Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Kansas Jayhawks Football Chosen to Play Arkansas in the Liberty Bowl

Episode Date: December 5, 2022

The Liberty Bowl chose the Kansas Jayhawks Football team to take on the Arkansas Razorbacks. Where and when is the game, why that selection shows a ton of respect for Lance Leipold and KU, an early preview on Arkansas led by Sam Pittman and KJ Jefferson. What are the best parts about this bowl for Kansas, including Jalon Daniels and the extra practice reps.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!LinkedInLinkedIn jobs helps you find the candidates you want to talk to, faster. Post your job for free at Linkedin.com/lockedoncollege Terms and conditions apply.Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKEDON15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.BetOnlineBetOnline.net has you covered this season with more props, odds and lines than ever before. BetOnline – Where The Game Starts!SimpliSafeWith Fast Protect™️ Technology, exclusively from SimpliSafe, 24/7 monitoring agents capture evidence to accurately verify a threat for faster police response. There’s No Safe Like SimpliSafe. Visit SimpliSafe.com/LockedOnCollege to learn more.Omaha SteaksOmaha Steaks is a gift from the heart – a gift that will be remembered with every unforgettable bite. Order with complete confidence today knowing you’re ordering the very best. Visit OmahaSteaks.com use promo code LOCKEDON at checkout to get that EXTRA $30 OFF your order. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On today's Locked on Jayhawks, we discuss Kansas being in a bowl game. They're going to be playing in the Liberty Bowl. That on today's edition of the show. You are Locked on Jayhawks, your daily podcast on the Kansas Jayhawks. Part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. I'm Derek Johnson. You can hear me as well on Rock Chalk Sports Talk from 3 to 6, Monday through Friday on KLWN in Lawrence.

Thanks for making Locked On Jayhawks your first listen every day. We are free and available wherever you get any of your podcasts. You can also find us on YouTube. Subscribe to us, and if you want to ask any questions or something to talk about for the show, you can hit us up in the YouTube comment section or at DJohnsonRadio on Twitter. And on today's edition of the show, we're going to be talking about the bowl game that Kansas has been announced to. They'll be playing in the Liberty Bowl against the Arkansas Razorbacks.

So the Liberty Bowl occurs in Memphis. You know, when you think of the Liberty Bell, you don't think of Memphis. It's in Philadelphia, right? The bowl game for a long time was in Philadelphia. But I don't know if it's like something to do with cost or Philadelphia didn't want to host it anymore. Memphis bought it away. However, that happened. It is now in Memphis and has been for a little bit of time now.

It's played at the stadium where the Memphis Tigers, their football team, plays. The game is going to be 4.30 Central Time. It'll be 5.30 Eastern Time. I actually looked this up. I thought Memphis was on Eastern Time. I guess they're on Central Time. So you don't have to worry about the time change of going there. It'll be at 4.30 in Memphis at the Liberty Bowl against the Arkansas Razorbacks.

Obviously, there was a lot of talk leading into it about could we get a Kansas-Missouri border war, border showdown, whatever it's called now, matchup in the Liberty Bowl. And that certainly would have been very appetizing for the TV perspective, for selling out tickets for the liberty ball but the reports came out from brett mcmurphy late last week that missouri did not want to play in that game and you can talk about for whatever reason they didn't want to play in the game uh whether it's them saying that they have a basketball game against kentucky that day and they don't want to double up even though last year they played a bowl game on the same day as a basketball game against illinois who's also kind of a rival for them. Nonetheless, you could also say that, you know, maybe it's,

why does it benefit them? We're going to have the game. And I think that was kind of a fair conversation as we were talking about the possible Kansas, Missouri matchup. You know, do we want Kansas to play Missouri? Because you're going to get to play them in a few years anyway. So what's the rush to play them now? Have a fun, different game.

And then as soon as that report came out though it was like you know uh well it's on them now it's just kind of funny because um for the longest time leading up you would hear some KU fans maybe saying I don't really want to play them but then Missouri now is the one that they kind of chickened out and that's just kind of how it goes through but nonetheless you'll have this matchup in a couple of years to play out. And who knows what all the reasoning is behind Missouri, but certainly it doesn't look good for them. And they're trying to deal with the PR of that. And certainly their head coach is not taking kindly to everything happening. So you don't get that matchup.

That's enough on that conversation. Now you get the Arkansas matchup, which I guess a lot of people saying it's the winner gets to choose how the states are pronounced. It'll either be Arkansas or it'll be Kansas will be how you pronounce here in Kansas depending on who wins the game. It's wild. As close as these two teams are together, like bordering states, they haven't played in like over a hundred years certainly wilds when you consider that they always felt like like arkansas in the southwest

conference but didn't become a member of the big 12 when gans went from big 8 to big 12 or now they're in the sec so they've slightly dodged each other in that standpoint but you would have thought they would have met at some point in, I guess, a bowl game possibly, or just a non-conference meeting between the two. That'll be the case for this one. How about this though? The Liberty Bowl had the fourth pick overall for the Big 12. How it works with the bowl tie-ins is that like clearly whoever the top team

in the Big 12 goes to the Sugar Bowl, which this year Kansas State wins the big 12. So they go to the sugar bowl. Now, even if Kansas state lost the big 12 championship, because TCU would have been in the playoff, they would have gotten the top bid to go to the sugar bowl. Right. And so some of those top bowls,

I believe that the top two or three are tied in where it's like, if you finish here, this is where you go to. But a lot of the bowls, and this isn't just the case for the Big 12, this is the case for a lot of other conferences, there are certain ones where, yeah, if you finish first, you're going here. If you finish second, you're going here, and that's predetermined. But outside of that, a lot of the bowls, it might say Big 12 bowl tie-in No. 4, Big 12 bowl tie-in No. 5.

That's not representative of where you finished in the conference because, again, the liberty bowl is fourth kansas has not finished fourth in the big 12 is based on where they select so they get to pick the school that they think is best going to represent the bowl whether it means a better tv audience or if it's selling more tickets where they're trying to make more money off of that just creating a better matchup, creating better hype. And they had the fourth pick, which really tells you the amount of respect and how much they wanted Kansas, which has to make you feel good that a bowl really wanted to choose you. It's not just that whatever the seventh or eighth pick of the big 12 was, they're like, ah, I guess we defaulted into having to have Kansas. No, they went out of their way to select you over some other teams that finished in front of you.

And that's even crazier when you consider, like, remember there was the Liberty Bowl rep that was at the Kansas Senior Day game against Texas when that was, I mean, it wasn't a bad, it was still a solid crowd, right? It was high 30,000, which for Kansas in the past years would have been like the best crowd for them. But for this year, that was probably the fifth most people in attendance to a game this year. It was a cold game, a game that a lot of people left at halftime, a game that you got blown out and kind of got, that was the one time this season where you weren't competitive in a game. And the Liberty Bowl rep was there for that game among all, and they still wanted Kansas and they still chose them among other schools. So again, I think that shows you a lot of the respect for this program from some of these bowl games, including the Liberty Bowl, the reports coming out, they were eyeing them since the summer. They just kind of loved the story of Kansas. Obviously it helps that Kansas fans travel really well. And the fact that you're breaking a bowl drought will make fans want to flock to memphis more so than maybe if this was hey this is our ninth straight bowl game and that's in memphis you know are we gonna go that's not gonna be the case now this bowl is this was

pointed out to me shout out frank saunders who uh the bowl pays out i don't know there's different conflicting reports like some sites say around like high 4 million, some sites say like $6 million to the winner. That's a nice little payout because if you're looking at some of the other options of other bowls, Kansas could have been in around like 1.2, 1.5, nearing $2 million. That is a huge payout that you could possibly get for winning this bowl game. Unlike some of the the other ones that's certainly a nice perk overall it's not my favorite i i wanted them to be in one of the texas ones whether it was the armed forces one i can't remember the other one i think guaranteed rate was the one in phoenix i would have been cool with that too you look at the alumni hubs in dallas specifically there's actually a pretty solid alumni hub in phoenix and also both of those

would have been a little bit warmer weather. That would have been nice. And for the Texas one specifically would have been the easiest travel for fans to get there because there's a lot of cheap flight options from Kansas city into the Dallas area, or you can drive there. Or again, you have the alumni hubs. Those would have been my first picks. This one was fourth on the list,

but you're in a bowl game, and Kansas fans are still going to have good attendance. I don't think it'll be as strong as maybe the others. I don't think this is going to be a sellout. Maybe they'll sell all the allotment of the Kansas tickets, but will they go above and beyond and completely have that thing sold out? I probably don't think so. Again, Senior Day wasn't even sold out. I probably don't think so. Like again, senior day wasn't

even sold out for Kansas, but I think they will have very good attendance. You'll have a lot of people going over there because they are chomping at the bit to get to a bowl game. First bowl game since the 2008 Insight Bowl. I again would have preferred one of the other bowls, but beggars can't be choosers. You're in a bowl game. Somebody picked you above their slot to show you that they really want you there. So at the very least, that's exciting. It should actually be a pretty good matchup with Arkansas, two teams that actually do score really well. The over-under early on is placed in the high 60s.

Should be an exciting back-and-forth game between these two teams. All right, in just a second, we are going to get on to a quick little preview of the Arkansas Razorbacks. But first, this episode of Locked on Jayhawks is brought to you by Omaha Steaks. Omaha Steaks is America's original butcher since 1917 and holiday gifts that are guaranteed to be loved if you buy them from Omaha Steaks. When you get that package showing up to your door, you know you're excited. You open it up. You see all the different steaks and the juicy fresh meat.

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knowing you're ordering the very best. Visit OmahaSteaks.com, use promo code LOCKEDON at checkout to get that extra $30 off your order. Minimum order may be required. Kansas takes on Arkansas in the Liberty Bowl on Wednesday, December 28th, 430 Central Time. You'll also be able to hear that one on KLWN. Pre-game will start at 3 o'clock. Quick scouting report or preview of Arkansas obviously we'll dive even

deeper than this on one of the shows once we get closer because we're still this is crazy we're still like over three weeks out from the bowl game Arkansas is six and six just like Kansas they play in the SEC which can always scare you that hey a six and six sec team like a lot of other conferences maybe that's an eight and four nine and three win win team and this year the sec though has been a little further down now who knows maybe they come into the bowl games and they just slaughter everyone but there hasn't been as as i don't know deep of an sec this season and maybe not as elite of teams like Georgia clearly still is that. I guess Alabama was near the playoff, but it's not like as early. It's still the best conference.

Don't get me wrong. But also, like you look at some of the cross compared matchups and like Kansas State whooped a middle tier SEC team this year. And I get it. That's the one, the Big 12. whooped a middle-tier SEC team this year. And I get it. That's the team who won the Big 12. You had Texas, who finished third in the Big 12, nearly beat Alabama. So it's not like the Big 12 hasn't been able to pony up with the SEC, like shout out Chris Sims

in a negative light there, saying that that wouldn't be the case. We have direct results of why that wasn't the case. So two teams that are case so uh two teams that are pretty similar two teams that are similar in regards to being more led by the offense kansas on the sp and sp plus has one of the top 20 offenses in the country arkansas is not quite that good but they're still really good they're ranked 29th in the country on offensive efficiency um or i'm sorry 29th overall they're 23rd on offense, which carries them.

KU's defense is ranked outside of the top 100. Arkansas's is 64th. So Arkansas has struggled a bit defensively, especially in certain regards and at certain times. They have given up over 200 rushing yards on a couple occasions. They gave up over like 400 rushing yards to Ole Miss, and they've had some bad games in their teams that have been good offensively have been able to find success against them

I would expect Kansas to be able to do that in this game they're also 66 on special teams so not a great team but Kansas is one of the worst teams in special teams there they just have to avoid the blow-ups I would think the time off in between the game certainly would help Kansas maybe correct some of those special teams issues leading into this game, especially after the Kansas State appearance where that was what really cost you to where you're really going to want to drill that down. But Arkansas, again, like Kansas, more of an offensive team. The defense is better than Kansas. The special teams is better. But with extra time off, maybe the Kansas defense can come closer

to Arkansas's defense. And maybe Andy Kotelnik will be in the lab and some of the players becoming more healthy for Kansas. As well as, I mean, you just look at motivation. Motivation in this game

could be a key for Arkansas. You come off a 9-4 season last year. You head into this season. You start the year with a strong win over Cincinnati. And you get ranked pretty highly and then you lose to Texas A&M you go over some struggles over the course of the season you finish six and six you're in a bowl game that maybe you were thinking last year we were in a bigger bowl game or last year it meant more, or we thought we were going to be playing for more than this at this point in the season.

And obviously you also wonder about opt-outs, right? You don't know who's all going to opt out on either team. Transfer portal too. You could have players transfer from – that could affect either side. Certainly you would think the opt-out game would affect Arkansas more than Kansas because I would imagine Arkansas is going to have more pro potential players like I haven't seen anything yet on a guy like Drew Sanders Drew Sanders could be a first round draft pick at the very least probably second round draft pick linebacker transfer from Alabama creates chaos leads the team in tackles

for loss and sacks and is just a stud what What if he opts out to prepare for the bowl? So that could certainly affect this game and probably more negatively for Arkansas than Kansas. KJ Jefferson, though, I would imagine will be playing because he announced he's going to come back for next season. And he's kind of a game changer for them at quarterback. He suffered a shoulder injury, then ended up playing their last two games. And I would imagine he'll be a hundred percent by the bowl game.

If not the time off, we'll certainly get him close to that. So it's kind of similar to what Kansas is undergoing with Jalen Daniels. He was hurt, shoulder injury, played the last two games, and now he gets the extra time off to where the Kansas offense is so much better in the games that he starts. In the 10 games KJ Jefferson started, they averaged 34 points per game. They're a really good offense when he is in there. He is of a dual threat power running quarterback that scares you a little bit because you remember like a power running quarterback like Tyler Shuck or a big guy like Will Howard who is less of a runner but sometimes it's hard to take those guys down that's the case with KJ

Jefferson he's been an efficient passer I'm worried about the Kansas defense stopping Arkansas Raheem Sanders, absolute beast of a running back over like 1400 rushing yards. They've got another couple hundred as a receiver. They have a really good running game and that's been very problematic for Kansas. This could be a shootout though. You could just win it offensively. And I think it's going to be an exciting game because of that. But a lot of this game is going to be determined in the trenches. You're going to have Arkansas who has all sorts of size, physicality, and that SEC speed in the trenches. Sam Pittman, their head coach, is a former line coach.

And for Kansas, the offensive line has held up really well this season. The defensive line has shown flashes of games where they've really created chaos and pressure on the other team. But they've also had a lot of times where maybe they've been created chaos and pressure on the other team, but they've also had a lot of times where maybe they've been moved off the ball too much. Lonnie Phelps was dealing with an injury over the back half of the season, dealing with a lot of double teams. I'm sure this time off is going to be super beneficial for a player like him, as well as everyone on both sides, but he can be a possible game changer and how Kansas does in the trenches is really going to have a direct impact on who

comes out on top in this game as much as we are going to talk about. And there'll be talk about the different skill players and the quarterbacks because both of them are so good, but that's really where this game is going to be one. Okay. And just a second, I'm going to get on to a fun segment to finish with the bowl game, the best parts about the bowl game for Kansas. But first, this episode of Locked on Jayhawks is brought to you by SimpliSafe. At Locked on Jayhawks, we believe home should be where you and your family feel the safest,

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Can't stay on Arkansas in the Liberty Bowl. We'll have plenty more time to discuss the matchup between the two schools and different things going into the bowl game. Certainly we're going to see different players leave the team via the transfer portal or come in via the transfer portal. You might see opt-outs from one of either two teams. There's certainly a lot of news that's going to be headed into the game. Also on tomorrow's show, we're going to be joined by Nick Schwert.

We'll talk a little about the bowl game. We'll get some inventory on the Kansas basketball team too. Here's the best parts about the bowl game for Kansas. Number one, healthy Jalen Daniels. And this goes for everyone that everyone can get healthier, whether it's the guys who have been missing time, like Jalen who missed until the last couple of weeks, guys who maybe are playing through something.

We saw Luke Grimm kind of n, guys who maybe are playing through something. We saw Luke Grimm kind of nicked up at the end of the season, Lonnie Phelps at different points. Just getting everyone 100% or near 100% that probably the best they've been since the beginning of the season, specifically for Jalen, though. One, because you want to see, I mean, it's just fun to watch. I mean, he's such a good player. So getting him back there, it gives Kansas a better chance at winning. It's more fun to watch I mean he's such a good player so getting him back there it gives Kansas a better chance at winning it's more fun to watch it's exciting

but also he has an opportunity to have a a jump off game like he was already considered a Heisman candidate through the first five or six games of the season but if you have a big performance in this one and Kansas wins they head into the offseason, that all of a sudden is kind of a springboard to him being brought back up in the preseason as a legit Heisman candidate. And honestly, I know it would sound crazy because if Kansas wins the game, they're still only seven and six. It'd be a big deal, obviously a winning season. But the fact that they could return most of their players players like 10 of 11 starters on offense a bunch on defense if they bring all these guys back and they have a good

offseason with bringing players in in the transfer portal and you win this game and Jalen Daniels looks super impressive like the guy early in the season like even the guy at times against Kansas State there's an outside chance Kansas could be a preseason top 25 team, like that 23, 24, 25 spot. That's really exciting, the possibility of this. And all that circles around a healthy Jalen Daniels and showing what he can do and having that springboard game to have you even more excited for the 2023 season. The extra practice reps as a whole might be the biggest thing, whether it is guys getting healthier or players that are

trying to progress that already played a solid role or sizable role, just even more practice reps is more important. This is most important though, for guys who are maybe rotational players or backups, just those extra practice reps to progress their game to where maybe you're, you're a little bit ahead of schedule headed into the spring workouts or next offseason because what you got for this year. That is so crucial for developing a program long term, and it really gives you the option and the opportunity to have some of those young players take another step forward. The next thing is back to kind of the young players here. It's not just about the practice reps, but the possibility for maybe some young players, unsung heroes, backups to maybe be

an unsung hero or get more playing time in an actual game. If you lose a player who played a big role in the transfer portal, like for instance, Eric Gileard transferred out. Now he wasn't starting for Kansas, but played over 200 snaps. So you're looking at about 20 snaps, give or take a game that maybe that's extra snaps for a guy like Taiwan, Barry Hill or Rich Miller, just to get more reps out there. Or maybe it's more snaps for one of the backup linebackers that hasn't gotten a ton of time. And it's an opportunity for them to showcase their talent, to make their first stand as being a player that feels like they deserve more playing time the following season.

Maybe it's just an extra opportunity for those reps to just get better and see it in live game action against a good opponent. I mean, you can have young guys stepping up that make you feel excited for what the future of their career could be. It could be a player who maybe was a backup filling into a starter, and they have a good game, and all of their career could be. It could be a player who maybe was a backup filling into a starter, and they have a good game, and all of a sudden,

we're talking about them being a star on next year's team. So just with more opportunity, you could wind up with a player or two who, whether it's those extra practice reps, and now they're a better player at this point in the season because they're getting close to turning the page and being another extra year where they earn their way to more playing time, or if it is that transfer portal or an injury that loses a player and causes another player to step up, it gives them an opportunity to kind of have a hero game or show up for that

next season in the final game of this season. And in the same light of Jalen Daniels have that springboard game. And then the last thing, best parts about this bowl for Kansas, we get to talk about how much worse Memphis barbecue is than Kansas City barbecue. We're going to hear that a lot. It's, I think, more of a vinegar-based sauce. Could be wrong with that. Maybe that's Carolina. Either way, Kansas City barbecue, the real king. All right, that's going to do it for this episode of Locked

On Jayhawks. Coming up on tomorrow's show, we'll be joined by Nick Schwert to talk a little about the bowl game and a little KU basketball too. It's a big Saturday ahead with the Kansas-Missouri game. If you have anything you'd like for the show to talk about or want to follow along on the action, you can reach out at DJohnsonRadio on Twitter.

And don't forget to subscribe to the show so you're getting all the latest with Locked on Jayhawks. That'll do it for today's episode. Have a good rest of your day. I'll see you soon. Come on Rock Sports Talk later today. Bye.