The Kansas football team is entering the 2024 campaign with high expectations. Fourth-year head coach Lance Leipold has guided the program to prosperity in a short time after the Jayhawks finished 9-4 last season with their first bowl win in 15 years.
Behind star quarterback Jalon Daniels and running back Devin Neal, KU's offense is expected to continue to rank as one of the best in the country, even under new OC Jeff Grimes. With one of the easiest conference schedules in the Big 12, the Jayhawks could finish with double digits in the win column. One college football writer even thinks Kansas could be a dark horse to win the regular season title.
Kansas football named one of the most likely teams to break conference title drought
According to Kaiden Karper of our FanSided affiliates at Saturday Blitz, Kansas is the third most likely team to end its conference title droughts in 2024. Here is what he wrote about the Jayhawks:
"Jayhawk fans are getting déjà vu of 2007 as we speak. Don't look now college football fans, but Kansas is a legitimate Big 12 title contender next season. Due to the conference realignment, the Big 12 is more wide open than it's been in quite some time and Kansas is one of several teams in the league that have a good shot of playing for a chip in Arlington, TX come December. Head coach Lance Leipold, who signed a new contract last month that extends through the 2029 season, just led the Jayhawks to their best season since 2008 after going 9-4 this past year. Kansas also returns star dual-threat quarterback Jalon Daniels, who, if he can remain healthy, is set to lead a high-flying offense that averaged 33.7 points per game (18th in FBS) and 7.0 yards per play (sixth in FBS) in 2023. A conference title drought that goes all the way back to 1968 is in dire need of being quenched, and the Jayhawks will have the key pieces and momentum to snap that dreadful streak."Kaiden Karper
For this to happen, Daniels must stay healthy and the defense must step up when needed. However, if everything goes right for the Jayhawks this fall, they could not only bring the 56-year drought to an end but even find themselves in the expanded College Football Playoff.