The Kansas football team makes its 2025 debut on August 23, in front of an excited home crowd. After playing all their home games last year in a soccer stadium (Children's Mercy Park and an NFL venue (GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium), the Jayhawks return to Lawrence and the newly renovated David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium.
KU will open with Fresno State, which went 6-7 and lost in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl to Northern Illinois. The Bulldogs are a member of the Mountain West Conference.
Kansas Jayhawks versus Fresno State Bulldogs early odds and stuff
According to BetMGM, the Kansas football team is favored in its week zero season opener against Fresno State by 12.5 points, nine days in advance of the game. Of course, this line could move between now and kickoff at 5:30 CDT on the 23rd.
The money line sits at Kansas -500 and Fresno State +375. The over/under line is a robust 50.5 points. Those are pretty strong lines leaning toward the Jayhawks, especially considering all of the unknowns going into this game regarding Kansas.
Outside of quarterback Jalon Daniels and Daniel Hishaw Jr., the KU offense is completely restocked at the skill positions, mainly with transfer portal acquisitions. Head coach Lance Leipold and his staff need to get all of these new pieces to meld together quickly.
The Jayhawks should get a boost of adrenaline from the home crowd in a mostly new stadium. The fans should be fired up and ready to usher in a new era for Kansas football.
Whether or not that energy will translate to success on the field against an FBS opponent remains to be seen. The oddsmakers think the Jayhawks should win comfortably, but performances can be uneven during the first game of the season, especially with so many new pieces.
It will be interesting to see if these odds move much over the next nine days. Only an injury to Daniels would affect things from the Kansas perspective.