After a stinging 24-20 loss, it is easy to immediately comb over every slight detail that did and did not go your way, and in a game where the Jayhawks had so many potential key moments not go their way, that film review grows in anguish.
There were several near interceptions on either side of the half that would have asserted the Jayhawks' dominance and ultimately could have sealed their sixth victory of the season. The pick of the bunch, a Leroy Harris III interception that Harris took a lung-busting 77 yards that gave Kansas a 24-7 lead with 54 seconds to play in the first half. The problem? A holding call on sophomore cornerback Jalen Todd that eventually resulted in an Arizona touchdown two plays later, which only handed Kansas a narrow 17-14 lead heading into the halftime break.
“Yeah, it’s pretty deflating. You go up, 24-7 into a half. I mean, that's huge," quoted the Kansas head coach postgame. "That's huge, and to have a defensive holding off the play, on a play that probably that type of contact is very common, I would say. So, obviously, it’s called I can't change it.”
Leipold then went on to praise the sophomore for what the Kansas head coach called a “heck of a play,” before mentioning that his team “can't sit and complain about it right now.”
The second half needed that Kansas touchdown as the Jayhawks notched just three points and a paltry 3-11 rate on third-downs that kept Kansas away from sustaining any meaningful momentum.
Ultimately, Kansas did chew up over 19 minutes on the ball during the second half, but lone field goal by Laith Marjan was not enough to cancel out an Arizona offense that had found its gear and averaged 5.9 yards per play in the second half, and had mounted 10 crucial points including a game-sealing 24-yard run from running back Quincy Craig with 39 seconds to play.
Saturday felt like another day filled with missed opportunities for the Jayhawks; not only was the interception ruled penalty a heartbreaker, but multiple dropped interceptions, which included one that was initially ruled an INT, punctuated Kansas’ fifth defeat on the season.
After a bye week, Kansas will face off against the Iowa State Cyclones in what will be one of the final two regular-season games of the 2025 campaign.
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