Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - HEARTBREAK: Jayhawks Unable to Finish Against Missouri Tigers | Shades of 2024 for Kansas???

Starting point is 00:00:00 Kansas loses to their rival, Missouri and what felt like a pretty winnable game from Kansas that's going to feel like a continuation of the theme from last year, you let one slip through your fingers. 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. And thank you to every dayers catching each and 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 today's edition of LOJ, we recap the Kansas Missouri game, a game that Kansas falls to their rival Missouri in a game that felt like they had an opportunity to win and just couldn't close in a way that was very similar to how a lot. of last season went for KU. So we'll get into the big picture, the small picture, what it all means on today's episode of the show.

Starting point is 00:01:03 This episode of the show is brought to you by Fandual Sportsbook. Football season is right around the corner. Actually, it's here. Visit the Fandle up today and start planning your future bets today with Fanduel. So Kansas Falls to Missouri, and that seems to be the big theme. It's that you lost the game in the same way that it felt like you lost a lot of games last year. And the whole offseason, you're talking about, hey, finish and find a way to overcome in the end here. And you didn't do just that against Missouri. Now, what's maybe a little unfair there is

Starting point is 00:01:36 Missouri's a very talented opponent. And so this isn't the same as not finishing against UNLV last year or not finishing against a six and six West Virginia team. This is not finishing against a team that by a couple of metrics is a top 20 team in the country on the road. So it is a little bit different. and in a vacuum more understandable. But it becomes frustrating when, A, it's to your rival. And B, it does feel like that continuation of last year. Because what was last year the issue for KU in their first seven games of the year that caused them to start so poorly to the season, or six games, I guess?

Starting point is 00:02:09 It was that, you know, if you're just talking about the fourth quarter stuff, but the end of halves as well, like the end of halves, you know, just were constantly outscored at the end of halves. that happened in this one right you give up the uh at the end of the first half situation for k u which we get more into here in a second they go down they get a field goal they almost got a touchdown at the end of the first half the end of the game situation where you know it felt like at times the k u defense played well and there were other games last year where it felt like the ku defense played well and then the last 10 minutes of the game the last five minutes the last fourth quarter they just all the sudden collapsed and couldn't stop the opponent and it felt like you know that happened a little bit there too right like i mean you're up 31 28 you have multiple opportunities to get off the field on third and longs or fourth downs you can't then they get the ball back after you end up punting and you know they score that that over 60 yard rushing touchdown to really kind of have the nail in the coffin moment there um and from that perspective it does feel eerily similar to last year and that is why it is so frustrating i think because it did feel like

Starting point is 00:03:11 hey you had them right there like yeah you make one of those fourth down stops on missouri you make that catch uh maybe you go for it on a few different plays maybe you handle things uh a little bit differently here and there with game management and maybe you'll come out on top. Now, it is negative and it does suck, obviously, when you lose to your rival, and that is the case here with Missouri. If we do want to talk a little big picture, I guess I can go either way, small picture and big picture, right? The small picture, not great.

Starting point is 00:03:38 The big picture, actually, there is a, I don't know, positive outlook you could spin on this for KU for the future outlook, right? It's something we talked about coming into the week. We said, hey, you're playing on the road against a Missouri team that over the last five years, their average recruiting rank from high school is top 20 nationally. Over the last two years, their transfer portal average recruiting rank is top 10 nationally. This is arguably going to be the talented team that you're going to play this season and you're playing them on a road on the road in a very difficult environment. And so from that perspective, then when you look at like, for instance,

Starting point is 00:04:08 the game Bolt Pribula had where he didn't really make many mistakes. He was really good. When you look at the effort that their running backs gave in breaking tackles, like Missouri played a really good game for for for this one and and you still found a way to have a chance at the very end um and so from that perspective you could easily walk away from this and say if you're kansas okay big picture i still do feel okay about where we are like i i still do feel okay about um how competitive this team could be you could also still have some big picture negatives though from this game right i mean the idea that kansas could not run the football at all is a little bit scary for a team who wants to definitely do that i think you definitely miss devon neal in this

Starting point is 00:04:48 game. How much is that going to translate over to some of the other teams? Like, there's going to be other teams of the really good deal lines you play, like Utah, but there are also going to be a lot of others that aren't nearly as good as a Missouri or Utah on the defensive line. So how does that carry over for Kansas? As much as the, you did have that opportunity to close things out at the end, Missouri, you know, it's like 600 yards of offense to, you know, basically like doubling you up in yards, essentially. So in that standpoint, you can maybe even argue Missouri should have won this game by more. Now, I do think that is a little bit misleading because you do have the standpoint of like, okay, Kansas had the scoop and score touchdown. Like for all we know, if

Starting point is 00:05:25 if the scoop and score touchdown doesn't happen, does Kansas just, you know, pick up those yards on that play or whatever? Or like, for instance, if Kansas does get the fourth and one stop when they're up 31.28, that's what, 120 less yards of offense that Missouri winds up picking up from that point on for the rest of the game. So I do think, though, again, big picture. You look at this and say, okay, there's no reason Kansas can't be competitive and or beat anybody else on the schedule. Doesn't mean they'll win every game, but there's no reason you can't go into any weeks moving forward the rest of the year and say, we should at least have a chance. We should at least have a fighter's chance. We should have at least have a shot to win the game.

Starting point is 00:06:05 If we are talking short term, though, yeah. I mean, obviously the lack of running game is certainly concerning for KU. Some of the issues with jumping off sides was certainly concerning for KU. I do think that is something that, you know, they'll be able to correct, at least you would hope, kind of moving forward. I do, you know, short term, you have worries about, okay, what the third down defense and the fourth down defense that you allowed in this one. But again, maybe you could also say, okay, sometimes that stuff is fickle game to game. And maybe you're not always going to be playing as good of a receiving core as Missouri has and as good of, you know, a quarterback as Missouri has. I was very impressed by, you know, both privy on this one. I think the biggest thing that, and I guess

Starting point is 00:06:45 this would be small picture or big picture that is worrisome to me is is the reason that you're bad in one score games how much of that do you put to game management i think lance light pulled is an outstanding coach lance light pulled has done so well at kansas and you know what he has done here in lawrence from where it was is remarkable he is a great coach i these can be two separate distinctions and conversations at the same point in time in the same way that you know i like all great players, for instance, might have a weakness. Like, you know, you could say, okay, well, this player is really fast, but maybe he's not very strong.

Starting point is 00:07:22 That weakness, and it's been coming up a lot recently, the Achilles heel has been some of that game management stuff. Sometimes it's the timeout usage. Sometimes it's the, you know, lack of aggressiveness here or there. And while you see Missouri continue to rack up these critical fourth down plays, I mean, the four for five on fourth down in the game for Missouri, and they were consistently going for them. And honestly, like, I actually think it was a blessing in disguise, at least for this game, maybe not long term, but blessing in disguise for Missouri this game, that their kicker ended up being out for the season, because it made them more aggressive on fourth down against a Kansas defense that could not get off the field on fourth down.

Starting point is 00:07:57 So that ended up being a blessing in disguise for Missouri in this game. But for Kansas, you had a couple opportunities it felt like to go for fourth downs. I thought the one at the end of the, I guess it was the third quarter, it was a fourth and two when it was 21, 21. you ended up taking a field goal to make a 24-21. And at the time, I was sitting there kind of thinking, like, you can't really stop Missouri right now. We're sure that they don't want to just go for this. And I do think part of the calculation, if Kansas was running the football better,

Starting point is 00:08:27 would Lance Leipold have gone for it? I don't know. That is entirely possible. And that maybe makes you more one-dimensional. But even being one-dimensional, Kansas still put up 31 points. So I would just say that that was one that I kind of pointed to is like, okay, that was maybe a lost opportunity there. not going for the fourth and seven you're down 35 31 it's it's the fourth and seven your defense can't stop them they're tired at this point you have to go for that you have to i know it's on your own end of the field but like even in the back of your head you could say hey if we don't get it we can still three and out them they kick a field goal we get the ball back we still have a chance you have to go for that fourth down that was a mistake not to do that and then it's it's the end of the first half stuff like last year kew was consistently whipped at the end of first halves and really the end of both halves and that continued to be the case in this game a little bit here um um

Starting point is 00:09:11 And so you have a situation where Kansas is limping to the finish line at the end of the first half, but they're able to stop Missouri to a field goal to make it 21 to 18 instead of Missouri taking the lead. And Kansas, instead of like taking timeouts to, you know, make sure they're getting the ball back with over two minutes, they opt not to. Then they do get the ball back. And then it's like, you have to pick one of two directions. Well, I guess part of this wasn't on Lance Leibold, but he picked the direction of conservative, which was, hey, we're just going to try to run the clock out in the first.

Starting point is 00:09:41 half the problem with that is they call an outside run play and daniel high shot goes out of bounds if you're going to play conservative you cannot do that you need to make sure because if that play doesn't happen kansas would have been able to run the clock out on the first half missouri never gets the field goal to tie it at 21 at the break and you know who knows how that changes things here there i don't know i guess missouri would have still won by the you know but regardless um it's also the idea that more so than that why are you not aggrat it's 21 to 18 you're playing a rivalry game on the road where you are the underdog you have not and that's that's the most mad like devon neal at halftime tweeted play to win the game i think i'm paraphrasing there but he was like play to win and that was so

Starting point is 00:10:22 discouraging it was so frustrating that it was like hey maybe you should be more aggressive instead of just you know running draw or running a short pass like actually go for it you were actually having success throwing downfield in this game there were some you missed downfield that were just straight up like maybe they were a little overthrown or maybe they were dropped or something but it wasn't from like a lack of execution or like your player getting open so those things matter on the margin and they did in this one they did last year hopefully this is just you know not a continuation from last year and it ends up being the aberration and this ends up being the moment of like okay we need to figure this out um let's get to more takeaways from the game

Starting point is 00:10:57 because we're going a little long here we'll get to our moments and plays of the game stats of the game all that and more this is locked on jahawks Today's episode of the show is brought to you by DoorDash. Man, certainly I could use a little ordering of food right now. It's almost the weekend. Time to look back in Crown this week's MVP on Who Delivered. Powered by DoorDash, just like you can win every Saturday with DoorDash Streaks, saving more every time you order, these players delivered when it matters most.

Starting point is 00:11:27 Let's break it down. I think for the Kansas Jayhawks, obviously this didn't go the way that we wanted to, but how about Deshaunicaa, man, delivering in a big way, ended up with multiple touchdowns in this one. I mean, he's a Kansas kid originally from Topeka, so this one probably meant a little something to him. And he would have had the game winning touchdown until Missouri converted that fourth and one. But really came through with the pressure on. He came through at the beginning of the game, too, to set the tone. And just like DeShon Hanukah delivered for the Jayhawks, DoorDash delivers your Saturdays.

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Starting point is 00:12:14 even if your team doesn't, which was the case for KU today. So don't forget, you can win with DoorDash as well. Today's episode of the show is also brought to you by Mazda. Mazda crafts cars for those who choose to do more than simply move. They follow what moves them every time they drive. And that's what makes Mazda stand out. They go beyond safety, style, and performance to deliver a driving experience that feels alive in every detail. You can feel at the moment you get behind the wheel, the smooth handling, intuitive controls, and standard all-wheel drive in every crossover SUV.

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Starting point is 00:13:25 quarterback. So that does make it harder. I will give KU a bit of a tip of the cap there. But, you know, still, it wasn't the best tackling game. Too many, like, off-sides penalties. the ball security of that safety play in the first half. That was not great. I know they should have been called for batting forward,

Starting point is 00:13:40 but still you don't want to get there to begin with. Inability to get off the field on third and fourth downs in this game. In addition to some of the game management stuff, that's kind of why you lose this game in the end. And certainly, like I said, some positives to take away the fact that you did play this team tough, the fact that you also got Bengali Kamara back in this game, that you had players like Gage Keyes and Jason Gilliam and Finn Lappin going through warmups or playing in some of their cases and stuff.

Starting point is 00:14:09 And so I think the way that I would just kind of like the bottom line here to me, both Tribule and Amad Hardy, I think are excellent players. Missouri has excellent skill players. They've got just overall as a team, Missouri, really good athleticism. They've got really good line of scrimmage play. And that was a problem for KU, kind of handling that. I actually thought the KU pass blocking was really good in this game, but the KU run blocking did nothing, you know?

Starting point is 00:14:31 And I think in the first quarter, you look at Kansas having success because overall Missouri had that talent advantage. I think in the first quarter, KU out executed, their deficiencies or whatever. They razzled, dazzled them, they executed, they were precise. And then as the game went on, maybe you have a few. There were still moments where KU was precise and executed well. But maybe you have a play here or there where you didn't fully execute to the full level. And those little cracks in the door that you left open allowed the very talented Missouri Tiger squad to kind of usurp you in a way that you couldn't afford to have in a game like this.

Starting point is 00:15:10 And so, you know, if Kansas would have won this game, we would have been talking about the blocked PAT. We would have been talking about the fourth and one conversion on the second drive of the game to Bowden Grown on a play fake. We would have been talking about the fumble picked up for a Austin Alexander scoop and score or the third and 10 dime on the deep ball to leave. Levi Wenz or the three and out that you started that you forced at the start of the fourth quarter that allowed you to go out and, you know, get the ball back and then have a 92 yard touchdown drive. And it felt like for a moment, that was going to be the signature drive of Jalen Daniels career, that it was big throw after big throw from Jalen, cap with that DeShon Hanukkah second touchdown on a 92 yard touchdown drive. Those felt like the moments we were

Starting point is 00:15:54 going to talk about. And it felt like we were going to be able to talk about Lance Leopold finally beat one of his rivals so far he's 0 for four against k state he's now oh and five if you combine the k state series and the missouri series now to his credit like kansas has been the the lower ranked team you would say or on the road in like all of them right um maybe you would make exception for the one in 2023 that does have to change they need to figure that out they need to start beating the rivals i i i didn't think it was i mean it wasn't an issue of like oh they didn't lack energy. They came out and they led 21 to six in the first quarter. So I don't think it was that. But like, you need to start figuring that out.

Starting point is 00:16:32 But point being, those are all things we would have been talking about. Had Kansas been able to hold on, had Kansas been able to make that one stop on, you know, if it's third and 17, they picked up like 10 yards and they picked up the fourth down, if you get a stop there before even the fourth and one, is Kansas able to run out the clock? Maybe they are. Maybe they're not. But there is a chance that they win that game and we're having all these conversations right now. And it is at least important to bring up that like, I do think Jaylen Daniels played a very good game for KU. I know he had that fumble.

Starting point is 00:16:58 I know he has the interception at the end of the game when you're just trying to, I mean, you're in an impossible situation there. But like also, if Emmanuel Henderson catches that pass, like, it can be a little bit of a different game. Maybe for Kansas, like, who knows what they do? Do they take a long enough drive that they take up all the clock and they score game when he touchdown? That would have been entirely possible for KU. And so I know this doesn't end up being a one score loss, but it felt like a one score

Starting point is 00:17:23 loss in the end and kind of how it went about. And it just sucks that we're not talking about those things. We're not talking about DeShon Hanukah's big game for KU as a receiver or Levi Wentz with his, you know, big catches or we're not talking about the fact that, yeah, it wasn't a great game for the KU defense, but also there were some really good plays by the KU linebackers with Trey Lathen and Bengali Kamara being a warrior. And there were some really good moments, even though overall you struggled in past defense. There were some really good pass breakups here or there from like Jalen Todd and stuff.

Starting point is 00:17:51 there were some really flash plays from guys like Tommy Dunn and DJ Withers. So it sucks because there were some positives, but it's going to get overshadowed by the fact you lost. And that's just kind of nature of the business here. And so I think you look at the moment of the game. I mean, it has to either be one of Missouri's fourth down conversions on their drive that put up 35, 31, or it has to be the Emmanuel Henderson drop. Like those are the moments of the game that kind of change it.

Starting point is 00:18:12 And I still think highly of Emmanuel Henderson. I still think he's going to have a great season for KU. And, you know, you hope he bounces back in a couple weeks. everything's still in front of KU. This doesn't count as a conference loss. You have to buy week after this. Like I said, certainly some positives that you can take away from this game. And if you can take those positives and move on from the negatives in this one and start

Starting point is 00:18:33 finishing in these games like we've hoped they're going to be able to do this season, then I don't see any reason why Kansas can't at least, you know, be at the top of the Big 12 this year, but it's going to take finishing those games. And to this date, outside of that weird BYU game, where you needed that stop in the red zone and he needed a weird punt from Jalen Daniels. You just haven't been able to do it consistently here of late. We'll see if they can figure that out. We'll see if this is a good learning opportunity for KU.

Starting point is 00:18:59 But certainly very excited for the return trip next year to Lawrence because those fans are going to be riled up, especially after the way that this one went. Oh, by the way, I guess our stat of the game, I don't know. Do we just go to like the rushing yard differential between the two teams? Because like I said earlier, I thought the world of Amad Hardy. That dude was tough to take down. I actually like, it's funny because Amad Hardy finishes second on Missouri and rushing yards

Starting point is 00:19:25 because Roberts had that 63 yards score that ICE did. But I actually thought like Roberts when he was in there, I was just like, okay, this dude's, this dude's solid. But Hardy was the one that every time was in there. I was like, oh, my gosh, it feels like he should be getting, you know, zero yards here and he got three or he should be getting three yards and he got seven. And that was a problem. But yeah, KU ran for 31 yards.

Starting point is 00:19:43 Missouri ran for 254. Kansas wasn't able to say balanced. Missouri was and that's kind of the difference in the game. in the end. All right, game balls for this one. We get to that next. This is Locked on Jayhawks. Today's episode of the show is brought to you by Upside. Are you still paying full price for gas? Stop leaving money behind. Get real cash back every time you fill up for free with Upside. Simply download the free Upside app in the app store or Google Play right now and start earning cash at the pump today. You can use my promo code of football and get an extra 25 cents back per gallon on your first fill-up.

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Starting point is 00:21:48 So again, big picture, Kansas two and one. That's better than they were last year at one and two. You're only lost to a good team on the road. Big picture, I still feel good about this team winning seven or eight games. You know, that's kind of where I'm at with this. But if they would have won this game, I would have started talking myself into them being able to win nine or ten games. That's kind of the difference where we're at.

Starting point is 00:22:03 And yes, there are certain alarm bells about how much you were out yarded and how much you were out rushed and the continuation of close game losses, but also at the same point in time you know how many teams are going to be able to optimize doing to Kansas what Missouri did in terms of a pure talent level that Kansas is going to play like you see what Oklahoma State did against Oregon you see what West Virginia was doing against Ohio like there are going to be opportunities for Kansas that are going to be a little bit easier than Missouri like there's going to be ones that maybe they're not like Utah you know but there's going to be other ones that that you might be okay in some of those situations okay game ball

Starting point is 00:22:40 we'll start with the offense side of the ball for KU I do want to give one to Jalen Daniels. It was not a perfect game. We'll make that clear. Not a perfect game for Jalen Daniels. He had the fumble that fortunately Kansas recovered. Then he had the fumble that led to the safety, right? And he had the interception at the end of the game. He missed a couple deep shots in the fourth quarter, but like those are going to be finicky. He also hit on some deep shops. Those are tough to complete. For my money, Jalen Daniels played well enough to win this game. And that's kind of the moment that you're looking for, right? And if Emmanuel Henderson catches that pass or KU gets off the field on one more fourth down, maybe they do win this game,

Starting point is 00:23:11 right so i actually thought jalen had a good game overall 18 of 30 223 two touchdowns one interception um just like the rest of kansas not really able to run the ball but he was the he was still kansas's leader in rushing yards 20 yards and a touchdown there so like you know um the other guy on offense we're going to go to sean hannica six catches for 74 yards and two touchdowns on all six targets i would say if i could just give it to the offensive line for pass blocking i would do that again it was not a good run blocking game for the k u offensive line but from a past blocking perspective, it was, you know, they had some long pockets. They kept it pretty clean overall. Like, again, there were two sacks. There were a few moments here, there, like that

Starting point is 00:23:51 fumble, for instance. But I thought they did well overall. But yeah, Jayland Daniels and Sean Hanukkah get the two game balls on the offensive side of the ball. On the defensive side of the ball, let's go Trey Lathin. 13 tackles had half a sack, had a pass breakup. I thought he was everywhere in the middle for the KU defense. I also want to give one to Bengali Kamara, nine tackles. He had two TFLs. He had a pass breakup. And just gutting out the injury he had. I mean, that was great to see. And it was fun. Like, I remember at one point in the broadcast, I forget it was late third quarter, fourth quarter. The broadcast crew was like, yeah, the linebacking course has been KU's best unit on defense. And it just such a night and day from where that

Starting point is 00:24:27 linebacking unit was maybe a couple of years ago for KU or last year at moments. So I thought that was really good. I do want to say there were certainly some flash moments from Tommy Dunn. And I really like, I'm going to give another game. I'll give a third. I don't care to Leroy Harris, one and a half sacks. I will say not a good game overall for the KU defense, but if they would have just fine-tuned third and fourth down, they actually would have been okay in this game in the end. And then special teams for KU, I guess we'll give our game ball to Finn Lappen again, coming back from the injury. He averaged 46 yards per punt, had a long of 49 yards. So we'll go with that one there for KU. But Jayhawks lose in the end. We'll get to more takeaways from

Starting point is 00:25:03 this game coming up on Monday's episode, our go to the game upcoming, and we'll start looking ahead to the bye week in West Virginia after that as Missouri comes out on top 42 to 31. 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. See you next time with LOJ.

Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - HEARTBREAK: Jayhawks Unable to Finish Against Missouri Tigers | Shades of 2024 for Kansas???

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