A little more than five minutes into Saturday’s game, the Kansas University football team held a 10-0 lead, had picked up a couple of stops on defense, forced a turnover and looked sharp on offense.
For a brief period of time, Kansas actually looked like the better, more prepared team.
But things evened out dramatically during the next quarter and a half and ultimately tipped heavily in Memphis’ favor before the fourth quarter even arrived. At that point, it was just another long night for a program that has seen so many of them during the past five seasons.
Yes, the Jayhawks kept fighting and, yes, believe it or not, there were some signs of progress and improvement. But those were small and hard to see and KU, now more than ever, is staring at the very real possibility of finishing a season winless for just the second time in 126 seasons of KU football.
There’s a lot of football left to play and there’s no doubt that anything can happen. So it may be way too early to jump to those kinds of conclusions. But the opponents are only going to get harder and this team clearly has a ton of work to do to get to the point where it’s competing with anybody.
The biggest silver lining for the Jayhawks right now, however, is that these guys understand that and seem unafraid of going through it.
Quick takeaway
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Two things are now clear about this Kansas football team — the defense needs some serious work and the success of the offense, though improved and certainly more exciting, depends so heavily on the play of the quarterback, which, on Saturday, was less than stellar. Memphis was a solid team in 2014 and appears to have another strong team this season. But there’s no reason that the Jayhawks could not have been more competitive against a team of that caliber, particularly after starting with a 10-0 lead. The fact that they weren’t is one of the strongest signs yet of just how deep of a hole the program is in and just how difficult it’s going to be to climb out of it.
Three reasons to smile
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**1 – Ke’aun Kinner can flat-out play and KU’s going to need him** to be great to have any chance during the rest of the season. The junior-college transfer who emerged as KU’s best back after a solid spring and quality camp became the first Jayhawk since James Sims in 2013 to run for 100-plus yards in back-to-back games. Early on, it looked as if Kinner might wind up with 50 carries, as the Jayhawks handed it to him on five of the first six plays from scrimmage and 10 times by the 9:48 mark of the first quarter. KU backed off of that pace, largely because the deficit grew so quickly, but, even with the lopsided loss, Kinner, who finished with 113 yards and a TD on 16 carries, further established himself as a real talent.
**2 – Although it didn’t matter much toward the outcome, it was definitely a good sign that the Jayhawks improved in a couple of areas** in which they struggled mightily in the opener. The tackling, as a whole, was better and KU came out of the gates much better, carving out a 10-0 lead and forcing an early turnover instead of falling behind 31-7 as it did last week. Unfortunately for the Jayhawks, the games are four quarters long and those gains, though encouraging, were not big enough to help deliver a victory.
**3 – This two-kicker system seems like it just might work.** Credit Nick “Yoda” Bartolotta for staying perfect this season on the “short” kicks. Bartolotta knocked in two more field goals and two extra points in Saturday’s loss. But long-range bomber Matthew Wyman, who had another good day as the kickoff specialist, finally got a chance to show off his leg, hitting from 51 yards midway through the fourth quarter when the game was already out of reach. Given the struggles of the defense and the potent nature of the rest of their opponents, field goals probably aren’t going to be that important for the Jayhawks this season. But should there come a time where the three-point try is crucial, it’s good to see Kansas has it covered, short or long.
Three reasons to sigh
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**1 – As good as he was in the opener at times, junior QB Montell Cozart was equally that bad in this one.** It wasn’t all his fault, though. Cozart was running for his life for much of the game, as the protection in front of him consistently broke down. That forced him to make some bad throws or throw some balls away and also kept him from getting comfortable enough to make good throws when he did have time. Cozart completed just 46 percent of his passes (one week after completing 66 percent) and threw for 118 yards. Week 1 was a fantastic step forward for the junior QB, but it was against FCS competition. Week 2 was a step backwards and there’s no telling where things will go from here.
**2 – Even if Cozart had been Cam Newton, it might not have mattered given the way the defense played.** For the second week in a row, the defense gave up big plays, big chunks of yards and a big point total, creating legit concern that this group is a long, long way from being anywhere close to ready to compete in the Big 12. Memphis racked up 651 yards on just 79 plays and averaged 8.2 yards per play. The 55 points came even with the Tigers giving up three turnovers. There were far fewer missed tackles, but the secondary played way too passive and the guys up front got pushed around by Memphis’ bigger and more experienced offensive line.
**3 – While the “earn it” philosophy is solid in theory, I’m not sure it’s doing KU any favors at the quarterback position.** In Week 1, Cozart was sent to the bench for two plays after getting banged up and freshman Ryan Willis went in to replace him. Beaty said after the game that Willis had earned the right to be the Jayhawks’ No. 2 QB, a promising sign given KU’s struggles at the position during the past few years and Willis’ long-term potential as an answer. But then Saturday, during the fourth quarter of a game that was already decided, junior-college transfer Deondre Ford went in as KU’s No. 2 guy. Beaty said after the game that Ford had out-played Willis during the week and, therefore, earned the opportunity. But based both on what I’ve heard and seen, I don’t think Ford is the answer, now or in the future, so it seems at least a little strange that Beaty and company would not have wanted to get Willis some more live reps in case he is needed sooner rather than later. For the record, freshman Carter Stanley did not suit up for Saturday’s game.
One for the road
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KU’s loss to Memphis in Week 2…
• Dropped the Jayhawks’ all-time record to 579-600-58.
• Marked just the fifth non-conference home loss in 32 tries dating back to the 2003 season.
• Included a Kansas defense forcing Memphis to lose three fumbles in the game, the most loose balls recovered by a Jayhawk defense since also pouncing on three mishandles at Oklahoma State, Nov. 10, 2007.
• Featured KU giving up the most total yards of offense since Baylor rolled to 669 yards in 2014.
Next up
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The Jayhawks (0-2) will have their lone bye of the 2015 season this week and will not play again until they travel to Rutgers for a Sept. 26 kickoff in New Jersey.
Rutgers dropped to 1-1 with a 37-34 home loss to Washington State last weekend and will play at Penn State on Saturday night before hosting the Jayhawks.
