Kansas football: Les Miles needs to be less involved in the offense

It seems Les Miles is still heavily involved in the Jayhawks’ offense but is that good for Kansas football?

Kansas football has been outscored 69-23 in their past two games after taking Texas to the wire and beating Texas Tech. What changed between now and then?

When Brent Dearmon took over for Les Koenning as the new offensive coordinator, the Jayhawks saw immediate improvement as evidenced by the Texas Tech and Texas games. Kansas scored 82 points over those two weeks and had over 500 yards of total offense in those two games.

The excitement was real for this new and exciting Jayhawk offense. Kansas football fans were ready to pay Dearmon whatever he wanted just to keep him here.

Then, Kansas faced off against in-state rival Kansas State.

The Jayhawks got embarrassed in Lawrence and only scored 10 points, seven of which were in garbage time.

Kansas followed that performance up with a 31-13 loss the following week on the road against Oklahoma State. That’s when things became apparent.

After the game, starting quarterback Carter Stanley gave media and fans a glimpse into who’s been calling the shots recently for Kansas. It seems that Les Miles is still involved with the offense “a very good amount” according to Stanley.

Looking back at the game, there were certainly moments that had “Les Miles” written all over them.

Kansas football fans had their suspicions when the heavy sets, the toss sweeps, and the “ground and pound” style were all prevalent, but now it seems to be confirmed by Stanley. The fact that Les Miles is still trying to control this offense after Dearmon’s success is baffling.

It makes one wonder about former offensive coordinator Les Koenning, who Miles fired after Kansas lost to Oklahoma in week six. If Miles is implementing his style into Dearmon’s system, it’s almost certain that he was doing the same to Koenning.

The Jayhawk offense was brutal under Koenning, but now, it may not even really have been Koenning’s fault. If Miles is negatively impacting Dearmon this much, then can Koenning really be blamed for the offensive struggles?

Right now, Kansas football just isn’t built to be a power running team. Pooka Williams isn’t the kind of back that you keep running between the tackles, and the offensive line just isn’t where it needs to be.

Maybe if Miles stays here and recruits the players that he wants, his system will be more successful, but in the meantime, Dearmon may not be here super long.

Dearmon and Miles seem to have totally different opinions on how the offense should work in terms of style, which very could lead to Dearmon taking a job somewhere else.

That isn’t to say Dearmon and Miles are confrontational, but there seems to be some obvious disconnect. On their relationship, Stanley said, “They (Miles and Dearmon) work together and it’s a good deal.”

When the Jayhawks play Iowa State on the road next week, it’ll be interesting to see which style we see more of. Hopefully, it’s more Dearmon than Miles.

The weirdest part about all of this is that Miles is still taking control after Dearmon proved himself against Texas and Texas Tech. The bottom line is that Dearmon’s system was working. He’s a young up and comer that has a good track record as an OC, why not allow him to do his thing, especially now that there isn’t a chance for a bowl game this season?