Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - DEVASTATED: Kansas Football REELING After Wildcats' Domination | Is it Basketball Season at KU?

Starting point is 00:00:00 On today's Locked on Jayhawks, we break down what the Kansas lost to Kansas State means. Our biggest takeaways, and is it officially KU basketball season? 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. at your first listen every day.

Starting point is 00:00:31 And thank you to the everydayers catching each in every episode of the show. We are free and available anywhere you get your podcast, including on our YouTube page where you can like and subscribe to the show. And on this episode, Lockdown Jayhawks, we're breaking down our biggest takeaways from KU's a bludgeoning loss to the Kansas State Wildcats. What it means for KU as a team, his program, Jalen Daniels. And if it's officially Darren Peterson, KU basketball season, we'll also get into our goats of the game, good and bad.

Starting point is 00:00:57 And we'll finish up with a little early look ahead to Oklahoma State. where I guess there is a little light at the end of the tunnel with Kansas being like a three touchdown favorite over Oklahoma State coming up next Saturday. Today's episode of the show is brought to you by GameTime. Download the GameTime app, create an account and use code locked on college for $20 off your first purchase with Game Time.

Starting point is 00:01:17 All right, so our biggest takeaways from the KU Kansas State game. I just kind of think like I walk away from this game with a much different outlook on where Kansas is. And, you know, at certain points of the season, you could have convinced yourself that Kansas is a good football team. Even up until last week, you could kind of stretch it to be like, hey, you were hanging in there with Texas Tech. You lost a close game on the road to Missouri, and you lose a close game at home to a good Cincinnati team. But now that you're four and four, I can view it the other way, too. You're four and four.

Starting point is 00:01:54 You have two straight blowout losses. you've scored a total of seven points. Like you think about that, Darren Peterson had 24 points in the first half of his first exhibition game against Louisville. Kansas has seven points on offense, their last three second halves combined. And so you look at that,

Starting point is 00:02:13 you look at saying, okay, if we look at the yard total, maybe Missouri should have won that game by more. You look at the Texas Tech and the Kansas State games, both being blowouts. And you also look to the fact that, again, at being four and four,

Starting point is 00:02:25 you are a goal line stop away potentially against UCF from being a three and five football team. Then you look to the resume, the wins that Kansas has, Fresno State, Mountain West team, Wagner, FCS team, West Virginia, really bad big 12 team. UCF, not a very good big 12 team. And again, you almost lost that game. So you're sitting as a team who doesn't have a win over, you know, I don't know, probably top 40 opponent nationally so far this. season. You could easily be three and five. You're four and four off two blowouts. I think I'm kind of crossing to the point where I just don't think this is a very good team in general. And so that's where you're four and four. Yes, you're favored against Oklahoma State, but you're not going to

Starting point is 00:03:09 be favored in the final three games after that. And so could you steal one? Yes, absolutely. At this point, the goal of the season, just make it to a bowl game. Get to six and six, get to a bowl game, get those extra bowl practices. That would come in handy in a lot of ways for KU, a lot of ways. just think about the backup quarterback job. I mean, for all we know, if you make it to a bowl game, would Jalen Daniels play, would he opt out? If he did opt out, like it would be an opportunity for extra reps for figuring out the quarterback situation.

Starting point is 00:03:37 But like point being, you got to get to the bowl game. So that's kind of your only goal at this point in time. But that's kind of where I'm at with this thing for KU. You look at the defense, it's just not very good. It's, you know, statistically one of the worst defenses in the Big 12 and in the country. It's kind of just one of those things that's like, what do you do well exactly? you know the Kansas state this is our next takeaway so we're going to kind of link these two together Jaylon Daniels picked a bad time to have a bad time um this was Jaylin's worst game of the season

Starting point is 00:04:06 against Kansas State he had been really good all season long up until this point and that's what kind of sucks here is in the big moment he was unable to deliver what would have been his signature win and now he's probably just not going to have a signature I mean I guess if you beat Utah on senior day maybe that counts it just depends where Utah's out like are they a ranked opponent like that could certainly be it um so maybe you still have another opportunity there but it feels like he was having a good season and then boom you know this game happened and it just looked so poor and the texas tech game um stunk because it wasn't really on him it's more about the offensive line this game was a little bit of some other things too but jalen did

Starting point is 00:04:46 not have a good game and it's kind of like one of those things where it's like what does this team do well the offensive line is inconsistent right they do some some things They'll have moments or games where they're solid at one aspect, maybe. The running game has not been consistent for KU. The receiving game, like you just don't really have a big depth of targets necessarily. And that's also been inconsistent a little bit. We've seen moments where Henderson and Pickett have looked unstoppable. We've seen other moments where, you know, they've been a little bit more quieted in the game.

Starting point is 00:05:17 The defensive side of the ball, obviously, has not been very good this season for Kansas outside of, you know, West Virginia and Fresno State and Wagner, basically. and I guess the second half against UCF. The special teams has actually been pretty good this year, but you made a colossal mistake in the Kansas State game. So it's just like one of those things where it's like, where are we pointing to? And that's kind of what it's felt like.

Starting point is 00:05:38 It's felt like Jaylen has played so well. And it's almost like the surrounding parts aren't totally there, but you've had really good quarterback play. And I think that's what we saw in the Kansas State game. With Jaylin struggling, I don't know what it was, whether it was Kansas State figured him out, whether it was a mental block, whether it was the rain, for whatever reason, him having his worst game in the season.

Starting point is 00:05:58 I think that's what you see there. Like, for instance, you look at the Cincinnati game. If Jalen would have played like you did against Kansas State in the Cincinnati game, you'd probably get blown out to Cincinnati in the same way you did to Kansas State. But if you would have got the Jalen Daniels, you got against Cincinnati against Kansas State, I'm not saying they win the game, but it's probably like that game where it's back and forth and close to the end. And that's kind of the difference here, I think, at this point for this Kansas State.

Starting point is 00:06:24 team. If Jalen struggles in a game, Kansas is done so because they don't really have that other avenue to winning a game. And if Jalen plays really well, it's going to be a coin flip game, you're either going to probably have a close loss or win the game. Like that's kind of just where things are at right now, I think for Kansas. And, you know, when you look at, like if you can beat Oklahoma State, can you just get one inferno game from Jalen Daniels over those final three? I think that would kind of be the hope for KU to get back to bowl eligibility. And that brings this to our next takeaway here. Like, it's just, it's Darren Peterson season. It's KU basketball season. I absolutely hate it when we get to the point where it's like, you know, oh, we'll see in basketball season. Oh, it's basketball season. Because I do love football. I'm one of those people that actually likes football more than basketball. So it is unfortunate to be there. But unfortunately, that is kind of where we are when you look at, hey, they look really good in the exhibition against Louisville. Darren Peterson goes for 24 points in the first half against Louisville. And the excitement is building. building. It is real for this Kansas basketball team. We kind of sat all offseason. Now we think they're an underrated unit. And there were a lot of things that they showed in that Louisville exhibition, albeit just an exhibition, that kind of back up some of those feelings with a little more tangible proof, even though the game didn't count. They're going to have another exhibition game this week. And then it's all eyes aboard KU basketball the following Monday for, you know, the start of the regular season. And so this upcoming Saturday against Oklahoma State becomes a huge game for Kansas football.

Starting point is 00:07:51 not just because it's your best chance to get another win to finish out the season. And, you know, if you do lose this game, at that point, it's like this is a Mark Mangino's final season level collapse of like, okay, clearly something's going on beyond just on the football field. If you win the game, maybe you can, you know, find a way to getting that one other win. But like, when you look at the final home game being against Utah on a Friday morning, black Friday morning game, people are going to be out of town for Thanksgiving or, you know, I don't know, it's probably going to be a cold game on, again, a Black Friday. Some people are going to be working. Other people who have it off might just be like, hey, I just, you know, all day of Thanksgiving and now I want to sleep in today. I will, they risk losing a lot of attendance in the Utah game, I guess

Starting point is 00:08:40 would be my point being in kind of mixing this thing up with where the feeling is right now from the fan base being very upset about the result of that Kansas State game. Because, you know, I'm not saying that people would have felt better necessarily if you would have lost another close game to Kansas State. I think in the moment, in a way, it would have almost been more excruciating and more painful. But I think for the long term of where the program is at, of feeling like you're right there, you would have at least felt better about the future that like, hey, we're going to get one of these eventually. And now it just felt like you took three steps back. It felt like you took a couple steps forward the last couple years by almost beating them and probably should have beat them in one of them,

Starting point is 00:09:18 at the very least, if not both. And you took two or three steps back in this one. And what does that mean for the program as a whole, not just the season or the game individually? So Darren Peterson's season, that is the exciting part of all this. Bryson Tiller look good. Darren Peterson, Floribodunga, and Bill Self, KU basketball, here to save the day, you would hope once again.

Starting point is 00:09:39 Let's get to our goats of the game from the KUK State game. This is Locked on Jayhawks. Today's episode of LOJ is brought to you by Game Time. College Football's back, and I don't know how you couldn't be more excited, the tailgates, the rivalries, energy in the stands, there's nothing like it. But let's be real. Actually, getting tickets can feel like more of a battle than the game itself. And those cues, hidden fees, jump in at checkout.

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Starting point is 00:11:01 Can we just transcend? Can we give Darren Peterson and Bryson Tiller a good goat here for what they did to at least salvage a little bit of the weekend for KU? Because if they were to lost that exhibition game to Louisville and they would have, like, struggled or something, if KU volleyball lose to K state now and field house, that would have been a really rough weekend. And at least that saved some of it. So I guess shout out to them a little bit. Let's start with the offensive side of the ball for KU for the good goats here. You know, this actually wasn't a bad game for the offensive line.

Starting point is 00:11:26 I wouldn't say it was a great game. Like they weren't opening up huge holes necessarily or getting explosive plays. But there were actually some times where Jalen had a decent amount of time to throw the ball. There were some times when, you know, they at least pushed the pile forward a little bit. Like I think it was a decent, I don't know, B-minus game from the offensive line, so speak. Certainly much better than the Texas Tech game. And actually, if you look at it on Pro Football, focus grades. Amier Herring at a 71, Nolan Gorska at the 70 and a half, Kobe Baines, 67.

Starting point is 00:11:53 Enrique Cruz, 65.3, Bryce Foster, 65, all in that, you know, kind of range that you want to kind be at, at the minimum to be solid there. So, you know, good to see there. Specifically, if we're looking at it, and by the way, like a shout out to Calvin Clements, who had his worst game against Texas Tech, was playing through an injury in this one, but, you know, bounced back to having a solid game in this one. So shout out to him for responding to the adversity there. Now, if we're going specifically though, I haven't given out the good goat yet. I'm not giving the entire offensive line a good goat in a game that you only put up 17 points. But if we look at those guys who all had at least solid grades, only one of those players did not either give up a pressure.

Starting point is 00:12:34 So Cruz gave up two pressures. Everybody else gave up one of that group. And then Calvin Clements gave up a penalty. But Amir Herring is the only one of that group. that not only had a solid PFF grade, but also didn't give up a penalty, didn't allow pressure. So we're going to give a mere herring on the offensive line, one of our good goats here.

Starting point is 00:12:54 I'm going to give Daniel Hyshaw a good goat. He forced six missed tackles against Kansas State. He still wound up under four yards per carry, which I think told you a little bit that like, it felt like Kansas State to a certain extent because he actually, he was above that in the first half. And then it felt like the second half,

Starting point is 00:13:10 Kansas State was like, we got Jalen Daniels. Like they're not throwing deep on us. They're not hitting us on, deep balls are thrown over intermediate it almost felt like they started creeping things up and it was like high shot would run up the gut and maybe make a guy miss or two and then he'd get tackled with like three or four guys on him for a gain of two which was like a really hard gain of two but he forced six miss tackles that's his best game of the year by that number

Starting point is 00:13:33 for guy who you know prides himself on being a physical runner he had nine total missed tackles forced obviously you know miss some games with injury coming into the year so he almost doubled that number in one game. He also got three catches in this game. He only had two coming in on the year. So even though statistically it wasn't, you could make the argument. It was Daniel Highshaw's best game of the year. I would say the linebacker spot was actually good for KU and this one. We'll get a good goat to Bengali Kamara and Trey Lathen. I mean, again, when you think of what Kansas State did offensively, they were under 400 yards of offense. They weren't really able to run the ball. Like the plays they hitch on were deep passes and big

Starting point is 00:14:10 plays in the passing game um so you look at the defensive side of the ball for k u and like yeah i don't know like again in that running game and that front seven was actually able to hold up in some ways they didn't get a ton of pressure but you know that's not all on bengali kamara and tre lathen camara had a 77 grade on pro football focus layton at a 73 and they both tackled really well um for bangali kamara he missed zero tackles that's been a bit of an issue for him this year like he's so good at getting to the play. He doesn't always finish the tackle. Trey Lathen didn't miss any either. So a combined, I think, 11 tackles between solos and assists between the two guys, zero missed tackles. So, you know, they played a good game for KU here

Starting point is 00:14:52 and helped limit the K-State running game, which I think was under four yards per carry as a team. So they get a good goat here as well. And then I would say a couple of the KU defense tackles. You mentioned Blake Harold. We gave him a defensive game ball. He certainly flashed and showed up in a real way in the game, played 44 snaps with a 70. PFF grade. How about Marcus Calvin? He had a pressure. Nobody had more than one pressure for KU, but Calvin also had a 74 run defense grade,

Starting point is 00:15:19 and his overall grade was a 76.2, which was second on the team. He started to play more. And as we're starting to look to, so he played 24 snaps, as you start to look ahead to what can be accomplished the rest of the season, besides obviously the main goal at this point get to a bowl game, try to get some young players, you know, more reps or feeling better about where they're going to be come 2026. And Calvin's one of those guys who he's just a redshirt freshman. So the better he shows toward the end of this year,

Starting point is 00:15:45 the better you're going to feel about him and that unit come 2026, especially because Blake Harold will be a redshirt junior. So that could actually be a formidable group up there. Although we said that this year and it hasn't totally played out, but I don't know, maybe even higher ceiling next year. But Kansas only had five pressures, which that'll take us to our bad goats, the pass rush. It just wasn't there in this game.

Starting point is 00:16:03 Kansas only getting five pressures in the end. They only had three hurries. They only had two quarterback hits and they had zero sacks. The pass rush was not there for KU in a game that, I mean, the coverage was not good, but especially on like long passes, if you can get pressure, it's going to overcome some of that stuff. And you never really forced them to change up their offense by the pressure you were providing.

Starting point is 00:16:29 So that's going to be one of the bad goats for Kansas. I would also say in general, the secondary gets a bad goat here for Kansas. just in general, this was like a very bad game for KU's cover. Their coverage grades are really bad overall. If we're going to point some guys out, and it's not pretty kind of all the way through. Like Mason Ellis, if you just look at coverage grade, had a 46.3, Austin Alexander, 47.3, Taylor Davis, 48.3. Jalen Todd, 51.3. DJ Graham, 56.9. Lyric Rawls, 57.1. Those are like all starter level snap players on your team. The only guy who was above a 64 was Dean Miller, who played like a handful of coverage snaps just in zone, just trying to fool the opposing quarterback with the formation.

Starting point is 00:17:13 That's not great. And so there is a certain extent of this where, like, and yes, some of this does fall on. The coach is actually a good amount. It is off a bye week and stuff. And I guess there is the question of, okay, are they being put in the right situations? But there's also a part of me that sits here and looks at this and goes, again, we go back to Devin Neal's tweet during the game on Saturday that K-State's just playing man every play, daring K. to beat them and they just can't. And I look at that and then I look at this where the KUDB's just got burned all day

Starting point is 00:17:40 against Kansas State receiving game. Jace Brown's a good player. John Tibbs is a fine player. They've got some interesting tight ends, but it's not like one of the better receiving course KU played this year. And you just kind of got toasted and beat up all down the field. There is a certain point of this. And again, like you go back to the quote from the Arizona State head coach,

Starting point is 00:17:59 Kenny Dillingham that like, you know, if our players get outplayed, that's on me because I recruited him here. So I guess there is a little bit of that too, but like there was a lot of this game that honestly was just Jimmy's and Joe's over X's and O's. And the K-State, Jimmy's and Joe's won a lot. And that is one of those areas where that was the case. Alexander gave up like over 100 yards on four targets, two touchdowns, no picks. That wasn't great. Mason Ellis, I thought he was going to be important for this game for KU coming back from the injury. Maybe it was still bothering him a little bit here because this was his worst game of the season. So that was unfortunate to see. And then on the offense, the side of the ball for the bad goats here, what

Starting point is 00:18:32 has happened to the KU tight end and receiver run blocking? Like that was something that the group of like Arnold, Skinner, and Grim never got enough credit for how good they were as run blockers. And right now on the season, and obviously this is tight ends too, grooms at a 54 run block grade, Cures at a 59, pickets at a 46, Quebec is at a 50, canty's at a 59.7, ham at a 56. Those are the guys under 60 who are like playing. That's just night and day from last year's score. And so it extends beyond the offensive line. If you're not getting blocking from tight ends and receivers as well. It's tough to spring those big runs because maybe the line gets them through the first level. Those guys sometimes get them through the second level, right? Or maybe the running

Starting point is 00:19:09 back gets through the second level and then those guys get them through the third level. You're just not finding that cohesiveness so far this year. I would say a bad game for the receivers overall, going back to that comment from Devin Neal just didn't feel like they won enough. And in fact, you look at receiving grade on pro football focus. That is kind of a fact. They just were unable to win enough. And Jayland Daniels gets one too. Like I said, I think he's had a great season. overall before this game, but this was his worst game of the season, unfortunately. Let's finish up on the show here with a little early look ahead to Oklahoma State. Today's episode of the show is brought to you by Fandual Sportsbook.

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Starting point is 00:20:13 So head over to fanduel.com to sign up and play your game with Fanduel, the official sports vetting partner of the NBA. Thanks for joining us on this episode of Lockedawks. You can find our show anywhere you podcast, including on our YouTube page or you can like and subscribe. So now you come into this. game. And on Fandual, they opened the line 23 and a half in favor of Kansas, which feels insane the way that KU has played the last couple weeks. I think this is what it is. If Kansas plays to the level they should, you should be totally fine here. The question is after back to back demoralizing losses, after losing again to Kansas state, what is the mentality? What's going on in the brains of these players and coaches? Is there going to be at any level of quit on the game or on the season? Or is this a good get right opportunity for Kansas? It's going to be very interesting. how they approach that. And that's going to be kind of the determining factor to me of how they handle this game. But Oklahoma State's not been a good team so far this year. One in seven on the year.

Starting point is 00:21:11 They lost one win was over Tennessee Martin, 27 to 7, lost by 66 to Oregon. They lost by seven at home to Tulsa, lost by 18 to Baylor, 28 to Arizona, 22 to Houston, 32 to Cincinnati, and they just got blanked 42-0 against Texas Tech. They're not a good team. there is, in the back of my mind, the revenge factor that, you know, it's like, are the players going to feel the revenge factor for Oklahoma State? No, I don't think so. But are the coaches going to be extra motivated with Doug Meecham and Clint Bowen as the D.C.? Probably.

Starting point is 00:21:46 But what does coordinator motivation mean with the players? I don't know. I go back and forth on like whether that's something that matters or not. But you look at it and offensively, Oklahoma State is 132nd to the country in EPA per play. So you have struggling KU defense against an even worse. Oklahoma State offense. They've struggled throwing the ball. They've struggled running the ball, though they've been slightly better running the ball

Starting point is 00:22:07 than throwing the ball. Defensively, they're 126th in EPA per play. Defensively, they've been better against the run defensively, where they're 77th in EPA per play, then against the pass with a 129th in EPA per play. So this should be a good bounce-back opportunity for Jayland Daniels and the KU offense, and this should be a good bounce-back opportunity for KU overall as a team. And this is a must win.

Starting point is 00:22:29 You want to make a bowl game, win this game, and then we'll the dice over the last three that you can win one of them. But again, it's all going to be between the ears in this game. Because if KU does go into this, oh, woe is me, you know, oh, no, the season's ruined now. Oh, we lost to K State again. It's still a big 12 opponent. And you're not going to like the result at the end of this one. If you take it seriously and you're able to overcome the loss to Kansas State mentally, you should be fine and roll here. And then you'll be set up to try to do something fun over those last three games or at least get you to, you know, kind of your bare minimum goal of making a bowl game.

Starting point is 00:23:01 That'll do it for this episode of Lockdown Jayhawks. You can find her show anywhere you get your podcast, including on our YouTube page where you can like and subscribe to the show and see you next time for another edition of LOJ.

Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - DEVASTATED: Kansas Football REELING After Wildcats' Domination | Is it Basketball Season at KU?

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