Following the Kansas Jayhawks 48-3 throttling of Lindenwood to win their first game of the season, expectations of making the Big 12 Championship and the College Football Playoff were alive and well. Then KU Football fell to Illinois on the road and UNLV at home, ruining the vibes of the season, but not fully crushing the Jayhawks Big 12 Championship hopes.
Kansas went on to blow a two-score lead against West Virginia and just lost in Arrowhead against a lackluster TCU team, officially imploding. The Jayhawks now sit at an abysmal 1-4 record on the season and are perhaps the 2nd biggest disappointment of the year behind only Florida State, who have had their own horror-filled season of despair.
Prior to the season and up until September 7th (if not later), there was no doubt in anyone’s mind that KU would be appearing in a bowl game of some kind this year. They had gone to bowl games in back-to-back years under Leipold in 2022 and 2023 and returned so many upperclassmen to make a strong push this season. Sadly, a bowl game is no longer a given.
What does Kansas Football need to do in order to receive a bowl game?
In order to be bowl eligible, college football teams must be 6-6 or better, along with some other requirements. If Kansas were to win out the remaining 7 games of this season, they would be 8-4 on the year and locked into a bowl game. Additionally, they could even drop two games against Big 12 teams and still finish 6-6… the worrisome thing is that KU’s schedule is brutal.
Kansas begins the rest of their season by heading to Arizona State, who just suffered their first loss of the season and is 3-1. They will then find themselves back at Arrowhead to face off with an atrocious Houston Cougars team. These two games are the two most winnable games left on the schedule and “must-haves” if KU wants to go bowling.
Following those games, the Jayhawks face three top-25 ranked teams in a row in Kansas State (23rd), Iowa State (18th), and BYU (22nd). KU Football will surely be underdogs in all of these games, but if they are wanting to make a bowl game they will likely need to win at least two of these three games.
They end the season against the incredibly fun Colorado Buffaloes and Coach Prime in Kansas City and by heading on the road to play Baylor, a team that has beaten KU 13 times in a row. The last time the Jayhawks beat the Bears was all the way back in 2007, but they will probably need to win one or both of these games to remain bowl eligible.
While miracles do happen and Kansas has a ton of talent and experience on their team to potentially go 5-2 down the stretch, this gauntlet of a schedule makes it tough to envision the Crimson and Blue in a bowl game come December.