Ames, Iowa — When the Kansas football team entered its final game of 2024 at 5-6, seeking one more win to secure bowl eligibility, it was riding high, having just beaten three consecutive ranked opponents for an improbable winning streak.
That didn’t work out for KU in the end, the Jayhawks now find themselves with the same 5-6 record 11 games into 2025, except this time they’ve slumped to their current mark as a team whose head coach admitted on Saturday, “I think sometimes when you’re looking at this whole picture right now, honestly, we’re not playing with much confidence, and you can see that out there.”
Lance Leipold provided that telling description in response to a question about how far his defensive backs were playing from Iowa State’s wide receivers in KU’s 38-14 loss to the Cyclones on Saturday, and indeed, ISU quarterback Rocco Becht reaped the rewards of a number of short passes over the middle to receivers and tight ends whose assigned defenders were nowhere in their vicinity.
“I think there’s been times we’ve been to the point where we thought people would take a lot more shots over our head, and they really haven’t done a lot of that all year,” Leipold said. “Part of it, maybe, is because we are playing so far off. But we do have to find a way to mix that up at certain times and not have so many gimme throws.”
But his comments about confidence also spoke to the broader mental state of a team that has now seen two opportunities to earn its sixth win fall by the wayside and has instead opted for the path of most resistance: a date with No. 12 Utah, off a short week, on Friday morning in Lawrence.
“We have to hammer down on everything,” said quarterback Jalon Daniels, for whom it could be the final game in his collegiate career. “Every little thing that we (continued to talk) about this whole entire offseason, during season, every single win, every single loss, we have to hammer everything down home right now.”
For what it’s worth, the 2024 team, even with all the momentum on its side, fell flat in its must-win game at Baylor, and didn’t put up much of a fight in a noncompetitive 45-17 loss. How will this year’s team react against Utah when it enters with much less pep in its step?
“You got to challenge the group, you got to go to work, got a short week, got all the things that we have,” Leipold said. “We’ve been playing for that sixth win for a while. We’ve talked about where they want to be, and do they really want to do it.”
Daniels, also the starting quarterback last year against Baylor (and for much of the Leipold era), said the main thing he learned from that experience of faltering in the decisive game was that “excitement is key.”
“At the end of the day you’re going to lose motivation,” Daniels said. “But if the people around you are continuing to keep you motivated and don’t let you get down, that’s how you continue to go out there and play and do what you love to do on a day-to-day basis.”
There should be no shortage of motivated Jayhawks entering Black Friday. It’s not just a chance to prolong the season for one more game, but for a large chunk of the team it will be senior day, the Jayhawks’ last chance to play at David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium. That includes program lifers like Daniels, running back Daniel Hishaw Jr. and defensive tackles Kenean Caldwell, Tommy Dunn Jr. and D.J. Withers, as well as impactful one-year transfers like defensive end Justice Finkley (a team captain), wide receiver Emmanuel Henderson Jr., linebacker Bangally Kamara, kicker Laith Marjan and running back Leshon Williams — and everyone in between.
“We’ve got a bunch of really good young men playing their last regular-season football game,” Leipold said. “I think we owe it to them to put our best efforts out from the time we get on this bus to finish watching this film, turn the page and start on Utah.”
As Daniels said, KU needs to continue to hone in on the issues that have plagued it since it kicked off with high hopes back on Aug. 23, and even before then. But once again for the Jayhawks, just like last year, they now enter what is effectively a one-week season that starts on Sunday and ends with game day.
“The last 11 weeks didn’t happen and it’s go 1-0 this week,” redshirt senior tight end Boden Groen said. “You have two teams that are going to show up and records don’t matter, and go out there and give it your best fight.”
