return. Allen PAT good. KU 45, ISU 28.
2:41 — Noel 18-yard pass from Becht. Two-point conversion good. Three plays, 42 yards, 0:42 TOP. KU 45, ISU 36.
Kahner Sampson/Special to the Journal-World
