The Kansas Jayhawks are, once again, coming off another disappointing loss. This time around, the Jayhawks found a new way to lose the game. Kansas built a 28-17 lead over West Virginia with 5:39 left in the game and somehow blew it. The defense, which has generally been good this season, allowed back-to-back touchdown drives after the Kansas offense went three and out with 2:28 remaining. Kansas got the ball back and got it into West Virginia territory before Jalon Daniels committed his second turnover of the day, fumbling the ball and ultimately ending the game. Could this be rock bottom for the Jayhawks?
This game wasn’t the exact same story as the previous losses to UNLV and Illinois. In previous weeks, it had been an interception right before halftime that led to touchdowns by the opponents and ultimately cost the Jayhawks a win when the game ended within six points and three points, respectively. Different story, same result. Kansas once again lost by single digits to an opponent they should have beat. It has become a trend. But is this really rock bottom for the Jayhawks?
Kansas football fans should know about rock bottom. In 2020, a year when COVID-19 already ruined the world as we once knew it, the Jayhawks went 0-9. Anytime your team can go a full season without a win, that’s about as rock bottom as it gets. Kansas can’t do that this year, but going winless the rest of the season would be just about as bad, maybe worse, considering the expectations that this team had going into the season. Many people had Kansas as a team to watch for a potential run at the Big 12 Championship. They were a Top 25 team before the season began. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves though, there’s plenty of season left.
Not that any team should ever be looking ahead in the first place, but there’s no reason to look ahead at this point in the season. It’s one game at a time, and it starts with TCU this week. The Jayhawks will host the Horned Frogs for their first home game at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri, this Saturday at 2:30 pm. The more losses that continue to pile up, the worse things will be for the Jayhawks, especially in a stadium they were hoping to fill in a season with high expectations. Now, they may be lucky enough to fill a quarter of the stadium at this point, but they will need to earn the trust of the fan base again. TCU isn’t even the toughest team they’ll face in conference play this season, but this team needs a win to stop the bleeding.
Coming into this game, TCU is 2-2 on the season and coming off back-to-back losses. They had a close 35-34 loss at home to UCF before getting trounced by SMU on the road last weekend 66-42. This is a game when KU’s offense needs to get back on track. TCU has scored 34 or more points in every game this season so the defense will need to step up their game as well. However, this could be a game that turns into a shootout. Something like a 45-42 final score wouldn’t be surprising.
One thing is certain for the Jayhawks: the losing streak needs to come to an end. Not only are the Jayhawks hopes and dreams of playing in a Big 12 championship going to be dashed with another conference loss, but their hopes of making it to a bowl game will become slimmer and slimmer by the week. A win over TCU could get the Jayhawks back on track. They don’t have the toughest Big 12 schedule ahead, but now teams have seen the cracks this team has put on film over the past few weeks and the coaches need to get together and correct these mistakes going forward. Jalon Daniels needs to protect the football and not throw silly interceptions.
There’s no reason this team should be 1-3 heading into Week 5 of the college football season but that’s exactly where Kansas finds themselves at this moment. It’s not rock bottom, but times are getting more desperate by the day in Jayhawk nation.
