Heading into the 2025 season, the Kansas Jayhawks had looked as if they had begun to get things right. After welcoming 28 transfers to the squad, along with the fresh promotions of D.K McDonald to defensive coordinator and of Jim Zebrowski to offensive coordinator, the Jayhawks seemed on pace to at least get to a bowl game.
Things started off as well as you could have asked. A 3-1 start whose only falter came against a red-hot Missouri in a tight 42-31 loss was nothing to be upset about.
While a shootout 37-34 loss to the Cincinnati Bearcats was a backbreaker, considering the Jayhawks had the lead with under a minute to go. Kansas recovered with a big-time win against the UCF Golden Knights, which propped Kansas up to a 4-2 start, well on pace to achieve another successful season under Lance Leipold.
However, back-to-back 42-17 losses against No. 9 Texas Tech and Kansas State began a slide that saw Kansas win just one game through the rest of the season, a 38-21 win over bottom-dweller Oklahoma State. With losses to Arizona (24-20), Iowa State (38-14), and a 31-21 loss to the No. 13 Utah Utes
“Granted, even sniffing bowl eligibility is still a pretty new thing for Kansas after the epic futility of the 2010s,” quoted ESPN’s Bill Connelly in his Ranking college football disappointments from 2025 season piece
“But after falling to 5-7 with a 1-5 record in one-score games in 2024, Lance Leipold's Jayhawks looked poised to rebound this fall and started 3-1. But thanks in part to another couple of tight losses, they again stumbled to 5-7.”
Since the season’s end, Kansas has taken steps forward, despite 25 transfers set to leave. Leipold and his squad, which welcomes back Andy Kotelnicki to an associate head coaching role, and a growing influx of transfers, which have reached 14 as of publishing.
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