Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - BAFFLING: Kansas DECLINES BOWL INVITE | Why Would Jayhawks Football Say No???

Starting point is 00:00:00 Well, today we found out Kansas won't play in a bowl game, but they will play in England. You are Locked on Jayhawks, your daily podcast on the Kansas Jayhawks, part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. What's going on? Derek Johnson here. This is Locked on Jayhawks. Thanks for making your first or second listen every day, bonus episode here. joining us and making the locked on podcast network the number one sports podcast network on today's bonus episode k u football declined a bowl invitations they're going to be playing in england next year they're not cool playing a bull game uh this upcoming year there are certain you know logistics and hurdles

Starting point is 00:00:44 to jump over and clearly they valued those hurdles being too difficult to jump over but i don't think it's a very good idea and i'm going to break down why i think it's very curious and weird and anyway um we'll also get into a little bit of an update on k u volleyball and k u women's basketball Well, good update to finish out the show of what I don't think is overall a good thing for KU. So this was the report earlier today from Brett McMurphy this afternoon on Sunday. It says at least seven teams that were five and seven have now declined a bull bid. Florida State, Auburn, UCF, Baylor, Rutgers, Temple, and Kansas sources told on three sports. The quest continues to find an opponent for Georgia Southern in the Birmingham Bowl.

Starting point is 00:01:20 Now I know a bunch of the local beatwriters reached out to a KU spokesperson, and you saw a bunch of those tweets kind of going around later about. A KU spokesperson confirmed this, basically, is what was said. So I don't know if there's going to ever actually be comments about why or what the reasoning is, right? I mean, maybe there is some good reasoning that we don't know of. I don't know. Like, I'm struggling to think of it. And I think in general, it feels like college football to me is broken. And that is a really unfortunate part of this.

Starting point is 00:01:55 I don't know. I guess just canceled bowl games. Like this isn't just a. Kansas and all these schools. This isn't just Kansas State and Iowa State. Notre Dame opting out of it too. Like this is just because, and here's the weirdest part about all this.

Starting point is 00:02:08 We're at a point where players are getting legally paid by NIL and Revshaer making more money than, then many, many of the people watching these games, many, many of the fans watching the games, making more money. And now for whatever, you would think, you would think back in the day when they're not making money, that would have been more opt-outs and, people not playing in bowl games but now that they're making money everybody's opting out of the bowl games and it's just like it blows your mind right um and i just think this is dumb for a young

Starting point is 00:02:38 kansas team because you could say hey this was a handout being given to you like oh don't take the pity invite no this ain't k u basketball getting a nit invitation if they declined that i would understand it it's k u basketball right it's k u football man they've never made three straight bowl games I know that's not on the table here, but you give what I'm saying. It's how many bowl games are you made? I forget the number off the top of my head. I want to say it's like 14 or somewhere around there. Take the freaking invite.

Starting point is 00:03:06 And here's the thing, playing in a bowl game betters your chance of playing in a bowl game in the next season. You know why? Because you get extra practices. And for a Kansas team that is super young, wouldn't that be helpful to get those extra reps? Wouldn't it be helpful to get the extra reps to the backup quarterback right now who would theoretically be the starter in 2026? don't you think those things would be helpful for this Kansas team?

Starting point is 00:03:29 I certainly do. And maybe the reason you don't is you say, hey, there's whatever, what was it, 33 seniors on the roster? I don't know the exact number of players on the KU roster. I know the scholarship number was around 85 or something, walk-ons or grandfathered in. So realistically, let's say KU has around 100 guys, 105 guys on the roster. Let's say you lose, because not every senior would not play in the bowl game. I think there might be at least a couple that are like, hey, this is going to be, like, I'm not going to go pro, I'll play in the bowl game, right?

Starting point is 00:03:59 This is going to be my last chance to play. But let's say you lose even 30. We'll take a high estimate. That's just a couple seniors would still play in the game. Let's say that brings your roster number down to 70, including walk-ons. Okay? Let's say you have another, because here's the other thing. Lance Leipold typically, they don't lose a ton of players in the portal.

Starting point is 00:04:16 Usually it's what, like 10, 12 guys? Let's even take the higher number of that. And even some of those, usually it's like in the spring. Let's say it's 15. let's say you lose 15 guys to be the transfer and like most of those seniors don't want to play you'd still be at 55 guys I get it some of them would be walk-ons but you'd still be at 55 guys which is more than an active NFL roster I think the active NFL roster is what like 48 like it's 53 on the roster but on game day it's like 48 or something like that you could have made it work it wouldn't have been in an ideal situation you might have been playing some walk-ons a little rotationally you would have been playing a lot of young players but here's the other thing you would have been playing against georgia southern it's not like you're asking to play against alabama and you're like oh so So we're going to lose 60 to nothing in that game. Georgia Southern lost to Fresno State by 28 points. Fresno State team that Kansas cleaned up on, right?

Starting point is 00:05:02 And while there is a pay, and like the game doesn't count for red shirts. You can play the red shirts in this game, right? And while there is a payout, like maybe they think it's a money loss operation overall, like to where they're like, hey, even if we win and get the payout, it's going to cost us too much money to travel and to, you know, pay for meals and lodging and all this stuff. Here's the thing. If that was really the situation,

Starting point is 00:05:23 don't you think because here's the thing donors are approached all the time about stuff that like hey we really need to improve the offices here we really need to improve you know these facilities and then maybe that's a little harder sell for some donors where it's like uh i guess i'll give you a little bit money don't you think that would be an exciting opportunity for donors to be like the big money donors like no i am the reason they're playing in this bowl game because i bought it for them and i'm going to get sideline passes and i'm going to have a good time i would like to think that that somebody or a couple people would have stepped up there right and here's the other thing I would also get it if the bowl game was like there's some upcoming bowl games this week

Starting point is 00:05:57 December 13th. It's finals week for KU this week. So if it was December 13th or whatever or like this upcoming week, I'd be like, okay, I get it. That's a very short turnaround. He probably weren't practicing last week. The game is December 29th. You would have three weeks to get ready for that game. Fall camp is what? Three weeks. So I don't know. To me, it's unreal. It's kind of disappointing. It honestly doesn't make me feel great about what is the winning DNA, so to speak, inside the team. I don't know. Maybe that's over over amplifying it. But like in a world where constantly fans are being called upon stay at the game, buy tickets, go do this, don't quit on the team, don't quit on the program. It felt like the program kind of quit on the fans

Starting point is 00:06:41 in this case, right? And I think it's just this. Like it doesn't always feel like things are given to Kansas. It doesn't always feel like things are easy for Kansas. And this isn't easy, but it's like you were given an opportunity to play in a bowl game when you didn't like do everything you thought you needed to get there. And it just feels like you should have kind of taken the hand out. I don't know. That's just my opinion. All right. Let's get to more reasons why I think it's dumb. And then latest elsewhere, this is locked on Jayhawks. Bonus episode of the show is brought to you by Game Time. World Cup is coming back to America for the first time, North America, since 1994, and with 48 teams for the first time ever, it's massive.

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Starting point is 00:08:20 KU declining a bull invite. Had to get down on the list to get to KU. And clearly this is a like I said, a college football problem. It's not just KU. Here's some of the reasons that I think it's dumb, right? We went over some of them. But like, think about it this too. KU lost, I forget what the number was of seniors that they lost after 2024.

Starting point is 00:08:39 I want to say it was like around 30, if not more than 30 as well. This year, the seniors on senior day, I think it was 33. So, I mean, that is two back-to-back big classes of seniors. You have lost back-to-back years. That means there's a lot of young players on the roster. That means there's a lot of players where even less so the game reps. Like, sure, that would have been nice, but the practice reps, right? That's several weeks extra of practice of being able to be in the facility,

Starting point is 00:09:07 of being able to be around the coaches and everything for this team. Again, December 29th for the game, you would have had plenty of time to do all of those. things. And none of those stick out even more than the young roster than the quarterback position, right? Even if Jalen Daniels theoretically would have opted out, that would have given you a great opportunity to play some of these young quarterbacks. Even if you say, hey, you get a quarter, you get a quarter, you get a quarter. Because again, it doesn't count for red shirts. You could have played, you just said, hey, Cole Ballard, do you get the first quarter? Marshall, you get the second, McCombie, get the third, and then we'll figure it out in the fourth. Or like, if you just

Starting point is 00:09:41 wanted to pick between you guys, hey, Ballard, do you get the first, Marshall, you get the second? You're like, you want alternate drives. Who cares? It's a bowl game. You went five and seven and you made a bowl game. Use it as a test subject, right? It's an opportunity to get better for next year. And if that opportunity of the extra reps, the extra film, you get, the extra practices,

Starting point is 00:09:57 if that leads to you being just a little better to be six and six next year instead of being five and seven again, that's worth it to me, right? And if it gives you a better insight on picking the quarterback, a huge decision for this program, that would also be gigantic, right? And again, even if you have a depleted. roster even like I said if you're down to 50 to 55 guys didn't lSU play kansas state in a bowl game like two or three years ago maybe it's longer than that four or five years ago and they had like a bunch guys opt out i want to say they i don't even know if they had a quarterback and i'm pretty sure

Starting point is 00:10:27 kansas state smoked them but guess what how many people do you think there's there's people today that's like wow i don't know man i can't believe i can't believe lane kiffin took that lsu job after they got smoked by kansas state four years ago in the pinstrike bowl or what you know what poll game was. No, no, but that was probably good reps for some of those young players. And it's even especially true, even more true for Kansas, a team who is developing and building more than a school who maybe like LSU is able to play at the top of the portal or the high school recruiting rankings, right? And here's the thing. Even with the depleted of the roster, like I said, you're not playing against Notre Dame. That's not what you're asking us to. This

Starting point is 00:11:03 isn't, hey, Notre Dame opted out and we need somebody to play a top 15 BYU team. No, this is playing Georgia Southern, which like I don't mean any disrespect to Georgia Southern. And there's six and six team. Like, congrats on them for making a poll game. Georgia Southern lost to Fresno State by 28 points. Georgia Southern two weeks ago lost to Old Dominion 45 to 10. Okay, maybe Georgia Southern beats you, but like, I don't think they're getting smashed. And honestly, Kansas still might win the game. And here's the deal.

Starting point is 00:11:29 I saw somebody who was like, oh, but you really want to risk the embarrassment of losing to a group of five school. As if we haven't seen Kansas lose to a group of five school in our lifetimes. Like what? play the game, get the reps, help for next year. Here's the other thing. It's exposure for a program. It's a cool thing for the seniors.

Starting point is 00:11:48 And again, how many of the seniors would have actually played? I don't know, but I'd be kind of mad. This is just me personally. Like, even if it's three seniors of the 33, right,

Starting point is 00:11:56 if the rest of them want to opt out, because here's the deal, not all of those seniors are going to play professional football or even going to get a shot at professional football. Don't you want one last game? Don't you want one last opportunity? I don't know.

Starting point is 00:12:11 And then it's the payout structure, too. Like I said, like maybe there's other costs that I'm not building in. But like, I saw this from Adam Drevetta, who was my former, you know, co-host when I used to do rock track sports talk. He tweeted this out on Sunday afternoon. He said, they're going to be calling for donations to the Williams Fund in the NIL pool while saying no to a minimum six-figure payout here. I don't know. It just doesn't really make sense to me. So I've had, I'll say.

Starting point is 00:12:40 this. I think there's people, this might just be a reactionary in the moment thing, but I have had people like that I've either seen that have reached out to me, people that I know, not just like random people. I've seen some random people. I've seen some that like I actually know who have literally said I don't want to get season tickets next year because of this. Why should I invest if they're not going to invest back? Now again, that could be a reactionary in the moment thing by the time we get to next year. That might change, right? But it clearly pisses off the fan base. Like, That's part of this, too. So I don't know.

Starting point is 00:13:12 All right. Let's finish up the latest elsewhere. We'll finish with a positive here because, yeah, I don't love this decision. Today's episode of the show is brought to you by Omaha Stakes. The holidays always feel a little easier when you already know the perfect gift. And Omaha Stakes makes it almost too simple. Whether you're treating yourself this season or sending something memorable, the family and friends, Omaha Stakes delivers handcrafted perfection right to their door.

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Starting point is 00:14:17 That is Omaha stakes.com promo code college, terms apply. See site for details. Thanks again for making the Lockdown Podcast Network to the number one sports podcast network. And a little bit of an update on KU Women's Volleyball. Congrats to them. They're going on to the Sweet 16. So I don't know. I don't want to say curse.

Starting point is 00:14:40 I'm trying to think if there was a team in between them. But like there had been a, what, two, three year run where KU has had some good teams, right? KU volleyball is hosting back-to-back years and stuff. But just for whatever reason, KU's had some, you know, unfortunate NCAA tournament, either draws or luck or success or however you want to view it, where there were a lot of second round and first weekend exits for KU in recent years. And again, sometimes that's just like coincidence and crap and luck of the draw. But did KU soccer break the Sweet 16 spell for KU, right?

Starting point is 00:15:13 Because you go from, you know, having some of these second round losses for some of these different sports teams. KU soccer makes it to the Sweet 16 with that nice comeback win against, it was a Louisville. And now KU volleyball is going to the Sweet 16. So I don't know, book your Sweet 16 tickets, hopefully for KU basketball too. That'd be kind of nice, right? And it was an impressive win because you look at the last couple years. They'd been hosting and they got upset, a tough draw. in both games in the second round of the tournament and this year they were able to and I think in

Starting point is 00:15:43 both of them they were up two sets to one I can't remember the Florida one if they were down to they were up two sets of one on Penn State I wouldn't say and they ended up not winning the fourth at least in that one and this time they just end it in the fourth and Miami had a ton of surveyors to get it there but KU executed well they found a way to get through and part of the fun too is like the last time KU made a Sweet 16 in volleyball, whatever that was four, five years ago, they beat Matt Ulmer in the first round. Now Matt Olmer is the head coach, and he gets him to the Sweet 16 in his first year. It doesn't get easy in the Sweet 16. It is going to be, Nebraska is 32 and O this season. So this isn't just, oh, Nebraska is usually really good at volleyball. This is like one of their

Starting point is 00:16:25 best teams that they've had because they have lost, I think it was in the regular season. They lost seven total sets, sets, sets, not games, sets. That's unbelievable. The good news is Kansas did play Nebraska. If you remember back, I think it was on like Big Ten Network. Gosh, I don't know, back in like spring or something, January maybe, it was in the off season. And I want to say they play, I think they played four set. I think Nebraska technically swept KU and then they played a fourth set for reps. And then I think KU won.

Starting point is 00:16:52 But, you know, three sets to one on a team that only lost seven sets, basically, for the full season. Can Kansas find a way to compete? I mean, a couple of years ago, Kansas lost in the second round to Nebraska on the road or maybe it was the sweet six i don't remember um and it was kind of a controversial call that got nebraska to the finish line there kansas got a little screwed there so i don't know can you compete here obviously matt omer has experience playing against Nebraska when he was at well coaching against him when he was at organ it's part of the big 10 there so maybe that helps him with some familiarity there obviously kansas has never beaten nebraska before in program history so that's going to be

Starting point is 00:17:26 really fun to watch this upcoming week on friday also a quick update on k uwomen's basketball who um it looked like it was going to be a bit of a double scale for KU against Missouri State because not just that they almost lost, they got down a decent amount against a solid mid-major team in Missouri State. Not only did they come back, they won an overtime by three, which huge for them to get to eight and two, but there's also a moment where I think it was Reagan Williams collided with Samaya Nichols and both of them went down. I think Williams ended up missing some time.

Starting point is 00:17:56 Nichols ended up, I think, being okay. They need to get healthy. Obviously, Julia Davis hurt, Reagan Williams hurt. The good news is Denver's next. then it's Haskell after that. And then December 21st, that gives you two weeks to hopefully get everybody ready. But KU's a little beat up right now. If they can get everybody healthy, I've said all along.

Starting point is 00:18:15 I think this is a tournament team. But that's going to be easier said than done based on getting that health back. But still, important to be able to come from behind, show some grit, and get the win there for Brandon Schneider and company. All right, that'll do it for this episode of Lockdown, Jayhawks. You can find a show anywhere you get your podcast, including on our YouTube page. You can like and subscribe to the show. See you next time.

Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - BAFFLING: Kansas DECLINES BOWL INVITE | Why Would Jayhawks Football Say No???

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