Peyton Bender: Just right for Kansas football
By Stan Unruh
Kansas football fans finally saw much publicized transfer quarterback Peyton Bender in action Saturday. Bender threw four touchdown passes in the Jayhawk win.
The Kansas football team announced in November Peyton Bender’s commitment to transfer. He had a golden arm and knew how to run the up-tempo Air-Raid offense. If we heard once, we heard a million times that Bender played for Mike Leach at Washington State. I heard it a million times last week. Well, Bender is as good as advertised and just right for this team.
Since that November announcement, most fans expected Bender would inherit the starting quarterback job. On the other hand, Jayhawk head coach David Beaty would never reveal who his opening night signal caller. He even refused to allow a starting quarterback’s name on the Memorial Stadium scoreboard before the game. Beaty wanted the starter to, “earn it” too.
Bender did just that and more in the 38-16 season opening victory over Southeast Missouri. In addition to Bender, I wanted to see him run this Doug Meacham version of the Air Raid offense. It didn’t take Bender long to show his stuff. On the Jayhawks third play from scrimmage in the 2017 season he hit Steven Sims, Jr. for a 77-yard touchdown.
Ok, I know this is just Southeast Missouri State but I was impressed. With Bender running the Air Raid, the Jayhawks first two possessions gained over 100-yards and two touchdowns. That is what we expected. The second two Kansas drives resulted in a total of less than five yards. Even so the game’s outcome was never in doubt. Forget the two interceptions, Bender’s 360 yards and four TD passes showed me why he is the right choice to lead the team.
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Certainly, Beaty and Meacham did not reveal much of what Bender and this high-speed offense can do. They need to save something to surprise Big 12 foes when the conference season opens in a few weeks. I’m just glad we saw a taste of the exciting possibilities ahead for this season. Hang on, with Bender running the offense, it is going to be a fun ride.