Kansas football: Five things Kansas must do to beat TCU

Kansas football is coming off a close 24-29 loss last week to West Virginia. This week, the Jayhawks are taking on the TCU Horned Frogs on the road as both teams will be looking to pick up their first Big 12 win.

The Jayhawks had a competitive loss last week against the Mountaineers, but Kansas football still has a long way to go considering West Virginia isn’t great. Last week, #25 TCU took on SMU and got beat 41-38 at home.

Now unranked, TCU has shown that they can be beat at home, and the Jayhawks have already shown that they can win on the road.

TCU is a winnable game, but it won’t be easy. As of now, the Jayhawks are a 16 point underdog, but Kansas has already shown that odds don’t tell the whole story. Here’s what the Jayhawks have to do if they want to pull off another road upset this week:

 1. Control time of possession

Last week, Kansas would have had a much better chance of winning if they could have got their defense off the field more often. West Virginia dominated the time of possession with about a seven-minute advantage over Kansas.

The lack of rest showed in the defense, as they began missing tackles. Still, the Kansas defense did a great job despite having everything but the kitchen sink thrown at them.

2. Win the turnover battle

Kansas has yet to force more turnovers than it commits in a single game this season. That will have to change if the Jayhawks expect to win games or even compete in them. The bottom line is that this team isn’t good enough to make mistakes.

TCU had three fumbles last week against SMU, so perhaps this will be the first game that Kansas will create more turnovers than it commits. Also, the defense hasn’t had a single interception since week one against Indiana State, so they should be due for one.

TCU QB Max Duggan didn’t play great last week, going 16/36; however, Duggan didn’t throw any picks.  The Kansas defense will look to take advantage of Duggan’s inaccuracy this week.

3. Convert on third down

Kansas football has struggled to convert on third down this season. Last week, the Jayhawks converted on third down only four out of ten times the entire game. A 40% conversion success rate isn’t going to cut it if Kansas is going to have long, sustained drives.

One of the biggest reason the Jayhawks are failing to convert is the lack of imaginative play calling. It seemed like the basic template for every Kansas drive was run on first down, then run again on second down, then pass on third down if there were more than five yards to go.

Converting on third down will lead to longer drives, which will help Kansas in terms of the time of possession as well.

4. Respond to adversity

So far this season, Kansas has done an exceptional job of not giving up. Going down 10 against Boston College on the road or even going down 10 to West Virginia at home are both two great examples of the Jayhawks being resilient.

Quarterback Carter Stanley has also shown how well he responds to adversity. For example, not letting his fumble or interception last week derail him for the entire game. That type of poise is important to have in the leader of a team, and that poise could really help keep the Jayhawks calm when things go sideways

5. Have a “road dog” mentality

Kansas likely won’t be favored again for the rest of the season. Still, the Jayhawks went on the road to Boston College as a 20 point underdog and won 48-24. The Jayhawks will need to come into the game this week with the same idea of it being them against the world.

TCU is on shaky ground, and if Kansas can come in and score early, TCU may run out of confidence having taken a loss to a group of five team at home last week.  Even if Kansas doesn’t come out hot, just sticking with TCU and giving themselves a chance to win may be enough to actually pull off the win.

Les Miles has shown he can rally the troops after tough losses and hopefully he can get the guys ready to go again this week. With any luck, the game will have a similar outcome to that of the Boston College game and Kansas football will pick up its first conference win of the season.