5% to blame: Kansas’ defense on the final Illinois drive
The defense came up huge time and time again through the first three quarters of the game to keep the Jayhawks alive. With that being said, the KU defense couldn’t halt the Fighting Illini on their final offensive drive, as they burned almost 7 minutes off the clock. This left the Kansas offense with just 58 seconds left to operate a potential game-winning drive.
The defensive unit allowed just one touchdown and their bend-don’t-break performance forced Illinois to kick three field goals, which was great. Sadly, they also allowed three first downs on 3rd-and-longs in that final drive, one of which was on a rush. They can hold their heads high as they played well overall, but do have a few adjustments to make.