Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - HUGE RESPONSE: Jayhawks Cruise by Oklahoma State 38-21 Behind Running Game & Efficient Jalon Daniels

Starting point is 00:00:00 Kansas coasts by Oklahoma State. Are they, is Jalen Daniels officially back? And can they get to bowl eligibility now one win away? 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 Jhawks. Hawks. Thanks for making it your first listen every day. And thank you to the everydayers

Starting point is 00:00:33 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. And on today's addition, we're breaking down KU's 38 to 21 victory over Oklahoma State. KU kind of coasted to the finish line, though. It wasn't so easy at the start of the game. And I think overall, just a good response by KU, both in this game and where they've been the last couple weeks, I thought it was a good response from Jayland Daniels, even though you may look at the box score and say, what do you mean? Only 110 yards. I'm going to break all that down because positives, negatives, goats or game balls of the game, other awards, and plenty more to come

Starting point is 00:01:07 away from. What's going on with the defense against the pass? All of that on today's episode of Locked on Jayhawks. And today's episode of the show is brought to you by Mazda. Like our players, we sweat every detail because when you make every move count, pulling off the unexpected is only the beginning. Stay tuned later for highlights in this week's moving the game forward. Mazda move and be moved. So Kansas wins 38 to 21 in a game that certainly for, you know, KU was, I mean, as important to like, there have been other games that have been more important to win for Kansas. Some they have, some they haven't. I don't know that there was a more important game for Kansas not to lose than this one specifically. I guess maybe you would say like

Starting point is 00:01:52 the South Dakota game in the Lance Light pulled opener just from a standpoint of like, okay, make it be different. Don't lose to the FCS team like all the other coaches did. But at the end of the day, like, I don't know what it would have completely changed things for KU. Maybe, maybe not. This was that important because if you lose this game, the path to bowl eligibility became not quite extinct, but certainly was going to look. I mean, it's already going to be tough at this point, even at five and four, so four and five. Plus you come off a loss to at that point would be a two and seven team, one and seven coming into this game. It would have been inexcusable to lose this game for KU and what this would have possibly met for the program. So this was a

Starting point is 00:02:27 big to get back onto it. It was also big the way that you won the game with your level of play from really quarters to on that you were able to coast by at the end and have kind of an easy like I try to remind myself that like where things were three, four years ago. I know you want to continue to build and have higher expectations, but like, let's not forget either. Like 10 years ago, Kansas was the team, you know, five years ago, six years ago, Kansas was the team that Oklahoma State was every year. And they were the team getting trout. So it's kind of nice to have a, you you know, nice and easy big 12 victory at the same point of time. But in the same way that, you know, I think it was a good response by KU again, you get down

Starting point is 00:03:03 7-0, you have lost these last couple games in blowoff fashion, including to your rival in Kansas State. It would have been easy to, I don't know, just like turtle up to get in a shell, to almost quit on, like, that was kind of the question there, like, was this going to cause kind of a quitting on the season, so to speak, didn't end up happening at all, even after the 7-0. like you were able to respond and uh you know hats off to to them for having the adversity to kind of overcome that obviously there's certain things that you don't want to have happen to get behind seven nothing on oklahoma state but i also thought like one of the big things coming to this

Starting point is 00:03:37 game obviously was jalen daniels looking for a bounce back because jalen did not look good against kansas state and you were like your best path to bull eligibility didn't just include winning this game it included jeline daniels starting to play like the guy we saw in the first seven games before the kansas state game And you look at the box score and you go, Jalen Daniels at 110 passing yards. Like, what do you mean like he turned things around? Okay, but they didn't need him to throw in the second half, you know? He goes 13 of 19.

Starting point is 00:04:07 So he completes 68% of his passes for 110 yards with two touchdowns. And I guess like, I don't know. I just look at it from a standpoint of like, are you making key plays for your team when it matters? And when the game was on the line, when the game mattered in the first half and everything, he was making key plays. You look at total QBR, ESPN's metric that does take into account, you know, if it was third and eight and you threw a seven-yard pass, that's not going to be given as much credit as if it's third and three and you threw a four-yard pass because one's converting the third down, one's not. And J-Lan was given like an 85 total QBR in this game. I think that kind of backs up what I'm saying here in a way. And the other thing that's crazy, like it wasn't like a big running game for it.

Starting point is 00:04:53 He had six carries for 28 yards, but like when he had to have it, that one scramble that he had on the first drive for the KU offense was they eventually get a field goal and respond to the touchdown at least a little bit. Like when you had to have it every so often it was there. When you had to have the throw on third down or on fourth down, it was there. And he made big enough throws that he looked like the guy we saw in the first seven games. It just statistically it wasn't as much. And then the other part of it is Kansas was able to establish the run so much. And then the other part of it is that Oklahoma State had the ball for so long in the first half that the possessions, and the amount of passes were just limited.

Starting point is 00:05:25 So I wouldn't look at it from a standpoint of just the box score. Jalen played a good game and was very successful in doing so. And in fact, like if you look at certain numbers, like if you look at EPA, expected points added per dropback, Kansas was in the 91st percentile in this game. So it was a good bounceback game for Jalen Daniels. I think besides that, some of the biggest positives for KU, the running game got going again. They were in the 91st percentile on this one, an EPA per rush as well.

Starting point is 00:05:50 So it was something where, you know, you were just able to kind of grind out yards. Like you actually hit some explosive runs in this game, which are classified as like 10 or more yard runs. You're actually able to hit those a little bit more often in this game. Leishon Williams coming back from, you know, being kind of hurt. 14 carries 77 under touchdown. Daniel Hyshaw, 14 for 65 and two touchdowns. You even hit the long run with Isaiah Marshall in there. I thought the run by Cam Pickett was awesome.

Starting point is 00:06:16 Jalen Daniels adds 28 yards. 232 rushing yards, but 5.9 yards per carry. And whereas like the West Virginia game, you had over 200 rushing yards, but a lot came on that late, long touchdown from Leishon Williams. This was just constantly going for the KU offense. And so that was, I don't know, you could make the argument that was KU's best rushing game of the season. And so that was a really good positive from this one.

Starting point is 00:06:39 And Lance Leipold in post game said, this is the healthiest that, you know, Leishon and Hysha have been since really the start of the season together. So that's a good sign for Kansas coming into the, back three games of the season. I also thought we saw some future meeting, some current in this game. That was certainly a positive. Like, you saw the long run from Isaiah Marshall.

Starting point is 00:06:58 Is Marshall going to eventually be QB1 next year? Is it going to be Cole Ballard, David McComb, Jalen Mason? Who knows? But if it is Marshall, we saw a little bit of the bit of athleticism that certainly would get you excited for that to be the case. Blake Harold is a current guy because he plays a ton on this year's team. but he's also a future guy, because he's still just a redshirt sophomore. Him and Marcus Calvin, who's a redshirt freshman, both had big time plays and games

Starting point is 00:07:24 at the defensive tackle spot for KU and this one. So you saw a little bit of the future from those guys as well. I think that, you know, as you're getting to the end of this season, obviously you want Kansas to make a bowl game. So there is that level of now. But there always is, you know, when you hit a certain point, you're a four losses, you lost your rival. You are at the same point in time, even though, again, you're trying to make it to a bowl game.

Starting point is 00:07:47 kind of looking ahead to be like, okay, well, what are reasons too that I'm going to be even more excited for 2026? And that's one of those that I kind of look at there. I would also say Bryson Canty is a reason to, you know, one of the bigger positives from this game. Like, I've kind of said all year long, like he felt like kind of bringing a different element to this receiver core with Pickett and Henderson being more of your yard after catch guys or in Henderson's case, more of like a deep ball and yard after catch guy. Canty brings the big body receiver who can makes the contest catches. And it felt like that's what was missing, really, in the Kansas State game.

Starting point is 00:08:18 And Canty was a guy who joined late, and he's at injury. So it's been tough to, like, fully catch up on everything. But I hope the game he played. He had that big catch on those, I think the first offensive drive for KU of the game, that he had downfield and then he had the touchdown grab on the fade route. I hope that grows his confidence. I hope that grows, you know, Jim Zabowski and Matt Lubick and Lance Leipold's confidence in him to play more because I think he can add another element to this passing game that they really need.

Starting point is 00:08:43 And then I would say third downs. This was a game we talked about coming. in Oklahoma State's not a good third down defense. Kansas had not been a good third down offense. So we wanted to see them finally convert. Well, they went six of ten on third downs and three of three on fourth downs. I will say, big is negative from the game, right? Overall, it's a positive.

Starting point is 00:09:00 You win the game by 17. You didn't cover, unfortunately. You were up 24 until they got the late touchdown. But the past defense is still a problem for KU. Obviously, there's a lot of young bodies in the secondary overall for Kansas. But 86th percentile EPA per dropback was Oklahoma State. This is a team that coming in had a handful of passing touchdowns. Zane Flores came in with, I think, zero passing touchdowns at three interceptions.

Starting point is 00:09:23 And at one point, he was like 19 of 22. He obviously got knocked out, but 22 of 28, 235, two touchdowns, no picks. They were able to throw the ball. And it's not just like they were able to throw the ball, like, into tight windows or something. No, how often was a dude just like wide open against KU? There's too much soft coverage, which I don't know, like I continue to believe, if you're going to get burnt anyway, which Kansas is. been getting burnt all season long.

Starting point is 00:09:47 If you're going to get burnt anyway, why not just press? Because if you're going to give up, you know, some deep balls because you're pressing and your risk reward, okay, but you're already doing that. So why not add more reward possibly by doing, I don't know. And then like at what point I'm going to try not to be crass here, but like it feels like every week in the press conferences we hear about the defense like, oh, okay, somebody was just or the players were just lined up wrong or they were doing the wrong thing or, you know, they weren't fully on assignment or whatever it is right like at what point i don't know is this

Starting point is 00:10:21 just the most complicated defense to figure out and so nobody can figure out where they are so like do you need to simplify it at some point if nobody can line up and we're in the ninth game of the season and you're you know or i don't know are people just are the players that you recruited just not smart enough to figure out like i don't know what it is i don't know what it is but uh they they i don't know is it going to get figured out the rest of the season probably not but like yeah man that is certainly a problem so you look at k u's final games like you just hope you're not playing good passing teams unfortunately they are playing at least decent quarterbacks in in every game bottom line this was a must win for the team and the program with where it is so um you got the win

Starting point is 00:11:01 you cruised in the second half that's good i'm not gonna you know um i don't know i'm gonna enjoy it i'm gonna enjoy it because i've seen so many years where i would kill to be in this position where Kansas was at this point in time. So you won by 17. Now go win one more. Make you do a bowl game. All right. Let's continue on with our moment stats,

Starting point is 00:11:21 awards of the game and little game balls as well. This is Locked on Jayhawks. This episode of LOJ is brought to you by Mazda. And Mazda is moving the game forward. For those who believe it's not just about playing the game, it's about redefining it. There's moments that do more than push. points on the board. They move crowds. They move culture and they keep moving the game forward.

Starting point is 00:11:47 This week's moment that moved the game forward. I want to go back to the fourth down and two play that KU is going in toward the end zone at the end of the first half. They eventually get a touchdown to go up 10 to 7, but they're down 7 to 3 at the time. They have a fourth and two inside around the 30 or so, and they throw the ball short to Layton Cure. Layton Cure move the game forward for KU here because Layton Cure is playing more because KU's top two tight ends, top DeShon Hanuk, got hurt in season, and then I guess Keon Burnett transfers away at one point. And then Carson Bruin, their other top tight end is injured and out in this one as well. So Layton Curus to play more. He makes a big catch on fourth and two. And it's close whether he's going to get it or not.

Starting point is 00:12:26 He falls forward, stretches forward, fights for it, and gets the yardage to pick up the first down and move the chains. That move the game forward for KU. When you follow what moves you, the unexpected is only the beginning. And just like there's more to every highlight, there's more to a Mazda vehicle. Mazda, move and be moved. Thanks for joining us on this episode of Locked on 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.

Starting point is 00:12:54 Okay, our moments and plays of the game. We just talked about Layton Cure that fourth and two. That was a huge moment in the game. I mean, if you want to say Jaylen scramble on that third down that picked them up the first down, because eventually just getting points so that there's at least a little bit of momentum coming back after you down, 7-0, with which. where you had been. That was important. The cure fourth and two was huge, though. Eventually, you get a touchdown on that drive to go up 10 to 7 for your first lead of the game.

Starting point is 00:13:17 Both missed Oklahoma State field goals were huge plays, specifically the 19-yarder at the end, because that's one that you're even less so expecting them to miss. And obviously, you get the high snap and the block by KU that causes it. But that is such a momentum boost to going into halftime and feeling like, okay, this is for sure. And like, Oklahoma State could have just gone for it. And they could have taken the lead at half. And that would have been such a different things. That was honestly probably the biggest difference in the game. The second half just opening drive in general was a huge moment of the game where you go down, you're up 10-7. They've had this big momentum killing play and you now transfer that momentum into

Starting point is 00:13:52 your first drive of the second half. You get a touchdown. You go up two scores. I thought my favorite play from that drive on it. I mean, the Canty fade route touchdown was good. I think that was that drive, not the next one. I don't know. I might admit the next one. But the cam picket, they run the little triple option play and they pitch it to pick it. Pickett looked really good in that position. I'd like to see him get involved. Like you saw some plays where Henderson is back. There's a running back.

Starting point is 00:14:14 Yeah, give Henderson and Pickett, you know, one, two, three carries a game as a running back. I don't think that's the worst idea in the world with both their running abilities. The Blake Harold's sack. That was kind of a key moment in the game because, again, Flores was throwing it all over the yard on KU's secondary and stuff. And so from that standpoint, like getting Harold to get the pressure and get the sack.

Starting point is 00:14:36 and then the ball comes out and stuff, you know, was just huge because you're preventing them from throwing on the secondary. The Zeke Marshall QB counter run for 43 yards. That was awesome because it felt like potentially a glimpse into the future. I don't know. Again, it might be Ballard next year. Who knows? But I'm high on Isaiah Marshall and, you know, you see why.

Starting point is 00:14:56 Like, those are the athletic plays that he can possibly bring to the table. I think the canty touchdown on the fade route was actually on that drive. That was a good moment, too, though. And then I think this is this is kind of the last one that I'd bring up is there's a fourth and one for Kansas. I want to say it was in the fourth quarter. And at this point in the game, I want to say it was 2414 and Lyshawn Williams converts. It was great blocking and it was a really good read like vision wise by Lishon Williams. And when he cut it up and he goes untouched for a while and then eventually he gets knocked down around the two or three yard line or something.

Starting point is 00:15:31 That was a big moment in the game because if you think about it, if Kansas doesn't, get that fourth down. It's 2414 and Oklahoma State has the ball with the way they're throwing the football in a game where now they have a little bit of momentum back. And if they go down and score, it's a one score game to the very end, right? And instead, that gives you the comfort. You score touchdown. You make a 31, 14, and then it just kind of felt like, okay, we're going to win this thing. So those would be my moments of the game. The stats or stats of the game for KU. So it's interesting because you look at the total yards in this one. It's only 342 to 316. But has to be the rushing yards. 232 to 72 is the rushing yards difference here, right? I mean,

Starting point is 00:16:10 5.9 yards per rush for KU, 2.3 yards per rush for Oklahoma State. Oklahoma State was able to throw the ball effectively, as we talked about, but they weren't able to run the ball effectively, and Kansas was able to run the ball, ball effectively. Like, that was the difference in this game to me, and I think that's kind of the stat of the game in the end. I mean, it was a low penalty game. There were three total penalties, which made it for kind of a fast game, and certainly probably a more pleasing one to watch. There was only one punt, interestingly enough. That was a Oklahoma State punt.

Starting point is 00:16:41 I mean, Kansas didn't punt in this game. That actually is pretty crazy to think about. Third downs was huge for Kansas in general, but Oklahoma State was also really good on third downs. So I think it just is the rushing numbers. I think that's kind of the difference in the game in this one. I mean, Kansas had two sacks. Oklahoma State had zero.

Starting point is 00:16:56 Like, I guess that's a big moment in the game. The tackles for loss was six to four, but the TFL yards was 22 lost versus five lost. you know, that's a big difference too in the end. But yeah, I would say the stat of the game is the rushing difference. And then our awards here, you know what? Is it crazy to give the run of the year to Kansas to that Daniel Highshaw's 16-yard run? It was the one right after Layton Cure had the fourth down conversion. And then Daniel Hysha, I think there's an incompletion. And then Daniel Hysha has a 16-yard run. He's breaking tackles. He's weaving through defenders. And then he has the big like kind of stiff arm shrug, get off me. And then he pops out of bounds. There have been longer runs for KU this year. I don't know. There's been more explosive run, but I don't know, just all the broken tackles and the action and the kind of like demoralizing finish to the run, that was probably my favorite run at the year for KU. Honestly, his three-yard touchdown run on that drive two was pretty cool too because he like he broke some tackles that looked like he was going to stuff

Starting point is 00:17:51 to the line of scrimmage, second efforted through and then found the hole and scored the touchdown there as well. The almost had it of the game. That goes to Lyric Rawls. So Tray Lathan, a season ago, or a few games ago, had the interception against his former team in West Virginia, brought it back, Tray Lathens had a good year. Lyric Ralls has had a good year for Kansas, too. Lyric Roles nearly had a pick six on Oklahoma State. They threw like that out route, and he kind of jumped it. The ball was a little too out of his reach.

Starting point is 00:18:20 Almost had himself a pick six. Almost had it against his former team for a little bit of revenge. But still in the end, his team comes out with the 17-boy victory. And then my last award here is the box score doesn't tell the story award. That goes to Jalen Daniels. as we talked about earlier, 19 passes, 110 yards, you know, that doesn't jump off the page. But when you look at when he needed to be efficient, on the key downs, you look at QBR, you look at, you know, EPA per play, he was really good in this game for KU and certainly

Starting point is 00:18:47 looked like the eye who is comfortable more toward the beginning of the season. Let's finish up here, giving out our game balls to the offense, defense, and special teams. This is locked on Jayhawks. And today's episode of LOJ is brought to you by DoorDash. It is the weekend. Let's look back and 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 mattered most.

Starting point is 00:19:16 Let's break it down. We're going to go with Blake Herald. Not a good game for the KU past defense, not a good game for the secondary for KU. But Blake Harold helped provide some pressure. for Kansas. And he obviously had that sack that led to a strip sack. And that was important because it prevents the ball from being in the air. That was actually his only tackle of the game. But it felt like he was around the ball, felt like he had another at least pressure in there. And, you know, Blake Harold, that was a key moment in the game. And just like Blake Harold delivered for Kansas,

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Starting point is 00:20:35 So right now, Fandual is giving new customers $300 in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins. Head over to fendual.com to sign up and play your game with Fanduel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA and the Lockdown Podcast Network. Thanks for joining us on this episode of Lockdown Jayhawks, a little postcast from KU taking out in Oklahoma. State 38 to 21. We'll have our takeaways from the game coming up on Monday. We will also be getting to some KU basketball stuff. Obviously, the season opener is on Monday and we got the North Carolina game coming up. So plenty coming on with Locked on Jayhawks as well. Our game balls, let's start with the offensive game balls. We're going to give the first one. Honestly, let's give one to the offensive line. Just in terms of,

Starting point is 00:21:26 you've coming off your probably two worst games to see i don't know they weren't like they weren't a huge problem against kansas state it wasn't a great game but i don't think it was a bad game either but um jalen daniels didn't get sacked and you ran for 232 yards on 5.9 per carry with a bunch of different runners nobody had more than 80 yards offensive line gets game ball for the k u offense and then i'm going to go with daniel high shot i know leishon actually had on the same amount of carries 12 more rush yards but it felt like in the earlier moments of the game when the game was closer and some of those big broken tackle runs like it felt like some more of leishon williams runs were like they were blocked even better than maybe the high shaw ones so i'm

Starting point is 00:22:06 going to go with high shaw as the other game ball for the k u offense for the k u defensive side of the ball i i thought leroy harris was in on a lot of plays for uh for k u he ended up with five tackles he had a tfl but it felt like he had a pressure or two in the game as well so i thought he was uh all around it for k u and then i just want to give the k u defensive tackles one in the same way we gave the KU offense line. Blake Harold had obviously the strip sack that they were covered. DJ Withers had half a TFL. Kenan Caldwell had one and a half TFLs.

Starting point is 00:22:38 Tommy Dunn had three tackles for Kansas. You know, Marcus Calvin getting it. So it just felt like there was a lot there for the KU defensive tackles in this game. And obviously, you shut down their running game, right? And a lot of that was on the defensive tackles. So I thought they had a good game for KU. And this was one of those where, you know, you talk about that being a strength for the team.

Starting point is 00:22:59 Sometimes it's shown up the season. Other times it hasn't. And in this game, I think it certainly showed up for KU. So that would be my two there. And then on special teams, I mean, I guess we'll give one. I mean, you didn't punt. So like I can't pick anybody there. You had no punt returns.

Starting point is 00:23:14 So I guess we'll go Emmanuel Henderson. He had the 56-yard kick return. He nearly busted that one in the second half as well. And then Leif Marjohn, in a game where Oklahoma State missed two field goals, just making your 39. yarder was a big boon, big advantage for KU. So those will be our game balls for this. And we'll get more to our goats of the game as we kind of reflect, take a deeper dive into the game coming up on Monday show. But I'll do it for this episode of Locked on Jayhawks.

Starting point is 00:23:39 You can find a show anywhere you get your podcast, including on our YouTube page where you can like and subscribe. And we'll see you next time for another edition of LOJ.

Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - HUGE RESPONSE: Jayhawks Cruise by Oklahoma State 38-21 Behind Running Game & Efficient Jalon Daniels

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