As diagnosed earlier this month, if Kansas wants to make it to three bowl games in six years under Lance Leipold, it starts with an elite home record. Thankfully, a lot of Kansas’ true 2026 home slate is manageable.
On the road, however, things feel a little different.
Whether it is the team they are set to face or the environment they are set to play in, there is no room for slacking. Today’s task is to rank all five of the Jayhawks’ away games in 2026.
No. 5 West Virginia
While this is what is being listed as the “easiest” road game KU had this year, that is more of a testament to how strong their schedule is rather than a weak opposition. Last season the Mountaineers were in heavy transition for Rich Rodriguez’s first year back in Morgantown, and this season things are a lot more settled. According to ESPN analytics, KU has a 49.6% chance of winning this game, and fair warning, those percentages drop as this list wears on.
No. 4 TCU
The biggest thing going for KU is the fact that TCU may just be looking slightly further down their schedule and they accidentally overlook the Jayhawks. Sonny Dykes has notched 34 wins in four seasons, a stellar record, and while the Horned Frogs are losing Josh Hoover, Jaden Craig from Harvard is no slouch. Dykes is an elite coach with a proven history of turning his quarterbacks into touchdown machines.
No. 3 Oklahoma State
The worst part about this matchup is that these two sides will meet on the second-to-last week of the season. If this were an earlier matchup, it would have slipped down the list as new head coach Eric Morris may still have been acclimating to the rigors of life in the Big 12. But with this scheduled so late, there is a great chance they will be entering this game soaring high. It also doesn’t help that they are bringing in the likes of Drew Mestemaker and Caleb Hawkins. More on that can be found here.
No. 2 Utah
No, it doesn’t feel right to have a team that can realistically challenge for the Big 12 in second place on this list. Of course, losing Kyle Whittingham hurts their placement, but Morgan Scalley has been with the program since 2006, starting as an administrative assistant and working himself up the food chain. Of course, year one under the first-year head coach may have its moments of both good and bad, but if you look up “coach in waiting” in the dictionary, Scalley comes up; this is someone who knows the program inside and out.
No. 1 Kansas State
Maybe there is some overthinking being done here. Because, in all honesty, this is a great chance for Leipold to get one over on Kansas State for the first time in his career, and the program’s first time since 2009.
Why the Wildcats rank No. 1 on this list is because you could make the case for this being Collin Klein’s biggest game of the season, and that can’t be said for any of the other teams on this list.
If he can continue the trend of those before him, then he will already add a lot of credit to the bank.
Also, the Wildcats tend to always play a level higher than KU when the two hit the field, and this is going to be an assumption until it is proven otherwise.
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