Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - DISASTER: Kansas Jayhawks HUMILIATED by Iowa State | Have They Given Up on the Season?

Starting point is 00:00:00 Kansas lost so bad to Iowa State, people are wondering, have they quit on the season? And is it time to get a new defensive coordinator in Lawrence? 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 your first listen every day. you so much to the everydayers catching each and every episode of the show. And we are free and available anywhere you get your podcasts, including on our YouTube page. Thank you so much for making the locked on podcast network, the number one sports podcast network. Kansas crushed by Iowa State 38 to 14. We are recapping it. We are breaking it down on today's

Starting point is 00:00:48 episode of the show. What went wrong for KU? What needs the change moving forward? Should KU be looking for a new defensive coordinator? We'll get to all that on today's episode of the show. This episode of the show is brought to you by GameTime, which you can use to get some cheap tickets for KU against Utah in their finale. Download the Game Time app, create an account, and use code Locked on College for $20 off your first purchase with Game Time. So KU falls 38 to 14 in the end, and it was just a game that KU came out flat,

Starting point is 00:01:22 which is something you hate to see when you really need a win to get to six wins. And now you're taking on a Utah team who's probably going to be a little pissed off that their game was as close as it was and they're playing to, you know, potentially make like the college football playoff and stuff, they're going to be motivated. And you lose this game 38, 14, you get down 17, nothing at halftime. There were moments, especially in the early part of the game where it felt like you didn't really want to be there, that it felt like you did kind of, for lack of a better term, quit on the season.

Starting point is 00:01:49 And I don't want to throw that at everyone. Like, I don't want to say that all the, like, there are still players that are trying their butts off that are doing everything and their power. But when it's not the collective team and you can almost see. it out there, football is a team sport, right? Ten guys could do things perfectly, but if one guy misses a block, it could be a sack. If one guy misses the coverage, it could be a touchdown. If one guy misses the tackle, who is the one set up for the best tackle, it could be a huge gain. So, like, in a lot of ways, it is a team sport. And even if just a couple guys aren't going

Starting point is 00:02:18 100 percent, if a couple guys in the back of their minds are going, yeah, do I really want to make this physical tackle? Like, I don't know. I might want to transfer somewhere else next year. And I'm not saying that's happening to certain individuals, but it's the nature of of the bees in today's day of college athletics and college sports. And it just had that feeling in this one that KU just, I mean, this was just kind of an embarrassing game. Like, let's call a spade a spade, right? And it almost feels like to me, once KU lost to K state, not just lost to K state, got smashed by K state. Once that happened and the season was unraveling, not just because you lost to them again, but also by at that point, your overall record, it felt like once we got to that

Starting point is 00:02:55 point the season has kind of like this is not the same team that was playing early in the season the team who was playing early in the season yes they had their faults like they lost a close game to Cincinnati they lost to Missouri but that team was still a lot better than what we saw this Saturday against Iowa State or what we saw in the game that even they won against Oklahoma State or the game that they got killed by K State and this was you hear all the time like football coaches love to say the term you know we've got to be good on offense defense and special teams all three phases all three units of the game right it's a coach speak thing but KU was bad in all three units.

Starting point is 00:03:25 of this game. Let's start with the defense because that's the one that sticks out the most to me. Iowa State puts up 38 points. Iowa State had 462 yards of offense. They were able to kind of do whatever they wanted, at least in the key moments of the game. Iowa State only had one punt for the game. It was like at the end of the first half. Successful drive after successful drive for the cyclones. And this has not been a great Iowa State offense. I don't think they put up 30 or more points. I think I saw since like September, I want to say. So yeah, that's not great. And I don't know if this is the defensive coordinator for KU with DK.K. McDonald, I don't know if this is the players.

Starting point is 00:04:00 I don't know if it's a lack of effort thing. I don't know if it's a lack of understanding thing or what. But it's just an embarrassing. Like, why are there's just moments where it's like, okay, why are you blitzing a defensive back that's so far away? Why are corners constantly 10 yards cushioning, especially if it's like third and six? The plays you make the plays, it's like, oh, but it's coming back because of a flag. and then on top of it it's like oh but okay and so some of that you would say maybe it's scheme related

Starting point is 00:04:29 some of it like you're sending a blitz just it feels like into a wall sometimes or it's like it feels like that blitz did nothing and now you have less guys at the back end so there's some things that are scheme things there are other things where it's like it's players effort maybe where it's like hey you're not a good tackling team that's not always effort but sometimes it can be especially this late in the year with how things have gone and then there's also the aspect where it's just like are they not understanding where they need to be, where they need to line up? Are they not understanding where they need to be in their gaps to prevent a gashed run from kind of happening? And then there's a level of like, dare I call it, selfishness of like,

Starting point is 00:05:08 are you trying to jump a certain gap because you're trying to make a big play, but now it's leaving somebody else high and dry and they end up getting screwed over. I think it's a mix of all these things. So I don't know. We'll get to that more in segment three about if it's time to move on at the defense coordinator spot. As far as the offense, you only put up 14 points on Iowa State. I guess the glass half full approach is you did score in the second half a couple touchdowns after really struggling in recent weeks in the second half. But I really thought the first drive of the

Starting point is 00:05:37 second half showed what this game should have been for KU. They went down and stormed down the field and scored to start the third quarter. And they did it running the football. I want to say they had like a big one big pass in there. But outside of that, it was mostly running the football. You get a Lashon Williams rushing touchdown. High Shaw had some big runs. I think KU abandoned the running game too early. And it felt like it felt like KU would have like a good run or two on the early parts, early moments, early drives.

Starting point is 00:06:03 And then it'd be like, okay, now we're going to pass because they're totally expecting the run and we're going to get them on the pass instead of just being like, no, we're just going to keep running it down to your throat. And I felt like that was a missed opportunity, especially early. In the end, too, Jalen, we mentioned earlier, like he's very hit or miss against these styles of defenses. either really good or really bad. This one was really bad.

Starting point is 00:06:24 It just feels like with Jaylen, he's going to go down as one of those guys who just couldn't win like the big moment for you, which is unfortunate because I think he's been overall a pretty good quarterback, but I think that's the big separator between like a him and Jason Bean, for instance, right? Bean was able to, you know, get it done in the moment against Oklahoma State to get Kansas bowl eligible in 22. He was able to beat Oklahoma in 23, right? That's kind of the difference there.

Starting point is 00:06:46 And then on the special team side, I think, you know, it's actually been a really good special teams year leading up until this game obviously there was the one really bad play against K State but outside of that it had been a really good special teams here and then this game happened it was a great job getting the punt away but like you have the special team mistakes you missed a field goal short on what was a high snap and I think got tipped after that so just everything going wrong uh for KU and then if if we want to bring in the game management I don't know how much it actually mattered in this game you lost by 24 um I guess if you wanted to pick nits like this one probably wouldn't have mattered.

Starting point is 00:07:23 I don't think KU would have scored, but like still, you're down 17-0 with 23 seconds left in the first half and you have three timeouts and you just run the football and just end the half. And it's like, again, the odds of you actually scoring there

Starting point is 00:07:38 are not great. But like, why not try? I guess? You're five and five. You need to win to get to bowl eligibility. You're down 17. What's the worst thing that could happen? You pull in Illinois and throw a pick

Starting point is 00:07:50 six at the end of half. Oh, no, we're down 24 nothing instead of 17 nothing in a game you're already getting worked. Like, I don't know, just try, I guess. I don't know. It probably didn't matter in the end. I think the bottom line here is this. This is kind of at this point, just an unsurious team. It's, they've kind of given up on the season, is what it feels like, right? So I'm not going to expect them to beat Utah. I'm going to kind of expect it to be a little ugly. I don't know how many people are going to be in the stands. More power to you if you go to the game. And, you know, I hope you have a good time. I hope the weather's nice. I don't know it just this felt like one of those games when you had David Beatty when you had less miles that's just kind of what this felt like it feels like you're going in reverse now the difference is as you build a program with the transfer portal you're able to get guys in and out a lot faster that you can change the culture so to speak a little bit faster that's the positive the negative is you can lose guys who were building the culture the right way easier so it's going to be a very interesting offseason.

Starting point is 00:08:50 for Lance Leopolden company. If they beat Utah next Friday, then a lot of apologies there. And, you know, they'll have proved a lot of people, including myself wrong. And I hope that's what ends up happening, right? I'd rather eat crow on it.

Starting point is 00:09:05 But this just stuff doesn't feel right now with the KU football program. And it certainly is unfortunate where things win, especially after what felt like a pretty promising start to the season for KU. Let's get into the defense coordinator talk. We'll get into our moment, stats of the game awards.

Starting point is 00:09:20 all that. This is locked on Jayhawks. Today's episode of the show is brought to you by Fandual Sportsbook. NBA college basketball season are back and there's no better place to get in on the hoops action than with Fandul, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. Even if you miss the start of the game or want to ride a hot hand, Fandwell has live bets on everything from who's going to score next to get that fourth quarter comeback. Plus, you can even combine your live bets into a same game parlay for a shot at a bigger payout.

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Starting point is 00:10:22 KU Falls, Iowa State 38 to 14. What were our moments and plays of the game in this one? I guess we'd have to say the radio, the Jayhawk Radio Network play of the first half was the punt, which was a bad snap that it was a great job by Finn Lapin just to get something out of it and push it down field. And that just kind of speaks to how poor it was. And so like there's weren't options there, right? It almost felt like the very first run of the game,

Starting point is 00:10:53 which was a Carson Hanson run for like 10, 11 yards, just gashing through the middle with a gigantic hole. It almost felt like right then and there, that was the tone setter or that was the metaphor for what the effort and what the performance was going to be for Kansas today. And from then on, it was just, you know, there was a brief moment where I guess you could say like when KU got the interception and then the flag came out, like that was a moment for a brief moment of time

Starting point is 00:11:17 where it was like, okay, maybe this is the momentum or the energy they're going to need to get started. I guess you would say like the start to the second half when you were able to drive down, get the touchdown, make it 27-7 or 17 to 7 or make it 24 to 14 on the following touchdown when you maybe had a shot. And then you get them to a fourth down. I mean, just so many plays where you weren't able to get off the field and stop them. So it just didn't really matter in the end.

Starting point is 00:11:40 As far as our stat or stats of the game in this one, this one sticks out. KU had 81 tackles. Iowa State had 44. That's kind of a random stat, but it just shows like the amount of time that KU was on the field and the amount of time that I guess Iowa State was not on the field defensively. I think you would also kind of point to the fact that KU actually averaged 6.3 yards per carry, but had 29 less rushing attempts than Iowa State. Part of that is being on the field longer, but I think also part of that was like I said earlier, I think KU abandoned the run too often. I think it was, hey, maybe have success with a couple runs to get your first, first. down and then now we're going to try to throw it instead of like the first drive of the second half was hey we're just going to run it down their throat you know um so that would be one that i would kind of look to for sure i also think the fact that iowa state completed 78 percent of their passes you only completed 55 percent against a very depleted secondary that certainly sticks out there um we also talked about the turnover battle that iowa state came into this one with eight

Starting point is 00:12:42 turnovers over their last four games kew's defense had forced zero in their last two and in the end Iowa State has zero in the game, one turned away with the flag, and Jalen Daniels has one in the end zone. So in something we talked about coming in that KU had to be positive in the turnover margin, you ended up being negative in the end. And then you look to the third downs. KU actually was okay on third downs, five of nine, but Iowa State was nine of 16. It's more so the fourth downs when you add them on two, 13 of 21 between third and fourth down. And I mean, they get the fourth down stop at the end, but the ones that were most important earlier on in the game when it was more of a game were all converted by Iowa State. Our awards, there's a Dave Chappelle, like, old bit

Starting point is 00:13:24 where I think it's his buddy like Chip or something. And basically, I don't want to, whatever, I'm going to ruin the punchline. It's like a 15-year-old joke. So apologies. Basically, the punchline is, it ends up with Chip being pulled over by like a cop and being like, I didn't know I couldn't do that and telling the cop. And the cop is just so stunned, he like, lets him go. Okay. Apologies if I ruined that joke for you. That is, I think was the KU coaching staff on the sideline of this game watching Iowa State convert four or five on fourth downs. They were like, wait, you can do that. You can keep going for fourth downs and the defense can't stop you and you can keep going on the field.

Starting point is 00:14:03 No, there's got to be a limit to what you can go for. That would be my first award there. The second award is you can bet there will be a flag award and that's when KU forces a turnover. They don't do it too often. But when they do, you can assure there will be some yellow laundry. out on the field. All right. Should we give out some game balls real quick before we get into the defensive coordinator

Starting point is 00:14:23 conversation? Do we want to? Do we need to? I guess if we had to, like, I did really appreciate Daniel Hyshaw's running of the football. He only had eight carries. Again, they abandoned the run too early, but eight carries for 50 yards. Between Hyshawn Williams, 12 carries for 92 yards.

Starting point is 00:14:38 Why did they not run the football more? I don't get it. But yeah, I'll give Hyshawn offensive game ball for KU. He was still running hard. He was like the, the, question i said where has the team quit on it again that's not every player high shaw has not quit on it he is running so hard man and uh feel bad for him and some of the other guys who are playing that way i guess i'm giving another one to the offense i'll give it to bowden groan five catches 76 yards and a touchdown for k u although honorable mention levi wents he had a good game and how about cole ballard coming in for a little bit there three of six 37 and touchdown you had the touchdown coming in on the first play of the game that was a fun little play design for k u our defensive side of the ball um i'll give blake harold he had seven tackles. He had half a TFL, past breakup.

Starting point is 00:15:20 There was another time where he, like, blew up a running play that he didn't get the tackle, but he forced somebody else to get like a five-yard loss for KU, so I'll give it to him. And then, I don't know, do I have to give another defensive one out? Somehow KU had nine TFLs, which, like, they were able to actually get some negative play. I mean, Trey Lathen had 13 tackles,

Starting point is 00:15:37 but it felt like the KU linebackers got attacked in the passing game by Iowa State from the tight ends. I guess I'll just give it to Lathan with 13 tackles and a pass breakup. All right, should KU move on and find a new defensive coordinator that next today's episode of the show is brought to you by game time college basketball is back and obviously college football is finishing up we're going to have bowl season soon uh you can get your tickets to game time it's the app that gives the advantage back to the fans easiest way to score last minute tickets at the best prices with no surprise fees

Starting point is 00:16:07 what you see is what you pay and i'm looking right now this is quite the opportunity you're going to be in town if you are for thanksgiving in lawrence i mean this is the opportunity to get seats with your family. Like I'm looking right now for the Utah game. Just go to it being like we're going to enjoy a football game, right? Maybe have some tailgating. You can get section 115. This is row 10 for $47. I mean, that's a great seed view. You're going to see the Campanil and the beautiful new stadium. This is row one in section 103, so like the 25 yard line for $74. There are plenty of other deals just like that. They also have the super deals up on game time. I'm seeing $13 for lower section 24 row 18. You can get plenty of those and others over on

Starting point is 00:16:46 game time or for KU basketball season to take the guesswork out of buying college football or college basketball tickets with game time download the game time 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-E-G-E-E-E-E-GE for $20 off swipe swipe tap ticket go download the game time app today thanks joining us on this episode of Lockdown Jayhawks all right now to maybe the meat of the conversation that some of you might have been sticking around for should Kansas move on at the defensive coordinator position. Well, let's start here. KU just gave up

Starting point is 00:17:26 38 points to a not great Iowa state offense who came in in the previous four games averaging just a hair over 20 points per game. Rocco Beck had been struggling. He had 13 touchdowns, there are 12 touchdowns and nine interceptions this year. And yet they made Rocco Beck look like Peyton Manning. Let's let's event. evaluate this first, right? So I think first of all, you would have to say the defense is a mess structurally, right? Like we're talking about, we're still talking about lining up incorrectly, missed assignments, going to the wrong gaps. Now, could you point to the players there and say, hey, some of that's on you? Yes, absolutely. I think you also point to the coach who's teaching them,

Starting point is 00:18:10 right? What are you teaching them? And then it's a conversation of, okay, is what you're teaching them too complicated. Do you need to dumb it down? Which sure, that would not be ideal, but you're recruiting the players. So get smarter players or ones who understand it or, like, I don't know what it is. It's just like it's not working, right? And it does feel like a bit of it is lining up. Like, why are corners and dbs so far off of the opposing receivers so often? And even with them being so far off, players are just running wide open, whether it's 15 yards down field 30 yards down field or five yards down field it's just like that's the case here then you're sending blitzes which at times they have had some good blitzes this year but it certainly felt like in

Starting point is 00:18:53 this game and there have been other moments throughout the season where some of the k u blitzes have been hey this is a db who's going to blitz and it's like okay if you're blitzing from the slot great but you're blitzing when you're playing eight yards off the ball or you're so far away from the quarterback by the time you get in there by the time you even get to the offensive lineman he's throwing the football it doesn't matter other times where you're blitzing right into where the protection is, whether it's the quarterback, you're not disguising it good enough or you keep showing up on films so they know what's coming or it's just designed that way. Now, here's what Lance Leipold said in the post game.

Starting point is 00:19:24 This is from Matt Tate. He said he notes that there were a lot of issues defensively that they can't see keep happening, says it's not the player's fault that that's on the coaches to coach and teach to get them to execute better. I mean, if that's not like a point of, the finger to what's going on, then I don't really know what it is. Now, he did, I guess, come back on that a little bit. I wonder if he was like, hey, maybe I went a little too strong there. He also said, this again, from Matt Tate, R1, S1. Some of the problem defensively is that

Starting point is 00:19:57 there are a bunch of guys who want to play hard and make plays and often try to do too much when the idea of being one on 11 and doing their job would best serve KU overall. So again, is that an issue with who you recruited? Is that an issue in how you're teaching it? Is that an issue of just, you know, with how the season snowballed, players are trying to do too much, and it's becoming too individualized in that way. Regardless, this does kind of come back to the coach and trying to have to put it together. And I can't help but think, you know, like I look at Iowa State's numbers. They came into this game, 68th in the country and passing yards per game,

Starting point is 00:20:30 56th in the country in yards per attempt passing, 78th in the country in QB rating, 103rd in the country in touchdown to interception ratio, 63rd in the country, in explosive pass rate. And none of that mattered. KU got torched in the back end. And I look back to D.K. McDonald's history. He was the assistant defensive back coach at Iowa State. And then he became the, or I think he was, I don't know,

Starting point is 00:20:54 it was like corners or safeties and then became like the full DB coach. But whatever. He was at Iowa State from 2016 to 2020. Here are their rankings, Iowa State defensively, in yards allowed per pass. 2016, there were 72nd. This is nationally. 2017, they were 71st. 2018, they were 44th, 2019, they were 38th, and 2020, they were 74th.

Starting point is 00:21:15 Since he left, 2021, they were 39th, 2022, they were 35th, 2023, they were 32nd, 2024, 23rd. This year, big step back because they've had a billion injuries, they're 66th. But this year's been their worst year since, you know, he left, and it's still better than the final season he was there. And those numbers are before KU played, so those numbers actually went up for them. But they've been better since he left. left. You look at D.K. McDonald in his time of Philadelphia with the Eagles. He was the assistant

Starting point is 00:21:44 DB's coach when they were really good in 20, 21 and 22. They were 10th in yards allowed per pass in 21. They were first in 22. So then he gets a promotion to be the main defensive backs coach and they go 19th in yards allowed per pass with that loaded Eagles defense. He leaves to go to KU obviously. And the Eagles these last two years, first in 2024, ninth in 20, 25 so far in yards allowed per pass. So there is kind of a trend that things are not getting better with the area that McDonald is supposed to be specializing in. And I point to all that. I point to all the stuff at the beginning. Now you add to it that like, okay, you would want, if you have this good scheme or really good coach, you would want them to perform well off the buy. You would also want it not to be

Starting point is 00:22:29 figure outable. That's not a word, but not to be figure outable for lack of a better term for the other team when they're coming off a buy to where it just takes one extra week and then you have everything figured out against this KU defense. Because think about this. These are the teams that KU played when the other team is coming off a buy this year. Cincinnati, they had like 600 yards of offense and you couldn't stop them. Kansas State, who scored over 40 points,

Starting point is 00:22:50 and Iowa State who put up 38 points and had the game been closer, they could have easily put up more. So when the other team had a buy week and had extra prep to basically figure out, hey, that's an issue with this defense, that's an issue with this defense. That's not structurally

Starting point is 00:23:06 sound. They're lining up wrong there. can attack this, this, and this, they were able to dice it up. So I say this. I feel like we have a Jeff Grimes situation on our hand. It is clear this coordinator hire did not work for Lance Leipold. And I've been trying all year long to be optimistic. I appreciated some of the different formations they were using. But then they start to get into it a little bit more. And you just have defensive ends driving. Leroy Harris, I mentioned coming into the week, who's been an awesome pass rusher in D.N this year has dropped into coverage before today, 41 times. coming into the season. And those numbers reflect for a guy like Dean Miller and stuff too on the

Starting point is 00:23:42 outside. And I just look at this and I'm like, oh, but his buyouts a million dollars. Is it actually going to happen? And this becomes interesting to me. It is getting to a point where Lance Leipold is getting close to, if not on the hot seat for Kansas. I don't think that KU will make a move regardless of what happens with Utah. But I do think 2026 becomes a very interesting and important season for the KU staff and to that notion if you're a donor if you're a big money donor there's two opinions you could have on this one hey I want you to prove it to me that you can win before I shell out a million dollars to buy out your DC so you can get a new one why would I allow you to make that higher when you know with with Grimes and now with this one it hasn't worked out I'm not

Starting point is 00:24:32 going to trust you with it I'm not going to donate that's possibly one opinion for a big money donor the other opinion you could possibly have you know we're going to give you the opportunity i'm going to make this move but it's basically going to set your fate in it's going to seal your fate because i'm making this big donation to buy out this defensive coordinator for you to undo your mistake and now if you don't perform this year you have no excuses to go back to and we're going to have the writing on the wall um versus if you make the move and i make the donation and you make a great hire and it works out for you then you earned it and you proved your way. So I do think it is time for KU to find, I mean, I guess you finish out

Starting point is 00:25:12 the season. It's one week to go. But find a new defensive coordinator for KU. This just hasn't worked for Kansas. And we're so late in the season and still in the weekly press conferences, you still hear about, you know, lining up in the wrong area or doing the wrong assignment or whatever. And at some point, it's like, what are you teaching? Where are guys going? What is the scheme because I refuse to believe that all of these KU players on the defensive end are just stupid. I don't think, okay, even if Kansas isn't the smartest team in the world, even if they're not a bunch of Ivy League kids, I don't think they're stupid. I don't think these players are like nine, ten weeks in the season being like, man, I don't know where to line up. I think it's just

Starting point is 00:25:52 being taught weird or it's being taught wrong or in a way that they don't understand or in a way that's not being communicated right. And you need somebody who can communicate it right and do it in a way that is going to allow this defense to, for the first time, and the Lance Leipald Air, because we haven't seen it yet, be a top 50 defense nationally. That'll do it for this episode of Lockdown, Jayhawks. You can find our show anywhere you get your podcast,

Starting point is 00:26:12 including on our YouTube page. See you next time with LOJ.

Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - DISASTER: Kansas Jayhawks HUMILIATED by Iowa State | Have They Given Up on the Season?

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