When evaluating any team's projected record, what you can control will always come first. A balanced offense and a stout defense will always lay the groundwork for what should be a successful hour of football. Yet, when you think of the little margins that the game will throw at you, certain things gain a lot more valuable light. If you are a team like Kansas, which has a poor recent history of turning those tight margins into wins. The things you can't control certainly hold much more value
One of the easiest things to point your fingers at is your opponent. According to CBS Sports' Shehan Jeyarajah, the Jayhawks have a favorable schedule heading into the start of the new campaign, as Jeyarajah placed Kansas with the 13th-easiest schedule in the Big 12
"The Jayhawks' schedule features battles against two of the top three teams in the conference and an emotional road trip to play Missouri for the first time since 2011. Outside of that, though, Kansas plays the bottom five projected teams in the Big 12 and gets four teams that finished with losing records at home. Even the hardest stretch of at Texas Tech and vs. Kansas State consecutively has a bye week in between."
How much will the revamped David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium help?
It is key to remember that last season, the Jayhawks did not play a single true home game last season. In Leipold's second and third season Kansas has held an impressive 9-4 record at home. With the recent renovations made and the hype building around Kansas' week zero and one games being at home, Leipold can steady out, especially when hosting Kansas State and Utah towards the latter-end of the season.
Final Thoughts
Now, while this should provide a sigh of relief for Jayhawk fans, the game isn't won on paper. How will the new transfers pan out? There have been two in-house promotions of assistant coaches to coordinator positions in both D.K. McDonald and Jim Zebrowski for the defensive and offensive coordinator positions, respectively.
We have seen head coach Lance Leipold do a tremendous job of leading Kansas back into an outside shout of winning the Big 12, and with star quarterback Jalon Daniels leading under center again, the potential of pushing the Big 12 to the max is there for Leipold's team. Having a favorable strength of schedule like the Jayhawks do is something positive to look at with the expectations