Big win over Iowa State makes 2024 Kansas football season all the more frustrating

All season long, Kansas football fans were searching for the team that had high anticipations in the offseason. There were glimpses of last year’s 9-4 Jayhawks, but they never lived up to the expectations many people held them to coming into the year.

That team finally showed up yesterday when No. 17 Iowa State came into town. The Jayhawks dominated on both ends of the field in the first half en route to a 45-36 victory. Despite the win, Kansas still can't afford to lose another game if it plans to maintain bowl eligibility. It highlights the fact that this squad was capable of achieving more favorable outcomes all year.

Kansas football finally played like the team they are capable of being

Don’t get us wrong, we’re thrilled that Kansas picked up a ranked victory to keep its postseason hopes alive. But man, how great would it be if the Jayhawks just closed out two or three of their losses when they inexplicably threw the game away? 

Take a look at practically any game on the schedule, and you could have drawn out a clear path to victory. The pick-six at the end of the half vs. Illinois, surrendering game-winning touchdowns in the final 30 seconds against West Virginia and Arizona State, multiple players failing to recover a potentially game-sealing UNLV fumble, or Jalon Daniels coughing up the football at the worst time possible in the Sunflower Showdown. The list goes on and on.

We're going to go out on a hunch and say there haven't been many 3-6 teams with a +52 point differential. While 'what-if' scenarios are useless, you can't help but wonder as a Jayhawk football fan. The only loss that wasn’t a very winnable game was against TCU, who didn’t really give KU a chance down the stretch.

Unfortunately, this showing was a bit too late for it to mean anything in the long run. It would be wishful thinking to assume they can string three consecutive wins together against undefeated BYU, No. 21 Colorado, and Baylor on the road. The best chance to make a bowl game is to become one of those unlikely 5-7 exceptions.