How many wins can Kansas football expect this season?

With less than a week until the Jayhawks begin their season, what are some realistic expectations for Les Miles and Kansas football?

Nine games. Nine. That’s how many times the Kansas Jayhawks have won in the past five years. For a little perspective, Kansas won a total of 38 games from 2005 through 2009. To say the past few years have been rough would be an understatement. The Jayhawks are on their fourth coach in less than ten years and an aura of instability has surrounded the program for longer than that.

With the hiring of Les Miles, the cycle begins again for Kansas football and its fans. The question is: will this hire be any different? If Miles wants to “break the cycle” it certainly won’t happen in the first year. That being said, what would differentiate a good first season and a disaster in the Les Miles era?

The thing about Kansas football is that there aren’t any givens. Take the first game of the season against Indiana State as an example. The Jayhawks will be without star running back Pooka Williams, who will be serving a one-game suspension. Not only that, but Kansas embarrassingly lost last year’s season opener against Nicholls State.

Ultimately, one has to be realistic when viewing the schedule. It’s hard to see Kansas winning more than four games this season. While it isn’t a given, Kansas has a good opportunity to pick up a pair of wins to start off the season against Indiana State and Coastal Carolina. Other winnable games include Boston College, West Virginia, and Kansas State. It’s likely that the Jayhawks will pick up at least one win from these three; however, if Kansas wins against Boston College in week three, they have a good chance of having a four or five-win season.

So what would constitute a successful season in terms of wins and losses for Les Miles? Should the Jayhawks win four or more, Miles would have exceeded expectations, and laid the groundwork for the following season.

While three wins would be a disappointment, it isn’t a disaster. There’d still be time for Miles to right the ship, but if the 2020 season would yield the same results, then Miles would certainly not be in a good position.

Finally, anything less than two wins would be an abject catastrophe. All the hype for the future would be gone, and it’d make the road ahead just that much tougher for Kansas football.