Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - DESPERATION: Jayhawks Look to End 16-Year Nightmare vs K-State | Can Kansas Finally Breakthrough?

Starting point is 00:00:00 Kansas has to win this game. They have to end 16th straight. We preview Kansas versus Kansas State on this episode of Locked on Jayhawks. 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 it at your first.

Starting point is 00:00:30 listen every day and thank you to every dayers catching each and every episode of the show. And on today's edition of Locked on Jayhawks, we are previewing the game, Kansas, Kansas State, what is the Wildcats scouting report? What are our matchups of the game that could determine who comes out on top? We'll get into a little of our storylines and news of the game as well on today's episode of the show. And this episode of Locked on Jayhawks is brought to you by GameTime. Download the GameTime app, create an account, and use code Lockdown College for $20 off. your first purchase that could come in handy for the KUK State game.

Starting point is 00:01:01 So we're going to start with the top storylines of the game, the game preview, and then we'll get into the Kansas State Scouting Report, and then finish up with matchups of the game on today's episode. We'll have more content coming at you today as well with Big 12 Media Days, but this is obviously a big one. Kansas has lost 16 consecutive games in the series to Kansas State. This is not pretty. They needed to end.

Starting point is 00:01:25 I mean, just in terms of the legacy. of Lance Leipold and Jalen Daniels, just in terms of the, you know, if you want to continue to have recruiting classes like you have built in the class of 2026 in state, it would be very helpful to win this game and beat one of your rivals, you know, for the first time. It's time for that to kind of happen for KU. And when you think about the 16 straight to, some of the ones that certainly come to mind in terms of like, I don't know, like the most excruciating, I guess you could say would be one way of putting it or another way of putting it would probably be like which once has Kansas like been the closest to you know pulling the upset obviously this is a little

Starting point is 00:02:05 different situation because you're actually favored in this one and that's kind of a storyline in this one too that you know Kansas is the team that's lost the 16 straight but it's actually the team who's won the 16 straight that gets to play the chip on their shoulder the underdog card coming into this game which is a very uncomfortable place to be if you are Kansas but you think bike last year. Kansas almost went into Manhattan and beat Kansas State. That was at the time they ranked 16th in the country. Kansas ends up losing 29, 27. They hit like a 50-yard field goal. Jalen Daniels said the fumble. And from there, you lose the game. In a game, you felt like you very easily could have won. Year before that, you lose 31 to 27 to then 21st ranked Kansas State.

Starting point is 00:02:44 And that would have been the difference of that Kansas team winning 10 games, which is certainly even more unfortunate. You think of the Rich Miller dropped the interception. You think of the Trevor Wilson dropped the fumble. Then you go back to year before. you lose 47, 27 to at that time, 12th ranked Kansas State. And honestly, that's a game that the score was not indicative of how, like, Kansas had avenues to making that a closer game. If I remember right, they like muff the punt or kickoff or something. Shoot, they had the step out on the kickoff last year, too, like the one yard line.

Starting point is 00:03:12 But you sense a theme here as we go through these. It's not just the 16 straight losses. It's that Kansas consistently is self-inflicting harm. They're self-inflicting mistakes. special team's advantages for Kansas State, just boneheaded plays, gaffs by Kansas. That has been the difference in a lot of ways. Some blowout wins for Kansas State, the three previous times, 35, 10, 55, 14, and 38 to 10. The time before that was the one in Manhattan, 2018, when Kansas lost 21 to 17.

Starting point is 00:03:41 And that was the game where Kansas nearly stole one in Manhattan. They're driving down by four in the last couple of minutes of the game. And Peyton Bender just, like, drops the ball and fumbles. And that did it in for Kansas and ended up losing by four in a game you could have won there. You lose 30 to 20 the year before. This was 2017 in Lawrence. And that was a game where I want to say Kansas State had, it was either like a punt return or a kick return for a touchdown. So that's a touchdown difference there.

Starting point is 00:04:08 And then also even with them already, and I think they had another long return in the game too. With them already having like all the special teams accolades, you scored like a, it was a pretty good game for Carter Stanley. You scored like a touchdown or kicked a field goal or something to make it 27 to 20 in the last. couple minutes of the game where it was like, hey, if you kick off to them and you make a stop and then you get the ball back, maybe you can go down force overtime or go for two or like, you know, do something crazy, pull the upset here. And Kansas kicked it off to the same guy who had been killing them in return games. He takes it to like the plus 40. Kansas got to stop, but they were still in field goal range. They made a field goal and ended up winning by 10. So it's like things like that,

Starting point is 00:04:45 like 2016, Kansas State won 34 to 19. That was kind of a closer game. K.U. kind of hung in there. And then prior to that, like all the ones before that are pretty much blowouts, except for 2009 in which Kansas State went 17 to 10, which is the outskirt of the 16th straight. Prior to that, Kansas had won three in a row. They blew out Kansas State 52 to 21. That was the Jake Sharp game, went for a billion touchdowns. They won 30 to 4, there are 30 to 24 in Manhattan in 07. And then in 06, they won 39 to 20. They had also won four of five. And that was after Kansas State had another long streak of their own. Overall, Kansas owns the overall series record, but that is quickly closing to say the least. Now, I think beyond,

Starting point is 00:05:23 just the actual rivalry aspect, which is obviously the most important aspect of this. There's another conversation in this one of like, this is going to have a big impact in which of these teams makes it to a bowl game. I mean, it's still possible that both teams end up making it to a bowl game after this one or that neither makes it to a bowl game after this one or that, you know, whoever wins doesn't make it and the loser does make. Like, that stuff can clearly happen. But what I find interesting is that this one to me is going to have a heavy implication on if either team does go bowling in the end. Because think about it, if Kansas State loses this football game, they're sitting at three and five. Your margin for error for making

Starting point is 00:06:00 a bowl game is much lower and becomes much, much more difficult if you're the wildcats. From Kansas perspective, you'd be sitting at four and four, which would be the same record as Kansas State if they won this game, but it would feel like Kansas State is ascending. They'd just beat TCU. They had a close loss to Baylor that they easily could have won. It feels like they're heading in the right direction. Whereas with Kansas, it would feel like the opposite. way. And with Kansas, you look at the back half of the schedule. If you don't beat Kansas State, can you find two gimmie wins? I don't think you can on the schedule. Now, they can beat Utah. They can win at Arizona. You know, they can win these games. But it's not a

Starting point is 00:06:36 gimmee. It's a lot of games you would be, you know, favor or underdogs by kind of a coin flip there, right? And that's kind of a scary spot to be when you would like have to win one of those game. So going bowling is actually kind of huge as a result of this game. And then the last storyline here is both teams are coming off a by week. Kansas has been really good under Lance Leipold coming off a by week, six and one both against the spread and overall off a buy week since 2022, right? Not counting 2021 when Kansas was just at their worst and that was really year zero for Lance Lightbold when they took over anyway. When you look at Kansas State, they have been closer to like 500.

Starting point is 00:07:21 I think since 2022, they're four and three off the buy. I want to say they're only two and five against the spread off the buy under Chris Climmon since 2022. I could be off on that exact number, but point being Kansas has handled the buy better. As much as I, is that on paper is an advantage for Kansas. They're also, though, in the back of my head is this idea of like, Kansas has so many bells and whistles on offense and what they do defensively, schematically, offensively, all the formations, all the motions, all the packages they run, like, is both teams

Starting point is 00:07:51 having a buy actually a net positive for the other team, knowing how long it usually takes to get prepared for Kansas that, for KU, that makes things more difficult. Who knows? Or maybe it allows KU to add even more wrinkles. And for Kansas State defense that, you know, the defensive line hasn't been great, but they've still had a pretty good sack rate that tells me that they're scheming some stuff up. Maybe it allows Kansas to scheme some stuff up. Maybe it allows Kansas off their worst offensive line game since in like five years against Texas Tech to kind of fix some of that stuff. So there are some things you could kind of look at both ways. Now, the only bit of news really we have coming into this, normally we record these

Starting point is 00:08:29 for Thursday and we have the Wednesday injury report. This is coming out Wednesday morning, so we don't have the injury report just yet. We don't know some of the statuses of some of these players. The big one to kind of keep an eye on is for Kansas State. It's Dylan Edwards. They're running back. A very explosive runner. And when you look at Kansas State, running game, their team that gets stuff to go to mount running the ball, but they hit a lot of explosive plays to counterbalance that. If Dylan Edwards can't go, that's one less explosive piece for them. And Chris Kleiman mentioned earlier in this week on his Monday press conference, he kind of implied that right now he sounds like he would be on the wrong end of questionable. He

Starting point is 00:09:04 would be more doubtful right now. Could that just be a early week gamesmanship would not shock me? And then all of a sudden we see him a questionable on Wednesday. And then he plays on Saturday. I still feel like I'm not going to rule out him playing at all, but that is at least something to keep in mind. From the Daniel Highshaw perspective, Lance Leipold mentioned on Monday, he said, we're not as healthy as we'd like to be as a team, but he did mention Highshaw trending in good direction, ended up getting more carries than the thought he was going to be able to last, well, their last game and then they got a biweek in between. Can he add another element by being fully healthy and fresh after a couple weeks off to the running game that they've

Starting point is 00:09:41 been kind of missing? So let's move on to the Kansas State Scouting report. then get into matchups of the game. This is Locked on Jayhawks. Today's episode of the show is brought to you by Mazda. Mazda crafts cars for those who do more than simply move. From footwork to breathwork, athletes sweat, all the details. Mazda brings this same intention to how we craft every model. You can make everyday drives feel like anything but from smooth handling to intuitive controls. With all-wheel drive standard in every crossover SUV, you can drive with confidence through almost any season.

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Starting point is 00:11:11 another crossover talking more on the KUK State game. We're going to have our KU keys to the game later in the week. We got KU basketball content with KU Louisville preview coming out. We're going to have some KU Big 12 Media Day content coming out on Wednesday as well. So plenty coming at you. Make sure you subscribe to the show anywhere you get your podcast. All right, opponents scouting report for the Kansas State Wildcats. They come in at 3 and 4 on the season, 2 and 2 in Big 12 play.

Starting point is 00:11:34 It was a horrible opening for K State. They lose a close game to Iowa State and Ireland. And then they just didn't rebound. They nearly lost to North Dakota. They lost it home to Army, and they're sitting at one and three on the season. But now they've kind of figured it out. They've won two of three games. They beat UCF by 14, and a game that honestly wasn't that close.

Starting point is 00:11:53 It was close. It was like a 20-point lead for them in the fourth quarter. And then they lost by one at Baylor and kind of a controversial back-and-forth result game. And then they kind of beat up a pretty solid TCU team, 41 to 28 headed into their buy. It feels like they're kind of back to being where they were. overall record's not going to indicate, you know, by the end of the season for them that they were where they were expected to be. But if you're just looking at a vacuum, how they're playing right now, it is much closer to the preseason expectation, which makes this game a little more

Starting point is 00:12:24 dangerous. Obviously, their head coach, Chris Clyman, and he's been there a bit now for Kansas State. Like, this is an important game for him. I mean, I don't think he's a hot seat. He's made bowl games every year. They've won eight or nine games. It hasn't been the breakthrough year that they're looking for. I guess they did win the Big 12, you know, one of the years, but it definitely feels like the expectations have been pretty high. But does the hot seat talk get ramped up if they lose this game? You'd be sitting to three and five your first loss to Kansas, the in-state recruiting stuff.

Starting point is 00:12:54 I don't think you would get fired, but like, I don't know, it at least becomes more of a conversation that leads into, okay, is 20, 26 or make or break year at that point would be my assumption. Now, you look at it coming into the year, they were picked at the top or near the top of the Big 12. and now they're scrambling to make a bowl game. But the fact that they still have enough pedigree that they're still enough talent there, it scares you a bit playing them where they can play the underdog card

Starting point is 00:13:16 in a series where they've been the ones who won 16 straight. But on ESPN, FPI, they're ranked 40th. Kansas is 37th there, so very close game. On ESPNSP Plus, K-State is 53rd. Kansas is 41st. And you look at the splits there. K-state 49 on offense, 51 on defense, 32 on special teams. On SP Plus, Kansas is fifth on offense.

Starting point is 00:13:40 That's pretty cool. 94th on defense. That's not very cool. And how about this? 11th on special teams. And then also, if you look at ESPN FPI's team efficiencies, Kansas State is 55th. Overall, Kansas is in at 31st. The player personnel for Kansas State, quarterback's Avery Johnson.

Starting point is 00:13:57 We'll get into more on him. But kind of the rub is, it shows a lot of flashes, can hit some highlight plays. Good runner has a lower completion rate and yard per attempt number, though. running back is again going to be interesting is Dylan Edwards out or not if not Joe Jackson coming off a good game overall he's been fine this year jace brown's good geron Tibbs has been a good transfer edition at receiver for them and then Garrett Oakley has been really good as a tight end receiver not the deepest or best receiving core the KU will face this season but those guys specifically all players to kind of watch for them their offensive

Starting point is 00:14:28 line is 41st on pro football focus and pass blocking grade 50 first in run blocking grade So kind of above average, but not stellar in either category. The defensive line only ranks 104th in pass rush grade on pro football focus. But again, they're 25th in the country, sac rate. What does that tell you? It tells me that it's either an error by pro football focus, which is very possible, or that they're having to bring a lot of blitzes and they do well with them, bringing exotic pressures blitzing.

Starting point is 00:14:58 And that's kind of my assumption. If you think about it from a standpoint of like you're running a three, down looks that allows you to bring guys from all over the field that the defense might not see. So it might just be a really good job by the defensive coordinator and disguising blitzes and some of the linebackers and DBs blitzing that they're getting untouched lanes to, you know, the quarterback where PFF isn't giving them a pass rush win because he didn't get blocked, but it's leading to a higher sack rate. So overall, they are getting good pressure. I will say this. If they are getting a lot of that pressure from, you know, blitzes specifically,

Starting point is 00:15:31 good news for Kansas. Jalen Daniels is 9.7 yards per attempt this year when blitzed. That's actually higher than his number when he's not blitzed, 9.2 yards per attempt. Also, when Jalen Daniels is blitzed this year, nine touchdowns compared to zero interceptions. Now, you look at the rest of the K-State defense linebacker is a strength for them. Austin, Romaine, is one of the best linebackers in the country. Secondary has been fine so far. They're 60th rated in the country in coverage grade, so kind of average there. but if they do have a lack of pass rush,

Starting point is 00:16:02 that actually becomes more impressive. They do have a lot of good safeties. I think maybe the question's more at the corner spot for them, but do have some interesting safeties there. And then the kicker has been very good for them. This is a really good kicker matchup between the two teams. The quarterback deep dive here, Avery Johnson, really good touchdown to interception ratio.

Starting point is 00:16:20 If you count his rushing scores, he's got 16 total touchdowns compared to just two interceptions. But it's interesting because if you look at his his turnover worthy throw rate, it's actually like double of what Jalen Daniels is. So I don't know if there's something there. But I think, I don't know, it's interesting, only 7.0 yards per attempt for Avery Johnson. That's a low number. That's actually down from the 7.3 it was last year.

Starting point is 00:16:44 The 7.0 yards per attempt for Avery Johnson, that only ranks 89th in the country. And the completion percentage being at 62.8%, that ranks 84th in the country. total QBR he's 62nd nationally so a little bit better there but all those would say more of just kind of an average quarterback at least passing the football obviously he does have the threat to run and that's what kind of scares me most in this game and he's not turning the ball over but 1100 career rushing yards um i know there have been some in kansas state that have confused why he's not running the football even more and he has really good numbers doing that i'll say this i can't help but think they've been saving some bullets for the back half of the season and And for this game included in that, he has three straight games of double-digit carries, including over 70 rushing yards against UCF and Baylor. I'm expecting him to run the ball 14, 15, maybe even 20 times in this game. So I do think that'll be more on the docket this game. But I will say, too, like something else that kind of scares me is Johnson's a bit reminiscent

Starting point is 00:17:46 of Brendan Sorsby at Cincinnati in terms of where he wants to throw the ball. 49% of his passes, pass attempts come over the middle third of the field. that was a little less than Soresby at Cincinnati, but that certainly hurt Kansas. He's also done really well on play action, 10 yards per attempt on 66% on play action compared to non-play action, where he's only at 5.6 yards per attempt and 61%. So KU getting into downs that kind of eliminate your players and linebackers thinking that it could be play action, getting them into pass first downs where you don't have to worry about that is going to be really important.

Starting point is 00:18:22 They also throw a lot of short passes, 59% of Avery John. Johnson passes come within nine yards or less of the line of scrimmage. And I should also say he's also down over a full yard per attempt when blitzed and has thrown interceptions, both his interceptions when he is being blitzed. So a little bit opposite there in terms of Jalen being really good against the blitz. Avery Johnson hasn't been as good against the blitz. Key stats in this one, five happy stats for K State. They have the third lowest completion percentage allowed defensively in the Big 12th. They've done a really good job eliminating, you know, easy throws for this. the defense. Number one in the Big 12 in yards per kick return, and they have a kick return touchdown. If you could K State and special teams, that's certainly the case here. Number one in the big 12 with seven a fumble recoveries. Kansas has to hold on in the football. You know what's really weird though? If you look at, I don't even know how this is possible. Kansas State is only ninth in the big 12 in forced fumbles. They've forced four, but they've recovered seven. So I don't know if that accounts for like, do muffed punts not count as a forced fumble? I guess that would make

Starting point is 00:19:23 sense or like if somebody just drops the ball or whatever like i don't know an unforced phone so that to me honestly seems like k state's been a little lucky with the fumble luck with the fumble luck with the fumble recovery luck that they've only forced four and they've recovered seven but at the same time i say that you think of all the the bad breaks that have gone k u's way or you know in some of the cases k u's made their own bad breaks and k state has made their own good breaks in some of the recent games and that scares me that stat that, like, could that be something that comes into play that they've done well this year, even if it is a bit lucky, it feels like those are the plays that go K-States way in this matchup.

Starting point is 00:20:02 They're also third in the big 12 and points allowed per red zone trip defensively. KU's only 14th on the flip side, so, you know, their defense's done good, walling up in the red zone, and their 80th percentile nationally and explosive play rate offensively, so they get a lot of explosive plays offensively. Now, sad stats for the K-State team. They're 13th of the 16 big 12 teams and points allowed per game at 27. What's interesting there, Kansas has scored exactly 27 points, exactly on the dot the last three meetings with Kansas State. Obviously, it was never enough. So can you get 30 plus in this game? Because the last time Kansas scored 30 plus in a game against Kansas State, it was the last time they beat Kansas State,

Starting point is 00:20:42 which was 52 to 21 on November 1st, 2008. And again, you go back to the 2,000. And again, you go back to the 2007 meeting, you won 30 to 24. So back to back 30 point games, you won both those games. You look at last year, if you had scored 30 points, you would have won the game. Can Kansas get to 30? Also, other sad stats for K State, 13th in the Big 12 in yards per attempt, passing, and 46th percentile nationally, so about average in yards per dropback. They're also 12th in the Big 12 and third down conversion rate defensively, so they've struggled

Starting point is 00:21:11 a bit getting off the field, kind of similar to Kansas, sixth percentile nationally. So that means 94% of college football is better than them, and the amount of runs that are stuffed offensively, meaning they're getting a lot of their runs stuffed when Kansas State runs the ball. They're only 14th percentile in offensive line run push. That means their offensive line isn't getting a huge block and they are getting a lot of play stuffed, even though they are getting explosives. And then on the defense side, even though their offense gets a lot of explosive plays, their defense gives up a lot of explosive plays. is their fourth percentile nationally and explosive play rate defensively. That means that 96% of college football is better at limiting explosive plays than the Kansas State defense. Can Kansas take advantage of those?

Starting point is 00:21:52 We'll find out. Let's get to our matchups of the game next. This is Locked on Jayhawks. Thanks, joining us. This episode of the show is brought to you by Game Time. College football's here. And I don't know how you couldn't be more excited about each and every Saturday, the tailgates, the rivalries, the energy in the stands.

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Starting point is 00:22:44 GameTime app, create an account, and use code Locked on College for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply, again, promo code Locked on College, L-O-C-E-D-O-N-C-O-L-L-E-G-E for $20 off. Swipe, Tap, Ticket, go. Download Game Time today. Thanks for joining us on this episode of Locked on Jayhawks. You can find our show anywhere you get your podcast, including on a U-S. YouTube page where you can like and subscribe to the show and get into the matchups of the game for KU and K State. First down, play clean football and close out the game. So Kansas State's tied eighth nationally and turnovers forced. Can you hold on to the football?

Starting point is 00:23:27 Can you avoid those backbreaking turnovers? Can you play clean football? Because you think about a lot of these past losses to Kansas State, it involves you not playing clean football. It involves you making a mistake. It involves you muffing a punt or doing something. something stupid. The Wildcats are also second in the Big 12 and least amount of penalty yards per game. They're not going to beat themselves. We've seen that over and over again in this series. They're not going to beat themselves. Kansas beats themselves. Play clean football in

Starting point is 00:23:51 this game. And obviously special teams is a big part of that. Play clean on special teams because we've seen that swing a lot of these games in favor of Kansas State. Beyond that, can you close out the game? Heck, can you close out each half? Because if this is going to be another close game. You think about the last couple of years, K-State, you know, winning the fourth quarter a couple years ago. K-State winning the, you know, end-of-game situation last year. Can you close out the game of your Kansas? That hasn't just been a KUK-State issue. KU struggled closing out halves in a lot of these games. Now, maybe it changed with the UCF game. They did close out the half-well against Texas, Texas. Maybe they're trending in the right

Starting point is 00:24:28 direction there, but certainly that'll be, you know, of note in this game against Kansas State. second down limiting explosive run plays against k state uh the k u defense is just 30th percentile at limiting explosive run plays so that's not very good and kansas state is in the 87th percentile offensively an explosive run rate so you have a kansas state team that's good at getting explosive runs you have a kansas team that's bad at stopping explosive runs that is a little bit scary of a matchup but if you can limit them in this game and again the dylan edwards health is huge for this, because it comes a little bit easier if you don't have to do that. But it's not just him, too.

Starting point is 00:25:08 Like, it's also about stopping the explosive runs of Avery Johnson. That's going to be important for KU. And I think it's been kind of a hit or miss start for KU defending Russian quarterbacks. Like, you did pretty good with it against Bo Pribula. Actually, you did very good with it against Bo Pribula, but also against the West Virginia backups. Then again, it's the backups. It's late in the game. I don't know, but they were able to run the ball.

Starting point is 00:25:29 You look at what Texas Tech did in the second half, quarterbacks were able to run the ball. I don't know what it'll be against Avery Johnson. That'll be interesting to see. But if they can limit the explosives, if they can limit the QB runs, Kansas is 72nd percentile with stuff rate against the run defensively. So they actually do a good job of stuffing runs. It's just like, okay, we're going to get a zero-yard run. We're going to get a TFL. They lost a yard.

Starting point is 00:25:51 And then it's like the third run they have is like, oh, that's a 30-yard run, you know? It's like, can you limit the explosives because the other stuff, when you're not giving up the explosive is actually pretty good. So K-State's defense also profiles is one that gives up a lot of explosives, as we talked about earlier, which I think makes it even more important because if the KU defense can limit the explosive runs, there's a chance KU is going to get a good amount of explosives from their offense. And if you can have a heavy advantage in the explosive plays, that would be huge and favorable to you winning the game. Third down is the offensive line resurgence for KU. You'll add over 30 pressures in the Texas Tech game. You'll have nine sacks. You get your will, your pride, tested a little bit in a game like that.

Starting point is 00:26:34 And I will say the KU defense, that was a little bit of a KU's offensive line played bad. Texas Tech's defensive line is very good and played a good game. And kind of the confluence of everything led to that because you look at the games leading up. Kansas giving up a little over 40 pressures on the season before the Texas Tech game. You give up over 30 to Texas Tech alone. So you nearly doubled the amount of pressures you've given up this season. one game. You allowed more sacks in that one game than you had allowed all season long combined. So it's not the norm for the KU offense line to play that bad. In fact, they've been, you know,

Starting point is 00:27:08 relatively fine for most of the season. You need to at least get back to that against Kansas State. And I don't think they have the same dudes that tech did on the defensive line, but they're certainly going to be chomping at the bed. They're certainly going to be confident coming into this game after how that one went. So can you get back to at least where you were in some of the other games? they get pressure with some exotic looks. This is one physically that I do think Kansas is better equipped to hold up physically, but how are you going to hold up mentally? Like maybe that's where the byweek kind of comes in and helps KU.

Starting point is 00:27:39 But also, if we're talking about the offensive line, can you get the running game going? Because in KU's two biggest games, Missouri and Texas Tech, nada, basically, from the running game. You haven't been able to run the ball at all. So can you find that a little bit, too, against Kansas State? And then fourth down is Kansas on early downs. Kansas State is just 37th percentile defensively and early downs EPA per play. That means that they're giving up too many yards on the early downs defensively.

Starting point is 00:28:06 KU offense is in the 88th percentile on early downs. So KU, even though they haven't been the best third down team, they've been really good on first and second downs on early downs so far this season. And so when you combine that Kansas has been good on early downs, the K-State defense has struggled on early downs. When you combine that with the giant explosive play rate that the K-State defense is allowing. When you combine that with the good explosive, you know, plays that we've seen Kansas have at times this year, you think some of the ones like Emmanuel Henderson or so on

Starting point is 00:28:33 and so forth, I can't help but wonder, is this going to be a game where KU unleashes throwing the football on early downs even more? They've actually done a pretty good amount this season, but is it like an overwhelming amount because they feel like that's where they can have their best shot and really avoid some of those more exotic looks, the case they want to dial up if it's third and long where they want to send some of these blitzes? Like, could that be something where KU just says, you know, let's just not even get to that point. Let's just try to strike early and often and try to have success there. I think there's going to be a lot of throws from Jalen Daniels on early downs in this game.

Starting point is 00:29:04 And can you have success doing that. All right, that'll do it for this episode of Lockdown Jayhawks. You can find our show anywhere you get your podcast, including on our YouTube page where you can like and subscribe to the show. And we'll be back for some Big 12 media content. We'll have more KUK State content, KU. Louisville content. Plenty coming at you all week long. So make sure you're subscribed anywhere you get your podcast, including on our YouTube page.

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