Back when I was in grade school and high school, we received report cards every quarter to gauge our progress in the classes we took. It also happens to be the quarter point of the season for David Beaty’s Kansas Jayhawks. Over the next few posts, we’ll grade offense, defense, and other aspects of the program. Today, we’ll start with offense.
Passing Game
At his opening press conference, David Beaty promised a “fast-paced, up-tempo” offense designed to put pressure on defenses and stretch the field both horizontally and vertically, like many Air Raid schemes across the country. The statistics bear out that Beaty is making progress on this goal. The Jayhawk passing game has averaged 266 yards per game so far, good for 36th in the country. Kansas quarterbacks are also averaging 7.4 yards per attempt, good for 64th in the nation. With regard to efficiency, quarterbacks Montell Cozart and Ryan Willis have a passing efficiency rating of 147.1, 46th in the nation. Cozart and Willis have also been very accurate this season, completing 66.7% of their passes, 14th best in college football.
For context, this has been a massive improvement over last season, admittedly against much weaker competition so far. In 2015, Kansas quarterbacks (mostly Ryan Willis) threw for only 219 yards per game, only 69th in the country. Willis was far less accurate last season than in 2016, as the Jayhawks only completed 53.8% of their passing attempts. One might assume that Kansas took more shots downfield last season, hence the lower accuracy, but this has not been the case. Last year, Jayhawk quarterbacks averaged 5.8 yards per attempt, a putrid 113th in the Football Bowl Subdivision. In large part, the gains in the passing attack have been helped by a much-improved receiving corps, led by LaQuvionte Gonzalez and Steven Sims, allowing the Jayhawks to have legitimate downfield threats, an element missing in 2015.
On the negative side of the ledger, the Jayhawks haven’t capitalized on more deep passes, improving only marginally on yards per completion, from 10.8 to 11.1. Part of this can be explained by the lack of improvement on the offensive line. While the line has only allowed two sacks all season (hard to believe, I know), it has been in part because Beaty’s playcalling has been quite conservative, emphasizing the short and intermediate passing game over deep shots downfield. Willis and Cozart have been slightly worse at throwing interceptions this year as well, throwing an interception for every 27 attempts, where in 2015 it was only one interception per 32. Willis and Cozart do need to work on ball security, already losing a fumble a piece this year, after only losing four all of last season.
Grade: B
Running Game
When a team, such as the Jayhawks, has an inexperienced and underdeveloped offensive line, the most difficult place to hide them is the running game. Even against fairly week competition, the lack of good line play has hurt the Jayhawks in the running game. So far, Kansas has only rushed for 318 yards, 112th in the country. This lack of yardage isn’t for lack of attempts, either. With only 3.9 yards per carry, Kansas ranks 95th in the country.
Shockingly, this is actually an improvement over last year in most categories. In 2015, the Jayhawks averaged a measly 3.1 yards per rushing attempt, 123rd in the country. In addition, the Jayhawks only gained 113 yards per game on the ground, only 121st in the country. I should note that, in part, these numbers are made far worse by the college football rule where sack yards count as rushing yards. Kansas racked up 267 sack yards last year, eighth worst in the country. In 2016, Jayhawk quarterbacks have only been sacked twice for 13 yards.
When comparing running backs, Kansas has improved in the running game in 2016. Ke’aun Kinner, last year and this year’s leading rusher, has improved, from 4.2 to 5.6 yards per carry. Khalil Herbert and Taylor Martin have also added an explosive element to the running game. Herbert’s 66 yard run last week, and Martin’s 33 yard scamper on opening weekend have been KU’s longest running plays of the season. Kansas running backs have also been terrific at ball security this year, never losing a fumble.
Grade: C
Overall
There’s no doubt that Kansas has improved this year, though not at the rate that many fans hoped. The offense hasn’t boosted production from the same point last season, from 426 in 2015 to 372 per game in 2016. However, the 2016 Jayhawks are averaging more yards per play, at 5.9 vs. 5.4 at the same point in 2015. I look for KU to continue to improve throughout the season on offense, even though the numbers may not show it in conference play.
Grade: C+