Kansas quarterback Isaiah Marshall faces first big test as a starter vs. Missouri

The Kansas football team looked good in its first game of the season against Long Island. After a slow start, the Jayhawks exploded in the second and third quarters and buried the Sharks, 51-6. Isaiah Marshall's performance in his first college start reflected that of his team's. Once he found his comfort zone, Marshall played a fantastic game.

Friday night, Marshall and the Jayhawks face a much stiffer opponent in their fierce rivals, the Missouri Tigers, as the two schools renew the Border War. Mizzou is going off a comfortable win of their own, a 54-14 blasting of Arkansas-Pine Bluff. Both teams have conference games next week, but you can be sure neither team is looking past the other in this matchup.

Marshall will face his first true test in his career with his start this week against the Tigers. Missouri will be bringing everything they have to disrupt the young quarterback and his untested offense.

Kansas football quarterback Isaiah Marshall is the key for the Jayhawks vs. Missouri

Marshall displayed some early jitters on the first drive. Offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki kept things pretty simple, using short passes and a couple of quarterback runs to get Marshall settled.

The second drive resulted in a touchdown, but again, KU moved the ball by mixing in short passes and plays for the running backs. By the third drive, Marshall seemed to find his comfort zone, and he looked terrific.

In those early drives, Marshall appeared panicked and impatient on his runs. He didn't set them up, and he just took off without seeing much of the field ahead of him. On his passes, he was delivering the ball fine on most plays, but he did miss a couple of open receivers and instead forced the ball into tighter spaces than he needed to.

As the game progressed, Marshall's runs became more patient; he was finding space and waiting on his blockers at the point of attack, and it netted better results. His passing became sharper and on target.

He made two beautiful deep throws downfield in the second quarter that showed why he is the starting quarterback. First, he hit Nik McMillan for 46 yards. The throw came in over a double team, and Marshall led his receiver perfectly to put KU on the five-yard line.

The second long pass was to Nazhae Cox in the same part of the field. This time the throw was more to the middle and wasn't as perfectly thrown, but Marshall did put the ball over the defenders deep downfield, and Cox went up and hauled it in, again putting Kansas inside the 10-yard line.

Both throws highlighted Marshall's arm strength and relative accuracy. On a later throw, a 19-yard touchdown to McMillan, Marshall threw another perfect ball, right on target, delivered to his receiver in stride and out of the reach of defenders.

Marshall needs to maintain his poise against Missouri. The Tigers only allowed 109 passing yards in their first game. Even though Missouri only recorded one sack, they did have six tackles for loss. The Kansas offensive line will need to provide time for Marshall to find his open receivers.

The KU running game will also be key. Kansas must run the ball effectively, which will hold back the pass rush when the Jayhawks want to throw. KU had 277 rushing yards in game one, and though it is not realistic to expect that kind of production this week, that group needs to gain positive yards.

Kotelnicki will need to mix things up and disguise what the offense is doing. It is something he is superb at. The offense needs to keep the Tigers guessing and off-balance.

Marshall, though, will be the key. He needs to be sharp right from the start of the game. He needs to continue to be accurate with his throws and patient when he runs the ball. Most importantly, he must be cognizant of the fact that Missouri will have more talented athletes on defense than LIU did.

This is the first real test for Marshall, and from what he showed in game one, he should pass this test and give Kansas a real chance to pull off the upset.

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