Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Biggest Takeaways from KU-Tennessee Tech + Future Takeaways from KU-WVU

Episode Date: September 6, 2022

Going over takeaways from Kansas Football against Tennessee Tech with Nick Schwerdt, as well as possible future takeaways from the KU-West Virginia game this next week.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!LinkedInLinkedIn jobs helps you find the candidates you want to talk to, faster. Post your job for free at Linkedin.com/lockedoncollege Terms and conditions apply.Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKEDON15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.BetOnlineBetOnline.net has you covered this season with more props, odds and lines than ever before. BetOnline – Where The Game Starts!UpsideDownload the FREE Upside App and use promo code Locked to get $5 or more cash back on your first purchase of $10 or more. Underdog FantasySign up on underdogfantasy.com with the promo code LOCKED ON and get your first deposit doubled up to $100!  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On today's Locked On Jayhawks, we're joined by Nick Schwert to break down the opening week for KU football. I'm Derek Johnson. You can hear me as well on Rock Chalk Sports Talk Monday through Friday from 3 to 6 on KLWN. Thanks for making Locked On Jayhawks your first listen every day. We're free and available wherever you get your podcasts. On today's edition of Locked On Jayhawks, we're joined by Nick Schwert to talk

the KU Tennessee Tech game and maybe look ahead a little bit to the West Virginia game. We got Nick Schwert. Catch him on the Wave in the Wheat podcast as well as with 610 in Kansas City. KU takes down Tennessee Tech and Golden Eagles out time of possessed KU takes down Tennessee Tech, and Golden Eagles out time of possessed KU about 35 minutes to 24 minutes. How worrisome. That's in the conversation there.

What was your biggest takeaway from the KU opener against Tennessee Tech? Honestly, my biggest takeaway was not really anything about the positions that stood out or the players that stood out. I'm sure we'll get into that stuff. But it was just the overall domination. And I get it. It's Tennessee Tech. They're an FCS team. They're a bad FCS team.

But when we saw Kansas lose to Nichols State a couple of years ago, and we know what the deal is when you have these bye games at the beginning of the year. You haven't hit anybody all year. You're about a month away from conference play. You need to get eased into the season because when we watch these big marquee games where you see Florida State and LSU or Georgia and Oregon,

if you're the lesser team or if you've got a bunch of new guys or a new coach, new system, you're not ready. You're not ready for that level of competition. And so what Kansas has often done is struggle in these games because for whatever reason, whether it's a culture, whether it's coaching, preparation, they haven't looked like the Power Five team playing the FCS school. And for four quarters, it was very clear that these two teams

didn't belong on the same field together. And I don't recall the last time I ever said that about Kansas football. I mean, it's been over a decade. Seriously, over a decade in which Kansas just looked like the dominant team in every single aspect. So it was less about the players that stood out and the individual performances. It was just the overall level of comfort that KU had in beating Tennessee Tech. Yeah, I was trying to remember back to the Rhode Island game because I think that'll be the one that is brought up a lot

because that Rhode Island team was a bad FCS team. And I think that's probably the case for Tennessee Tech. I don't think Tennessee Tech is that bad. That Rhode Island team might have been the worst team in the FCS. But from what I remember from the Rhode Island game, KU was just kind of chucking it all over the field. Like they had three different quarterbacks who threw a touchdown in that game. They just kind of out-athleted on the outside. This one felt like you dominated the line of scrimmage that you dominated with the defensive line in the game.

And it felt like one where like ideally in an FCS game game you only have to run so many plays you know what i mean like it can be a vanilla and you should still be able to accomplish that and like the play that comes to mind the most is the devon neal i think it was like an 80 yard touchdown run however long it was untouched yeah untouched that was their simple play that wasn't anything special that was their their basic wide zone play that is going to be kind of the staple of the offense. And he goes untouched, like you said, that hole is something that maybe you or me could have even got two or three yards out of. So I think that was the most impressive thing. But did that do anything for you in terms of, like, clearly that

is a good thing that happened, but like, I don't know what your prediction was before the season for how many wins KU would have. I had them at 3-9. Does that sway anything there for you that you think they could maybe nab an extra win based on what they looked like? No, it only could have went the opposite direction. If KU would have won that game 38-17, because I was with you, I think this was a three-win team I think they steal one somewhere along the line it only could have made me think that this was a two-win team if they had struggled so there was nothing they could have done to make me think oh wow because we just don't

know yet now if they have another really good performance against West Virginia, then all of a sudden you start to think, okay, because West Virginia, in my estimation and Vegas oddsmakers, they're the second worst team in the Big 12. If you look like you belong on the same field with them, then all of a sudden I may have to reconsider what I think you know are reasonable expectations for this team but it was it was not it was what you needed to do it wasn't enough at least for me to look at them and say okay wow this is just going to be a way better team than I thought they were yeah I think that's fair so as far as like I don't know

negatives in the game it's it's hard to really come away with any did did the Jalen Daniels interception did that mean anything more to you than just the one play because of it being you know we've seen that before with KU quarterbacks throwing into triple coverage it's a bad interception there is that worrisome at all Jalen Daniels maybe having an interception problem, or did it not really mean anything other than that one? You know, it's difficult because it wasn't just that. It was also the option play where he tried to pitch it to McBride, I think. Where he had no bit right, where he was –

he should have just went down and taken the two-yard loss or whatever it would have been. And then there was one more, a screen pass, where he just had a really bad ball. If you want to make something more of it, you would just boil it down to bad decision-making, right? Like, know when to take the loss, know when not to force something. I think it would be a little unfair to minimize his performance

based off the three worst plays he made. Now, yes, once you get into Big 12 play and it's a tight game in the fourth quarter, yeah, those are the types of plays that are going to lose you games, but also you have to temper expectations. This was a guy that wasn't even the starting quarterback for the first two and a half months of last season. So I don't expect Jalen Daniels to play perfect football this year. I don't expect him to be a top four quarterback, top five quarterback in the Big 12. All you're asking him to do is be serviceable. There are going to be games where he's going to have to win you a game by making plays. But for the most part,

if I look at the totality of his performance, I saw a guy that had a lot of time first off. So kudos to the pass blocking. I thought the offensive line was tremendous in giving him time to throw. Stood in the pocket, made a lot of good decisions, made a lot of good throws, showed off the arm talent. So overall, I give him a plus. Yeah, there were a couple plays. That interception and the pitch, I was like, what are you doing? Of course those are boneheaded plays, but at that point you're up big you're probably feeling yourself you feel like you can do no wrong so I'm not ready to

to make that into something else but overall I was really impressed with Jalen any other individual players stick out to you obviously Lonnie Phelps had a phenomenal game I know I asked last week with the prop bets if you would get more sacks than Kyron Johnson, I can't remember if we both took under or what, but obviously that's not looking great with the three already on the books. I didn't know you'd spot him three in the first game. I mean, he was awesome first off. Yeah, that's the obvious one, but it's still worth mentioning. When you go back to the idea of, okay, you're a Power 5 team,

they're an FCS team, it should look like it. It hasn't always looked like it. It looked like it across the board, every single position, KU had advantages, but Lonnie Phelps took that to a new level. Like, if everybody else on Kansas just looked like a Power 5 guy playing against an FCS guy,

he looked like an all-conference Power 5 guy playing against FCS dudes. I mean mean the speed coming off the edge there were a couple plays where it was just I feel bad for that right tackle for Tennessee Tech because he had no chance on a couple of plays he is physically imposing he is everything that is advertised I don't think Kansas has had a pass rusher like him since Dorrance Armstrong and he and Dorrance are nothing alike like Dorrance was taller more slender like used his speed a little bit more but Phelps is just a physically imposing player I'll be interested to see what it looks like you know coming up this weekend against

West Virginia he was obviously the the MVP of the game he was incredible and he might be a one-man sort of game wrecker if he can do that in the Big 12 play. But another guy that stood out to me was Tywon Berryhill. I thought he was all over the place defensively. He was kind of just finding the ball, and he did great in the run game, getting downhill and making plays in the backfield at the line of scrimmage. So those would be the two guys for me that really stood out above the rest.

All right, I want to briefly get into some West Virginia stuff coming up in just a moment. But first, BetOnline.net is your number one source for all your pro and college football betting needs and sports info this season. Find all of the latest football league developments, game matchups, news, and podcasts, including this year's opening week games.

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Do you have any thoughts of what you would do? Would you be touching KU with the spread? That's a low spread for KU in Big 12 games. So I'm going to be completely honest here because full disclosure, I spent all last week, whether it was on podcast, radio, telling everybody that I wasn't going to bet the KU game and if I was going to bet it,

then I was going to bet Tennessee Tech just because it's Kansas, it's a lot of points, I don't feel comfortable with that. Then Friday night, go to my dad's retirement party, get a couple Michelob Ultras in me. I said, you know what? Let's go for it. Gambling is legal

in Kansas, so I took a big bet go for it. Gambling is legal in Kansas. So I took a big bet, put it all on Kansas to cover, and it was like the easiest bet I've ever hit in my life. It was fantastic. Okay, so you did the exact thing that I said would happen last week. Yeah. And you said, no, people aren't going to vote, pick Kansas. So it literally happened to you.

Yeah, that's exactly what happened. Okay, so does that make you – make you the reason i tell you that story you're more confident you can't listen to what i say i'm gonna do and it's not that i'm trying to lie to you it's just that i changed my mind you know ebbs and flows sometimes the adrenaline hits you it's football season first game of the year so whatever i tell you now that doesn't actually mean it's what i'm going to do in the future. You're married. I know this would be like a terrible tactic.

And if you're like, you're talking to your wife, I'm like, listen, I may tell you something now, but it's not what's going to happen in reality. So as of right now, I saw 13. Very similar feeling to how I saw, how I felt when I saw Kansas minus 30 last week, which is, wow, that line isn't indicative of what I've seen from Kansas in the past. But which is, wow, that line isn't indicative of what I've seen from Kansas in the past. But that tells you something, right? Because if it's 13,

that means unless Kansas wins and all of a sudden like the tide turns, we feel different about this team. That's probably going to be the shortest line we're going to see for Kansas in Big 12 play this year. Who knows? Maybe some other team is going to end up, you know, really falling. But 13 points is probably about as tight as it's going to get. But that's – when's the last time Kansas was a 13-point in a Big 12 game? I feel like it's consistently 17 to 3-plus touchdowns. And based off what I saw from West Virginia, you know, hanging in there against Pitt, I didn't think either one of those teams played great,

which goes back, I think, to the conversation about starting your season against a power five opponent in a rivalry game. So maybe there's something to that, but I know that Kansas wants to run the ball and Pitt couldn't run the ball worth a damn versus West Virginia. So I just wonder if Kansas keeps this tight offensively, how are they going to do it? Or is this going to have to be a slugfest where the game is played in the teens? Yeah, I think that I saw a lot of people talking about, oh, West Virginia doesn't look that good.

But I'm sitting there like, any of the issues they're having, it's against a team who's ranked in the top 25. You know what I mean? So it's just different when you evaluate it that way, and they still almost had a chance to win the game. What becomes interesting to me with Lonnie Phelps, as dominant as he looked, the question was never could he come over and be a good pass rusher. It's can he come over and do what he did the Mac,

which was be a star pass rusher, and do that against Big 12 Power 5 competition. We didn't get to see that last week because he didn't play a Big 12 or Power 5 opponent. This week you do. West Virginia's offensive line struggled last week against Pittsburgh, and that's a really good Pittsburgh defensive line. So if Lonnie Phelps looks like a dude this week, I think that's enough for me to just say he's going to be that way all season long

and not really have any doubts about it. Is there anything else, any of the other like individual players that you would say, yeah, if they look good this week, I feel pretty confident. I know what they are. I know where they're at in the position battle. Well, it's, it's Jalen Daniels, right? It has to be because he wasn't asked to do a ton. I will say this, the, you know, the two minute drive there at the end of the first half he was phenomenal so if he can continue to be that guy then that would give me more confidence and obviously I mean it's quarterback we know we know the importance of that position is it weird that I have coming off that Tennessee Tech game I'm more bullish on the Kansas defense than I am the Kansas

offense because that and that's weird to say for a team that ran for almost 300 yards in a game. But I still have maybe some doubts that they're ever going to, I mean, obviously that's going to be their best performance of the year in terms of running the ball, scoring, etc. But I have doubts about how that offensive line is going to hold up against starting West Virginia. I mean, look across their front seven. Their defensive line is all juniors, redshirt juniors, and seniors. And they were a middle-of-the-pack run defense a year ago. I'm almost more bullish on the defensive side of things for Kansas.

That if they're going to win games and pull off an upset or two in the Big 12, it's going to be because this defense, Lonnie Phelps, I thought Caleb Sampson was really good as well. Those guys are getting pushed, getting in the backfield, making plays. I think that's Kansas' best path forward starting this weekend against West Virginia. Okay, let me take you through two different hypothetical options here. So the first is that Kansas just wins this game. What do you think we're saying about the team afterwards? I think we're saying if Kansas beats West Virginia and then we've got, what, Houston after that and then Duke,

it would be far too early to start talking about potentially winning six games and going to a bowl. But I think it kind of goes back to what I said at the beginning of this podcast which is if Kansas beats West Virginia it will be the exclamation point that this era of Kansas football is going to be different than the past 12 years that it's going to be a much different this time. I know there's already people who are saying it about Lance Leipold, that clearly he is a real football coach. There is no sales pitch. There is no glitz and glamour that he is trying to sell you on

as to why you should care about this program or why it's going to be different. But if they go out and beat West Virginia, that will be the emphatic exclamation point that, yep, this is real. Like the buzz around the program, the optimism around the program, it is justified. I don't know ultimately what that will mean for this season because, again, it's only going to get tougher from there.

West Virginia is the worst team in the Big 12 besides Kansas. So, you know, you go up that list and you say, okay, what about Texas Tech? What about TCU? We'll see. So this year, I don't know what it will mean, but the big picture, which I think ultimately matters more, if you care about the long-term viability of this program, like actually getting back to respectability, getting a win this week against West Virginia would be a huge step in the right direction. All right, let's end it on a negative. If KU loses by 20 or more, what would that tell you?

I don't think it would tell you anything. I really don't. 30. Okay, 40. Okay, if they lose by 40, then we'll say, okay, there's still some work to be done. But you've got to remember, like, that's still going to be the built-in expectation for Kansas football until they prove otherwise. That they are a class

by themselves at the bottom of the Big 12. And the impetus is on them to prove that there is a new reality for this program. So them losing by 20 points, them losing by 30 points, it would just be like, yeah, okay, there's still work to be done. That gap's a little bit bigger than maybe we thought it was or that you hoped it was. But ultimately, that's kind of been the reality,

so it wouldn't really change anything. He is Nick Schwert. Again, you can catch him on Wave in the Wheat and with 610 and Cody and Gold in Kansas City. Nick, appreciate the time, man. See ya. On tomorrow's episode, we're going to take a look at KU last season and how they kind of faded sometimes in the second half or in the fourth quarter,

why that could be a good thing, why that could be a bad thing for this year's team. KU took down Tennessee Tech last Friday, obviously. Receivers did more than enough to help the quarterbacks go 16 of 19 in the game. Let's get to what Lance Leipold had to say about his thoughts on how those receivers did on Friday night. You know, Lawrence, I thought, you know, really showed us, I don't know, he had, what, three catches in one drive or something, maybe, and I thought Luke was, you know, Luke's going to be steady and got the ball steven a little bit. Kevin Terry had a nice catch.

And then, of course, we talked about Quentin Skinner showed his abilities to get behind people. So, yeah, I thought that group was very solid tonight as well. A couple things there. One, you hear him talking about Quentin Skinner, the ability to get behind people. He takes over at that starting Z position, assumedly with the news to Trevor Wilson, Tanaka Scott, obviously kind of in the same boat there.

And by the way, the depth chart that came out for week two, it's the exact same as week one. Whether that's true, whether it's not, I guess remains to be seen. I don't know why it wouldn't be true because, like I mentioned on yesterday's episode, a lot of the position battles, I don't know how much you could have learned from a game like that, and everybody played a lot of similar different snap counts and stuff. I think it's going to be about the same. And some of these position battles, we're not going to figure out who the starter is until maybe week three, week four, week five into the season, right?

And it might be more of a split in some of that regard regard but when you lose those guys with Wilson and Scott due to suspension who's going to be the guy that's the deep threat you heard him talk about there yeah like Luke Graham is the dependable one he mentioned Lawrence Arnold playing really well like Kevin Terry's kind of the same thing um Doug Emelian didn't get to see a ton of him both Stephen McBride and Quentin Skinner those are both guys that like Lawrence Arnold's not really a burner either right he has good size six foot three but he is more of that dependable mid-range

or mid-route running kind of target big body guy Quentin Skinner and Stephen McBride are deep ball threats and you have to have somebody in the offense that can do that to have a threat on the field to stretch the defense so Quentin Skinner reeling in it was a great throw as well but reeling in that grab where he was able to burst behind the defense where he was able to come up with the big catch on the long ball that later the drive ended up with a touchdown for ku like that is that is so important and that's all it takes for a guy like that you're not asking Quentin Skinner to be the team's leading receiver

in terms of receptions or be the most targeted guy. Be that deep ball threat, be a home run hitter, and make your plays when you get a chance to do them. Just so that the defense has to push back, the defense has to respect that part of KU's game that's going to allow them to open up the short passing game, the intermediate passing game, the running game as well, that there's not eight guys in the box every play that is so important and so I think with what

Quentin Skinner did on Friday even just that one catch because it was so big that's going to earn him a lot of brownie points that's going to earn him a lot longer leash I think at that top z receiver position or however you want to say it I think they have enough guys in that two deep to get by especially with the tight ends kind of enhancing to that but I think long term over the course of the season if you are going to be in situations where you're going to need to be passing more you're going to need Tanaka Scott or someone to come back and kind of supplant it so not a ton of information necessarily in what Lance Leipold kind of shared there but just kind of adding to

what we saw and and yeah you you look at Lawrence Arnold Kevin Terry Luke Graham like those are the dependable guys Quentin Skinner Stephen McBride I think are the deep ball guys and I think you Doug Emelian like he's just kind of that wild card. You don't totally know what you're going to get there. You probably put Tanaka Scott in that because we don't know what the role is going to be when he comes back. That'll do it for this edition of Locked on Jayhawks. Coming up on tomorrow's show,

we are going to get to how KU looked in the second half of games and the fourth quarter of games last season. It was definitely a problem. We'll talk about why that could be a good thing why that could be a bad thing for this year's team if you have anything you'd like for the show to talk about or want to follow along in the action you can reach out at d johnson radio on

twitter and don't forget to subscribe to the show so you're getting all the latest with locked on jay hawks that'll do it for today's episode have a good rest of your day see some of you later on rock truck sports talk later today adios