Kansas football vs Oklahoma: Jayhawks show improvement in loss
In a 20-45 loss, Kansas football may not have won, but the improvement is noticeable. The Jayhawks will need to continue to develop this season if Les Miles wants long-term success in Lawrence.
Kansas football has been up and down and up and down this season. It seems like they’ll win or at least play a competitive game, then turn around the next week and have an embarrassing performance.
After last week’s brutal loss at TCU, the Jayhawks were far from the favorite this week against Oklahoma. As 33 point underdogs, Kansas didn’t do too bad all things considered.
When the game was tied 7-7, defensive back Mike Lee dropped what would have been a pick-six had he caught the ball. Kansas players got boneheaded penalties, missed tackles, and ultimately shot themselves in the foot too many times to have a shot in this one.
Probably one of the most glaring problems was Kansas’ ineffective pass rush. It seemed like Oklahoma quarterback Jalen Hurts had all day to throw the football, and when you give a potential Heisman trophy winner that much time, good things will not happen.
It would have taken a perfect performance, but Kansas just couldn’t pull it off. Still, that doesn’t mean that this was a bad performance by the Kansas football team.
Once again, Miles has shown that he can rally the troops after a bad loss and adversity. The rest of this season isn’t going to get any easier, so Miles will undoubtedly have to be able to motivate the team, even if the odds aren’t in favor of the Jayhawks.
Quarterback Carter Stanley also had some beautiful throws today, and he ended up going 18/28 for 230 yards, three touchdowns, and no interceptions. Running back Pooka Williams rushed for 137 yards and seemed to almost be back to his old ways.
The playcalling on offense seemed to be much better as well, unlike last weekend at TCU when Kansas could barely move the football.
Kansas football will need to continue its progress this season, whether that means wins or at least being respectable. The bar isn’t raised super high, so the Jayhawks should hopefully be able to meet those expectations.
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Kansas will have a bye week next weekend, before taking on Texas in Austin on October 19. Oklahoma will travel to Austin to play Texas next week in what should be an interesting game for the fate of the Big 12 this season.