Kansas football enters Sunflower Showdown with momentum after Houston win

After the 1-5 start for Lance Leipold, Jalon Daniels, and the Kansas Jayhawks, there is no denying that this season has been a disappointment. Regardless, there is still time to right the ship and at least salvage the season in a couple of different ways. KU football took that first step on Saturday by dominating the Houston Cougars.

The Jayhawks started out the game hot, going up 21-0 after two Daniels TD passes to Jared Casey and Quentin Skinner and a rushing TD by Devin Neal. The Cougars made it a slightly more competitive game in the second quarter as they connected on two long TD passes as well, but those would be the final points that they scored. Kansas entered halftime up 28-14.

In the second half, it was all KU as the defense dominated Houston and Neal and Casey each added another TD in various redone trips in the fourth quarter. While Daniels, Casey, and Neal all had awesome games, it was Cobee Bryant that stole the show. He had an absolutely monstrous 3-interception game (all of them in the 1st half) and was all over the place, as KU won 42-14.

What is at stake for Kansas football as they aim to upset Kansas State?

While getting back on the right foot is always good, the road now gets incredibly difficult for Kansas, as they will now play three top 25 ranked in a row in Kansas State (No. 17), Iowa State (No. 9), and BYU (No. 13). Two of these games are on the road including their next matchup against their Sunflower Showdown rivals.

With five games left, every game is crucial if KU wants any shot at being eligible for a bowl game this season. Additionally, Kansas has lost to K-State a whopping 15 times in a row, with only three of those games being close one-score contests. Kansas will enter KSU next week looking for their first Sunflower Showdown win since 2008.

Is winning in Manhattan possible for this dysfunctional Jayhawks team? Of course. They have all the talent in the world to end this losing streak if they can just put together four good quarters of football. With that being said, there is also a chance that KU has yet another fourth-quarter collapse or simply gets outplayed by a good Kansas State team.

Only time will tell if the Kansas offense and defense can rise to the occasion, but at least there is now hope following this impressive win against Houston.