Kansas football falls to last in Big 12 Power Rankings amid Jayhawks descent

After entering the regular season ranked for the first time in 15 years, the 2024 campaign has not been kind to Kansas football. Lance Leipold and the Jayhawks have quickly gone from potential College Football Playoff contenders to rock bottom in the Big 12 Conference.

KU fans have endured some pretty horrific football showings over the past decade or so, but nobody could have prepared for what we would see through the season's midpoint. Following a five-game losing streak, Kansas has slid all the way down to 16th in On3.com's Big 12 Football Power Rankings. Where did we go wrong?

Kansas football slides to 16th in Big 12 Power Rankings after ASU loss

Considering the program had been trending in the right direction each year since Leipold took over at the helm, being ranked below lower-tier schools such as Houston and Baylor is incredibly disheartening.

Kansas blew yet another lead to Arizona State over the weekend despite entering the fourth quarter with a lead. The Sun Devils scored a go-ahead touchdown with 16 seconds remaining, marking the third time in 2024 that the Jayhawks allowed an eventual game-winning score with two or fewer minutes to go. Yikes!

Still in search of its first FBS win of the year, KU has time to sort things out with a bye week before a homecoming matchup against Houston. Then, there are three consecutive contests against ranked teams, all of whom sit at the top half of the conference's standings. Things certainly won't get easier from here.

While quarterback Jalon Daniels, offensive coordinator Jeff Grimes, and the rest of the offense shouldered the blame through the first few games, the defense has gotten worse each week. It has allowed 110 points over KU's past three meetings, an average of 35 per contest. The Jayhawks are simply not a cohesive football team right now. We suppose it can't get worse from this point, but knowing what a disaster this season has been, nothing should be ruled out yet.