It’s time for Kansas football to end the losing streaks against Baylor

There have been a lot of streaks broken for the Kansas football program since Lance Leipold took over as head coach.

Last year, they beat Texas in Austin for the first time in school history. This year, they beat West Virginia for the first time in Morgantown. They also ended a 56-game conference road losing streak – the longest in college football history.

The Jayhawks haven’t beaten the Bears since 2007 … the year KU would go on to win the Orange Bowl. That means Baylor is on a 12-game win streak heading into this weekend.

KU has also never beaten Baylor in Waco.

The Jayhawks have an opportunity to end both of those losing streaks on Saturday, and this may be their best chance to do it in over a decade.

Recipe for an upset

This is not the same Baylor team that won the Big 12 a season ago and it’s shown the past few weeks.

The Bears come into this game at 3-3 on the year and 1-2 in Big 12 play.

Following a home defeat against Oklahoma State, the Bears suffered a close loss at West Virginia last Thursday and lost their starting QB Blake Shapen to a head injury during the game.

Shapen returned to practice this week, but it was reported that he suffered a concussion against the Mountaineers. If he plays, it’s a good bet that he’s not going to be 100%, and any pressure the Jayhawks can force will likely throw him off his game.

The Bears offense has given up 12 sacks this year – which bodes well for players like Lonnie Phelps and Malcolm Lee to get that much-needed pressure.

Baylor will also be without their second leading rusher Craig “Sqwirl” Williams after he suffered a head injury against West Virginia as well.

The Jayhawks have their share of injury concerns after losing starting cornerback Cobee Bryant to a leg injury last week against Oklahoma, losing quarterback Jalon Daniels the week prior against TCU, and running back Daniel Hishaw against Iowa State.

Despite the injuries, the Jayhawks have shown they can still score with the best in the conference.

In their loss against now-top-10-ranked TCU, the Jayhawks scored 31 points and outgained the Horned Frogs in passing yards (351 vs. 308), rushing yards (189 vs. 144), and total yards (540 vs. 452). Backup quarterback Jason Bean was responsible for 34 yards rushing, 262 yards passing, and 4 touchdowns in that game.

In their loss against Oklahoma, the Jayhawks put up 42 points and 430 total yards (265 passing, 165 rushing). Those are numbers that win games more often than not.

What doomed KU in both of those losses was primarily poor defense and inopportune turnovers.

If the Jayhawks can pressure the quarterback, take care of the football, and get stops on defense, they will have a great chance at winning this game.

Homecoming revenge

This is the second week in a row where KU is having to face a team as part of Homecoming weekend. During a press conference this week, Leipold spoke about how he hopes that changes going forward.

"“In most cases, schools strategically pick a Homecoming game,” said Leipold. “And we have to make sure we work to not be people’s Homecoming game.”"

What better way to reward Baylor for picking Kansas than to spoil their Homecoming and end two, dreadful losing streaks along the way?

The Jayhawks have a chance to do all of those things and become bowl eligible for the first time in 13 years with a win tomorrow.

Kansas and Baylor kick off at 11 a.m. CT on ESPN2.