Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Biggest Win of the Lance Leipold Era for Kansas Jayhawks Football Taking Down Oklahoma

Starting point is 00:00:00 On today's Locked on Jayhawks, short and long-term takeaways from KU's win over Oklahoma. Is it the biggest win of the Lance Leipold era and certainly in some time for KU football? You are Locked on Jayhawks, your daily podcast on the Kansas Jayhawks. Part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. I'm Derek Johnson. You can hear me as well. Monday through Friday from 3 to 6 p.m. on KLWN in Lawrence with Rock Chalk Sports Talk. Thanks for making Locked on Jayhawks your first listen every day.

Starting point is 00:00:45 We are free and available wherever you get any of your podcasts. You can also find our show on our YouTube page where you can like and subscribe to the action. We're talking short-term, long-term takeaways from KU, including how important this win was for the program, Jason Bean stuff, the running game, the defense, offensive line, plenty more on this edition of the show. First, we're brought to you by GameTime.

Starting point is 00:01:03 Download the GameTime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONCOLLEGE for $20 off your first purchase with GameTime. So short-term and long-term takeaways from KU's 38-33 victory in Lawrence over the Oklahoma Sooners. We're going to start with the short-term, get to the long-term, and then finish up with some more KU Iowa State thoughts. First up for the short-term stuff, I think this is the biggest win of the Lance Leipold era at Kansas. You can have an argument that the 2021 win over Texas and Austin was, you know, it had a different sense of importance. It was the proof of concept of what the coaching staff was bringing to the table at KU, that that was their first big win to make the

Starting point is 00:01:43 players buy in and really have that belief of what they could do when they were fully bought in. And winning on the road against Texas and doing it for the first time since World War II made it very big. But this is the arrival. That was the proof of concept. Last year's win over Oklahoma State maybe is the uprising, so to speak, the rising up the ranks, getting to bowl eligibility. This was the cemented win of we're not just a team that's there. We're not just moving ourselves from a program that's been dormant to one that's going to make bowl games. We're now one of those teams that's going to be good at football and we are going to be able to beat some of the top teams.

Starting point is 00:02:18 Doesn't mean you're going to do it every time. Doesn't mean you're going to be a staying power or anything in the conference. But it does show that you are taking even the next step to where you go as a program, right? And it's crazy how rapid the ascension has happened in this KU football program. And now you're ranked because of it. Are they going to be ranked on the college football playoff rankings on Tuesday night? I don't know, but it's going to be fun to turn on and watch and be like, oh, I could care less who's going to be ranked one, two, three, or four.

Starting point is 00:02:43 It's so early in the season that there's so much time to figure it out anyway. But I care like, oh, is Kansas going to pop up in the 20 to 25 range or something in the original college football playoff rankings? And that's really cool that you actually have to care about that from a certain standpoint. The offensive line, I think a short-term takeaway here, was the MVP of the game for KU against Oklahoma. 93 pass blocking grade on pro football focus. That was your best of the game for KU against Oklahoma 93 pass blocking grade on pro football focus that was your best of the season it was up there with another game you had over 90 but

Starting point is 00:03:11 to do that against an Oklahoma defense that I think had 17 sacks coming in which was three off the big 12 lead and a team that in Oklahoma plays super multiple plays a lot of different you know they kind of run different safeties and linebackers and linemen all over the front. Who's blitzing, who's coming, who's staying, who's going. It's a complicated defense to go against. And I think it helped probably that KU had the bye week to deal with some of that, but there's a lot of communication that has to go on on the offensive line and

Starting point is 00:03:39 give credit to Mike Nowitzki who had a really good pro football focus grade in this one. And I think he had a really good, I mean, you look to the basketball years, Mike Nowitzki has been an a really good pro football focus grade in this one. And I think he had a really good, I mean, you look to the basketball years, Mike Nowitzki has been an excellent center and offensive lineman for KU. You look to some of the pro football focus grades earlier this season, and there were some struggles in certain games and in certain grades overall, you know, overall still fine, but compared to where we were used to. And he's been playing through injury stuff.

Starting point is 00:04:02 I remember at one point Lance Leipold mentioned him being on an injury report, but he was playing through it. And sometimes that can be the story. Sometimes if players struggling, they're playing through an injury you don't totally know about. Well, the bye week comes, helps him get dressed up. Sure enough, he has a much better game. I don't think that's coincidence.

Starting point is 00:04:15 But also the fact that you have that guy that can help point out the defense is so helpful against a team like Oklahoma and where he was so valuable in a game like this. But also Dominic Poonie continues to be awesome. Poonie on the air has an 88 pass blocking grade. He has a 73 run blocking grade and 80 overall grade on pro football focus. He's been one of the best great tackles in the country. Poonie has given up zero sacks this season. He's given up zero quarterback hits. In total, he's given up just six pressures in 227 pass blocks Dominic Poonie is an NFL player he's a pro Mike Nowitzki is a pro and he's so experienced on the middle of that um you have

Starting point is 00:04:53 experience and talented guards with Armage Reed Adams Michael Ford and uh uh I almost said Spencer LaValle but yeah I guess you do Spencer LaValle too Kobe Baines too um at the right tackle spot Bryce Cable who has come into his own this year and had a nice step forward. That offensive line has been great for KU this season, and it was great again in this one against Oklahoma when you really needed him to. And that helped in this next area, our next short-term takeaway,

Starting point is 00:05:15 running game was dominant against Oklahoma. Now this could be a long-term thing that it's going to be dominant the rest of the way. But the reason I don't have it there is you do have the one blip on the radar, which is the Oklahoma State game. You were under 100 yards for the first time all season long. Most of your games, you've had over 200 yards. Most of your games, you've had over 220 rushing yards. You've had the big output games like the UCF game when you had 399 yards. I think looking at the big

Starting point is 00:05:38 picture, you've played eight games. Really, the one being Oklahoma State probably makes you think that that was just going to be the outlier. You had some sacks get in there to lose the rushing yards. You had a ton of plays where he tried to do perimeter runs and option plays to the outside that just weren't there and he kept going at it. And in the normal running plays, the more in the interior running plays, you were having success. I think the more we look back at it, the Oklahoma State game is going to probably be more of the exception to the rule. Now, will there be one other exception to the rule game through the rest of the season?

Starting point is 00:06:09 Absolutely could be. Iowa State's got a top 10 defense. Kansas State typically plays good defense against you, right? And they have solid defense there too. Cincinnati, even though they struggled so far this year, they have pretty good defense. So you look up and down the board, there's going to be other areas or avenues or games that KU could have a down rushing game for what we're used to. But overall, this is a strength of the team. And most weeks, it is going to be a strength and lead to a big output of what your rushing total was. And that was the case against OU, where your

Starting point is 00:06:37 running backs were excellent. Daniel High, Sean Devon, Neal took over the game on the ground. There were so many plays where it could have been a one or two yard gain, and they made it three, four, five, six, or seven, you know, and that's the stake of a good running back or turning a four yard gain into a 10 yard gain or turning a zero yard gain into even a one or a two yard gain. And they do that so often in a game against a Oklahoma defense that has a ton of guys that are flying all over the field. Other short-term takeaway here, the defense was excellent all things considered. You know, you look at the scoreboard, you say, yeah, you gave 33 points. You have 440 yards of offense. Like, how great really was the defense?

Starting point is 00:07:11 But that's kind of the point. It's based on who you're going against. Oklahoma came in with one of the best offenses in the country, and I think will continue to have one of the best offenses in the country moving forward. And, yes, weather might have helped you a little bit here. And, yes, the way that you ran the ball may have helped you a little bit here to get your defense rested and everything. Football is a complimentary sport. So this isn't long-term. The reason I put it in short-term with the defense is we've seen them be much better at home than they have been on the road. And we've

Starting point is 00:07:37 seen some games where, you know, like the Oklahoma state game where the defense struggled, but we, or the Texas game where you give up over 600 yards of offense. But we've seen other games where like UCF and Oklahoma where the defense has played really well. And I think that's the big difference between this year's defense and last year's defense. This one's improved in that you're showing more of the higher level outputs or against the higher level offenses. You're showing an ability to at least withstand a little bit and take away at least a little bit of something,

Starting point is 00:08:05 but you forced three turnovers. I mean, yes, you gave up over 250 rushing yards. Oddly enough, you had a 79 run defense grade on pro football focus. You gave up just 170 passing yards and it would have been one 31 on seven yards per attempt without the deep ball at the end.

Starting point is 00:08:21 That could have been offensive pass interference that they pulled the flag and it was just kind of a lucky hail Mary jump ball throw that they made a great play on. It would have been 131 on seven yards per attempt. So you would have done a great job on coverage. You ended up with a 78 coverage grade on pro football focus. Overall, you forced three turnovers. You held OU to 33 points, which was almost 10 points below their average. They came in averaging 42 points per game. If you would have said coming in, KU defense was going to force three turnovers and hold OU to 33, I think you would have taken it in a heartbeat, right? And again, if they call OPI on that final drive, it's even less yards allowed in total with everything. So overall, it's been pretty apparent

Starting point is 00:08:57 how much better they've been in home games defensively. And that was true in this game too. You've given up 347 yards per game in the home games, 493 yards per game in the road games, 11 turnovers forced at home, one turnover forced per game or total on the road, 24 points per game allowed at home, 34 points per game allowed on the road. Individually, some players that led to this good defense, Mello Dotson was awesome with the pick six. Sucks he got hurt after that.

Starting point is 00:09:25 Cool to see, though, after he was targeted 11 times the game before against Oklahoma State. He knew it was coming at him, and he made the big play. J.B. Brown had an 82 pro football focus grade, had the huge hit, forced fumble. Austin Booker, Jeremy Robinson combined for seven pressures, continued to be a really good pass rushing duo for you. Kenny Logan had a very active game.

Starting point is 00:09:44 He had 10 tackles, I think. He had six missed tackles, oddly enough, by Pro Football Focus. But some of those were actually super helpful missed tackles because there were missed tackles that he read the play so well, he shot out of a cannon and hit the guy at the line of scrimmage or behind the line of scrimmage. The guy broke free, but it slowed him down and allowed somebody else to make the tackle shortly thereafter.

Starting point is 00:10:01 So some of those were like good missed tackles. And last but not least, Kobe Bryant. Also, I should mention Kenny Logan had the coverage on the two point conversion by OU, their last two point conversion. If they would have hit that, you know, instead of being down 38 to 33, it's 38, 35. Maybe they kick a field goal late. Although I guess KU kicks a PAT instead of going for two. Nonetheless, Kobe Bryant, he was targeted one time the whole game. He gave up five yards. So the last two games Kobe Bryant's played, four total targets, he's given up 13 yards. Make that guy an All-American.

Starting point is 00:10:32 Last short-term takeaway, you don't want to play KU off a bye week. Apparent last year, apparent this year. So these are our long-term takeaways here with Locked on Jayhawks. First, this episode of the show is brought to you by Game Time. Buying tickets to your favorite sporting or comedy or music or theater event, whatever you want to go to, should not be stressful because you're going to have a good time at the event. Why make the buying process anything different?

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Starting point is 00:11:41 Get $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Again, create an account and redeem code LOCKEDONCOLLEGE for $20 off. Download GameTime today. Last-minute tickets. Lowest price guaranteed. On to our long-term takeaways from KU taking down Oklahoma 38-33 on Saturday. I think a long-term takeaway here is

Starting point is 00:12:05 Kansas has proven they can beat anyone in the league all right that was a top 10 team and whether you thought that even if you thought okay oh you maybe they're not the number six team in the country maybe they're more like what ESPN SP plus had him as which was like number nine that's still a top 10 team right that's still a very big deal and maybe you go back and say I don't know if they can beat Texas well oh youxas right on a neutral field it's all about how you play that specific day um anything can happen on any specific day in that day and that's always been the case in college football but it's more so true with you now right um to show that you won this game shows that you are kind of here to stay it feels like in the lance leipold era k, it feels like, in the Lance Leipold era at Kansas.

Starting point is 00:12:45 It feels like you showed you can compete with the big boys, and it's almost like a why not us in terms of why can't you compete to win eight or nine wins a year? Why can't you compete for Big 12 titles? Why can't you do this or that, compete for big-time bowl games? You showed you can beat OU. You're 6-2. You're ranked in the top 25.

Starting point is 00:13:04 Even one of your two losses to Oklahoma State was a game that, if a couple things go your way here or there, whether it's a call or not making a play here or doing this or that, maybe you win that game. Maybe you're 7-1 right now. Maybe you're in the top 15 or top 12 of the first college football rankings that come out at that point if you would have beat Oklahoma State. So Kansas has proven that that's the case, and we'll see. If you beat Iowa State,

Starting point is 00:13:26 realistically, if you win your last four games now, you're going to be in competition for the Big 12 title game and for a New Year's Six Bowl. That's going to be easier said than done. Your underdogs to Iowa State this week, you still have K-State on there who's going to be really tough at Cincinnati,

Starting point is 00:13:39 even though Cincinnati struggled at senior day for them. Road games are just hard in college football, so it's going to be easier said than done, but you have a lot in front of you because of this game and this show that you can beat any of the remaining teams that you have on your schedule. Another long-term takeaway here, Jason Bean and Devin Neal are going to go down in KU lore. Kind of different reasons here. With Jason Bean, there's been some ups and downs, whether it was this specific game or throughout his KU career, right?

Starting point is 00:14:06 Like ups and downs of having some bad games, having some good games, having some like your local state game, having so many good moments, throwing for 400 yards, throwing five touchdowns, and having bad interceptions and being unable to come through with the key final drive. Against Oklahoma, the ups and downs, below 50% completion rate, missing maybe Trevor Cardell or Luke Graham on touchdown or two point plays, throwing the bad interception. But then some big ups, whether it's the touchdown run, whether it's the big play on fourth and seven to Lawrence

Starting point is 00:14:32 Arnold. But through it all, Jason Bean is now the guy who quarterbacked the win that got you eligible last year over Oklahoma State. And he had some big moments there, that long touchdown run, super efficient passing in that game. And now he was your quarterback against Oklahoma when you won the game. And I think this win was more about what everybody else did. Like Jason Bean played good enough that it gave you a chance to win the game.

Starting point is 00:14:56 The interception at the end almost cost you that chance. But the reason you won the game is not just because Jason Bean, and it's not despite Jason Bean. Jason Bean was part of it, but the defense played well, was opportunistic. You made some key plays, forced some key turnovers, and the running game was really good, right? And some of the skilled players stepped up and made big plays.

Starting point is 00:15:16 But when you had to have it, the fourth and seven, three pass rushers coming at you, you throw on your back heel, 20, 25 yards downfield, and you hit Lawrence Arnold for the big play. We judge quarterbacks on those key moments, and he came through and he delivered. And yes, I'm sure if Jason Bean starts against Iowa State and however many games he starts the rest of the way, there's going to be more ups and downs for Jason Bean. But 10 years from now, 15 years from now, people are going to remember Jason Bean as being the guy who got it done against Oklahoma and got Kansas to bowl eligibility twice in his KU career. And with Devin Neal, it's for a different reason.

Starting point is 00:15:49 You're the local guy. You're from Lawrence. You grew up a KU fan. You decide to come to KU through all the turmoil, through the thick and thin. You decide to stay at KU even after the Les Miles saga that happens in the offseason. You come in. You have a good freshman year. You help lead KU to the win at Texas.

Starting point is 00:16:04 You help lead them to bowl eligibility for the first time in 14 years in your second year. Now you have taken Kansas to a level where they're beating top 10 teams at home, where they've been ranked now on three separate occasions in the AP and the coaches' bowl on three separate weeks. On top of it, this guy's going to have an NFL career. He's probably going to earn all conference honors. I mean, this guy's going to be in the ring of honor when it's all said and done.

Starting point is 00:16:26 And to have the hometown hero thing, the Lawrence thing, there's something really cool about all that stuff. Other long-term takeaway here, the last two games I think were long-term proof that KU mainly is going to win or lose based on the other stuff as opposed to QB play. We do like to center so much about, oh, did the QB play well? Did they not play well? And yes, if your QB plays at a Heisman level, you're going to win a lot more of those games. If your QB plays at a really bad level, you're going to lose more of those games.

Starting point is 00:16:54 But somewhere in the middle of those two things between like, like Jalen Daniels is at the, you're going to win a lot of games because this guy's playing at the Heisman level. And then you have your name, your big 12 starting or your KU starting quarterback from what, like 2010 to, you know, 2018 or 2017 or whatever that you could pluck out and be like, and okay, you're going to lose a lot of games because you have that guy in the middle in college football is where a majority of the quarterbacks rest. And I think that's where Jason Bean is. Jason Bean is, I think, a solid college football quarterback. He's middle tier of the Big 12, upper half in the Big 12. And I don't mean to say that as like, that's not supposed to be a negative.

Starting point is 00:17:32 Like, that is a good thing. You know how many years we were killed for that at Kansas, right? So, like, he's good enough to win games. But when you're not that top-tier guy, you're good enough to win games, but you need everybody else to make things happen around you. You need to run the ball well and or play good defense and or have the skilled players make good plays, right? And that's what we know what Jason Bean. Look to the Oklahoma State game. Perfect example.

Starting point is 00:17:51 Cross-compare Oklahoma State to Oklahoma. You could argue Jason Bean was actually better in the Oklahoma State game than the Oklahoma game. Certainly the stats say that. But the key drive, the key moment of the game, Jason Bean was better in OU than Oklahoma State. But the difference in the Oklahoma State game, which you lost versus the OU game, which you won and the OU game, a better opponent, is that in the OU game, you ran the ball well, over 200 yards. Oklahoma State, you had under 100. OU game, played pretty good defense. You held a team who's averaging 42 to 33, nine below their mark. Oklahoma State game, I think they came in scoring

Starting point is 00:18:23 about 24, 25 points per game. You gave up, what, 39? So they were well above their mark. Oklahoma State game, I think they came in scoring about 24, 25 points per game. You gave up, what, 39? So they were well above their mark. You struggled tackling football. Special teams had mistakes in both games, but they did have more positives in the OU game than they did in the Oklahoma State game. So as much as we do boil this down to Jason Bean,

Starting point is 00:18:40 and Jalen Daniels is so good that he does give you less margin for error, that some of those other things don't have to go your way and you could still win with Jalen Daniels. Jason means good enough to win it. Honestly, the conversation should just be more about is Kansas going to do these other things? Well,

Starting point is 00:18:53 because Jason Bean will probably make a few mistakes that'll make you be like, Oh, that's not great, but he'll also make some plays that keep you in the game. And it's up to the other guys to fill in the gaps from there. All right. We're going to finish up with more on the Iowa State game

Starting point is 00:19:06 this upcoming Saturday with Locked on Jayhawks. This episode of Locked on Jayhawks is brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook. Score early this NFL season with FanDuel, America's number one sportsbook. Right now, new customers get $150 in bonus bets with any winning $5 Moneyline bet. That's $150 if your team wins. If you've been thinking about joining FanDuel, there's no better time to get in on the action. The app is so easy to use. There's a wide range of betting options. You can get spreads, player props, over-unders, and more. You can get in on the KU action. They're underdogs

Starting point is 00:19:42 right now against Iowa State. Cyclone's tough to beat when you play them up in Ames. It's a night game too. They've got a top 10 defense. So I don't know. The over-under is very tough for me in this game. But if you're confident KU bouncing off of this game and moving off the momentum, you can get plus points or plus on the money line. So visit fanduel.com slash locked on and kick off the NFL season. FanDuel, an official partner of the NFL. KU takes on Iowa State on Saturday. It's a 6 o'clock kickoff, so that'll be fun on ESPN. Got some primetime ability.

Starting point is 00:20:17 Iowa State is part of – there's a five-way tie right now. I don't know if you know this. Five-way tie in the Big 12 for first at 4-1 between Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas State, Oklahoma State, and Iowa State. So as good as Kansas has been, they're actually in sixth right now at the conference. This is actually a chance to technically go on the road and beat a team who's tied first in the Big 12. Iowa State's playing really good football, and this would obviously be a very impactful win.

Starting point is 00:20:39 I think if you were ranking the toughest games left for KU, K-State would probably be number one. This would probably be number two. And I don't know that it's that far off because, you know, I think K-State's better than Iowa State, but the fact that you have to play this one on the road or as you get K-State at home, you know, does add another element into all this.

Starting point is 00:20:56 But they opened as a two-point favorite to the Cyclones. KU has not won in aims since 2008. Right now, Iowa State's 82nd in the country in offense. They are 10th on defense and 33rd on special teams per ESPN SB+. They got a freshman quarterback, not an overly dynamic offense, but they've been getting it done lately. They put up 30 or more in three of their big 12 games so far, three of the five, including the last two. Defensively though, they are stellar and they really held KU in check last year. It took them missing a billion field goals for them to lose that game.

Starting point is 00:21:26 This is a good football team. I know they lost early to Ohio. It's kind of like Oklahoma State. Discount the early season results because for whatever reason, they figured it out since then. They're a different team since then. And Iowa State is playing really good football at this point in time. Kansas is playing really good football at this point in time.

Starting point is 00:21:41 Biggest key for Kansas is trying to get up off the mat. I mean, first of all, they've been so much better at home than they have been on the road. They've really struggled on the road. But it's trying to get up off the mat after celebrating having such a big win against Oklahoma and raising your energy level back to where it needs to go. Because if it doesn't, physical, fundamentally sound Iowa State team

Starting point is 00:21:59 pop you in the mouth and win this game. And they are very good to do so. So coin flip game coming on Saturday. If KU wins this one, you know, the Oklahoma game was proof that you can punch up in the league, that you can beat anyone in the league. You win this game. This is what true conference title contenders do or top tier teams do. They don't just win the big games.

Starting point is 00:22:18 They're consistent and they follow up winning the big games by taking care of business in the other games. Let's see if they can take care of business on Saturday. That'll do it for this episode of locked on Jayhawks. We'll be back tomorrow with a KU Fort Hayes state preview for their second exhibition game in basketball. You can find our show anywhere. You get any of your podcasts,

Starting point is 00:22:36 like, and subscribe to us on our YouTube page. Have a great rest of your day. We'll see you next time with locked on Jayhawks.

Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Biggest Win of the Lance Leipold Era for Kansas Jayhawks Football Taking Down Oklahoma

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