The Kansas football offseason is miles past any beginning stage. The Jayhawks have seen 16 players thus far enter the portal, which has cut their squad up, ranging from players who were key starters like safety Lyrik Rawls and Jon Jon Kamara, to players rising the depth chart like running back redshirt freshman Harry Stewart III, and freshman quarterback David McComb.
While the ever-shuffling offseason is in effect, there are bound to be more outgoings, combined with several incoming players via the portal.
That being said, Shehan Jeyarajah of CBS Sports compiled every Big 12 team’s end-of-regular-season grades, and the Jayhawks’ unfavorable grade was released.
“The shine is officially off the Lance Leipold era at Kansas after the Jayhawks missed a bowl game for a second straight season. The Jayhawks started 4-2 but lost five of six games down the stretch to waste Jalon Daniels' senior season. Grade: C-.”
Kansas’ season can easily be capsized by these two stats. Leipold’s team ranked 124th in the nation in terms of redzone scoring rate at just 71.79%. Along with the Jayhawks' 184 rushing yards allowed per game, which puts them 106th in the nation. At times this season, these two facets controlled the tempo and pushed the game away.
Overall, it is hard to disagree with Jeyarajah, and it is also hard not put blame on both sides of the ball. A consistent theme of the season would often be either a decent defense met with a stalling offense. Or a high-powered Kansas attack that was quickly rushed back out onto the field as the defense failed to gather on the momentum, the offense lit up.
This was a Kansas team that did end up facing a harder strength of schedule than anyone really imagined. Texas Tech lit up the skies with insane scoring numbers, as the Red Raiders marched themselves into a bye in the College Football Playoff. In the early portions of the season, Missouri was a force to be reckoned with until injuries hindered its season, and Cincinnati spent a majority of the season rolling past most teams until a 7-1 start was met with a four-game slide to tarnish its year.
While all those things are true and do hold some weight, it was often hard to see a game where everything was consistently clicking, which is why it was so hard for Kansas to find a proper footing in the season.
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