Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - KU's Defense Secures Win Over Iowa State: 5-0, GameDay, DEFENSE, GOATs of the Week, Early Look at TCU

Episode Date: October 4, 2022

The KU Football defense stepped up to take down Iowa State 14-11 on Saturday. More on the Jayhawks' defense, plus what went wrong with the offense? Despite it all, Kansas is 5-0, ranked and hosting College Gameday. GOATs of the week, featuring Lonnie Phelps, Mike Novitsky, and more. Plus an early look at the TCU Horned Frogs.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!UpsideDownload the FREE Upside App and use promo code Locked to get $5 or more cash back on your first purchase of $10 or more.Underdog FantasySign up on underdogfantasy.com with the promo code LOCKED ON and get your first deposit doubled up to $100!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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On today's Locked on Jayhawks, Kansas takes down Iowa State and is now 5-0. I'm Derek Johnson. You can hear me as well on Rock Chalk Sports Talk, Monday through Friday from 3 to 6 on KLWN in Lawrence. Thanks for making Locked on Jayhawks your first listen every day. We are free and available wherever you get your podcasts. On today's edition of Locked on Jayhawks, wasn listen every day. We are free and available wherever you get your podcasts. On today's edition of Locked on Jayhawks, wasn't here yesterday, didn't have an opportunity for a show, so let's recap that KU-Iowa State game,

Goats of the Week, and a quick look ahead to the KUTCU game. I'd like to thank LinkedIn Jobs for being the official college football recruiting sponsor across the Locked on College network. LinkedIn Jobs helps you find the candidates you want to talk to faster. Post your job for free at linkedin.com slash lockedoncollege. Terms and conditions apply. KU takes down Iowa State 14-11. It was a defensive battle.

It was a game that was more about KU's defense stepping up and making opportunistic plays. And that was honestly kind of a question coming into the game. Like the defense was, you know, depending what stat you were looking at, yards allowed per game, yards allowed per play, points allowed per game, near the bottom or at the bottom of the Big 12 coming into that game. And the question was, okay, you have this great offense, but what happens if you play a team who is able to stifle the KU offense?

Can the defense step up in that specific game and for maybe not the course of the season, but for that specific moment, can they become a defense good enough to win you a game? They answered the bell. They answered that question with a resounding, yes, we can. So it's not that I necessarily expect this to happen every week. Like I'm not expecting against TCU, who has this elite explosive offense, for KU to give up 11 points again or maybe even 21 points. But you at least know that that is in there, that this defense, which we already knew was opportunistic.

We already knew this defense was kind of a bend-don't-break defense. They were doing really good of teams would drive on them. They'd make them go the length of the field, they limit explosive plays, and then they're going to try to tighten up when things get closer to their side of the field or in the red zone. They're going to make key turnovers.

They're going to make big plays late in the game when you really need it. Jacoby Bryant's going to come up with an interception or Lonnie Phelps will come up with a sack, whatever it is. We knew those things about this defense coming in. We didn't know they could put around the altogether effort in that game, which they did. So I guess the question now is whether that represents, hey, you're turning a corner here as a defense, or was it just a good game that hit their ceiling that again, like I was saying,

it's not going to be a week to week thing thing but we now know that what we saw on Saturday is possible to where KU's defense could win them another game over the second half of the schedule coming up here but also maybe it is a little bit of both maybe the defense is just turning a corner a little bit because there have been certain things across their earlier games where even if they were giving up high 20s, 30s, 42 points to West Virginia, that you could point to and say, okay, well, a DB fell down there. Or a guy just straight up missed a tackle early in the season when tackling is not going to be as sharp. Or he missed an assignment here.

Whatever it was that you can say, okay, it looks like they are improving on this end. They have all these new players there with these transfers and talented guys that are getting bigger roles and are playing new positions here at KU, whereas the offense is a lot of just kind of the returning guys from last year that, of course, they're going to know the scheme a little bit better. There's reason to believe the defense is just getting better generally over the course of the season. I do think that is part of it as well. But as far as what we saw Saturday specifically, where the defense is going to win them a game, I think that's probably going to be more of a

week-to-week basis thing where it's like, okay, it happened against Iowa State. Maybe it'll happen down the road against like a Texas Tech or something like that. And maybe one other game, something like that. But overall, it is good to know you can trust the defense. It is good to know that the defense is improving on a week-in, week-out basis. Now, on the other end of things, because the overall result here is you got the win, you got to 5-0. That's the most important thing here. Now it's not just about, hey, can you win that one extra game, although that's now right in front of your face to make the bowl game.

But it's, hey, if you beat TCU this week, a team who does look like one of the true contenders in the Big 12, there's no reason you are not a true contender for the Big 12 title. But in terms of where we are now, that win from last week to this week takes you to being to a point where you're thinking, yeah, we're probably more than a six-win team. You know, seven, eight wins very much could be on the table. And again, if you win this week, then we do really start talking about you winning a Big 12 title or being in that discussion or being in that conversation.

Maybe we're already there now. Their odds to win the Big 12 are already higher than Oklahoma's, which who would have thought that coming into the year, right? We do have some questions about what happened to the game offensively, though, right? Was it Iowa State's really good defense? Iowa State came into the game with one of the top 20 and 25 defenses, depending which way you're looking, coming into that game. And they play a really unique style of defense.

And there were some things that went wrong for KU offensively in that game that weren't all just the Iowa State defense playing really well, but they did play really well. Now, there were certain times where it felt like in the second half it was all runs on first downs. It felt like there was a real lack of aggressiveness on fourth down plays for KU that maybe could have led to some extra points in that game. You also missed a field goal on probably a play you should have just gone for on fourth down plays for KU that maybe could have led to some extra points in that game you also missed a field goal on probably play you should have just gone for it on fourth down so was it just a down game from the offense or was it a mix of playing a really good defense just having a bad game like it's possible you have 18 to 22 year olds of course they could

just have a bad game right or just kind of a combination of everything. That seems to be the question now for the offense. Because that's part of it, too. With KU, they're running this very, I guess, specific type of offense now that maybe surprised a bunch of teams coming into the year. Is there a book out now on KU? Like, is there more of a scouting report that's to be had the more games that they play? We don't really know the answer to that till probably this week and even the week after

of if that starts to kind of dissipate over the course of the season. But I don't necessarily think it's that. I just think it was a combination of Iowa State does have a really good defense and maybe, you know, their style of defense is really good for exactly what KU wants to do and yes you could probably say that say oh well doesn't that mean other teams could just scout that and say well we're going to do what they do I mean I guess you could say but like Iowa State tries to perfect their style of defense in that 3-3-5 stack or 3-2-6 defense or whatever they're playing.

They practice it all year. They plan for it every year. That's their base defense. That is what they do. So it's another thing if another team comes in and goes, you know what, we're a 3-4 defense or we're a 4-3 defense, but hey, Iowa State did good. Let's completely change up our defense.

Let's completely change up all of our schemes, formations, and play calling, because Iowa State did it well, and they're not going to be as good at it, right? So I do think there's a big part of that. I think it was a bit of a down game from Jalen Daniels, but also I don't think there was enough trust put into him, whether it was on fourth downs, whether it was just overall for the game in general. I mean, you had some of these different plays for Jason Bean. You had a lot of running plays just kind of on first and 10 or second and 10 or whatever it was that it felt like you were more so in a situation of, hey, let's just not lose the game. You know what I mean?

And that has been so different than everything we have seen over the course of the season, which I think is the right way to approach it when you're KU football. Because typically when you're KU football, it's like, hey, what do we have to lose here, right? And now once you get to 4-0 and you're in a game where you're undefeated and you're beating Iowa State, you almost start to feel the pressure of like, oh no, we just can't lose this game. And I don't know that that's actually what happened or if it was designed this whole way of, hey, let's play conservative because of how well the defense is playing. But it really felt like, especially when it was like 14-6, you kind of had a chance to put that game away and put that game on ice.

And you never really took the kill shot and the opportunity to do that. And so we'll see how the offense kind of bounces back this next week. But now we know the defense can step up. Now we know the defense can win you a game. Kansas Jayhawks are 5-0. They're ranked. They're ranked in the top 20. They're ranked ahead of Kansas State.

And they're hosting College Game Day. And back to what we said last week, they left no doubt. These days, every new potential hire can feel like a high-stakes wager for your small business. You want to be 100% certain that you have access to the best qualified candidates available. That's why you have to check out LinkedIn Jobs. LinkedIn Jobs helps you find the right people for your team faster and for free. Add your job in the purple hiring frame to your LinkedIn profile to spread the word that you are hiring if you are. Simple tools like screening questions make it easy to focus on candidates with just the right skills and experience so you can quickly prioritize who you'd like to interview and

hire. It's why small businesses rate LinkedIn Jobs number one in delivering quality hires versus leading competitors. LinkedIn Jobs helps you find the qualified candidates you want to talk to faster. Post your job for free at linkedin.com slash lockedoncollege. That's linkedin.com slash lockedoncollege to post your job for free. Terms and conditions apply. On to Goats of the Week, both the good and bad for the KU-Iowa State game for the Jayhawks.

Let's start with the good. Defense as a whole really could get just a giant medal here, a giant thing of honor, because obviously, as a whole, you hold Iowa State to 11 points. Some of that was aided by their kicker missing everything. You missed the three field goals. They could have been at 20 points. I guess if everything went well special teams-wise for Iowa State,

maybe they're down one extra point because of the two point conversion that they were able to get because of the bad snap that led to them kind of sweeping around the right side. So, but yeah, I mean, if you're going to play that game, you could also say, well, okay, you could have hit a field goal. And it's funny because even despite all the missed field goals, like Bill Connolly with ESPN and does the ESPN SP plus and some of their analytics stuff if you go based on how the game went with success rate and yards per play and like all these things that go into determining some of these metric scores of like this was your expected win total versus what you actually had KU was actually expected to win by eight in

that game so it's kind of like the Duke game a little bit in terms of you probably could have won by more than you actually did if you would have maybe you know gone for that kill shot kind of toward the end of the first half or at different points throughout the game but the defense as a whole was stupendous and holding them to different stops that they had to kick those field goals and put the pressure on the kicker and really making those big stops along the way, getting turnovers. They were just outstanding throughout the game, really making Hunter Decker's life miserable. They shut down the running game for Iowa State in that one. If we're going to single out certain players, though, which I think we should, Craig Young, I thought he really stepped up in that game. He had five tackles. He had a sack. He had a QB hurry.

There were several times I noticed him playing good coverage, or there were a couple times where a guy might have caught it and he just made an immediate tackle on a two- or three-yard pass play on a short pass. He was really good, and once again, he continues to just, I think, really elevate what you can do as a defense when you basically are able to play a base package, but it's essentially the same as playing like a dime look because he can cover or can stop the run. Lonnie Phelps, I think, deserves individual credit here. He had a sack. He had one more QB hurry. He had a pass deflection. He almost got there, I think, maybe a couple more times after that. He just continues to be a real defensive key for this team because he's drawing double teams. He's drawing so much attention. He still is making big plays, but because of all that attention he's drawing to, it's opening things up for other players as well. And I think if you were drafting players off this KU defense,

Lani Phelps has to go number one. He plays a very important position of importance as a pass rusher, and he's been really good for KU so far and continued to do that on Saturday against Iowa State. Sam Burt, he was awesome on Saturday. One and a half sacks in the game. He had another QB hurry. One of the sacks, Hunter Deckers, was kind of forced into him, and he was just like kind of Johnny on the spot and right there, but he played really well. Honestly, I just want to kind of give it to the entire defensive line. Caleb Taylor had two hurries. Jeremy Robinson had three what are considered stops.

Malcolm Lee had two QB hits. So let's give the whole D-line. Lonnie Phelps, Sam Burt, Caleb Taylor, Caleb Sampson, Jeremy Robinson. Everybody, you all deserve it. They played a great game in both helping you shut down the run, opening things up for the linebackers, getting pressure on the quarterback, whether it was sacks, whether it was QB hurries, whether it was QB hits, they all played a pivotal role in the game for KU. So we'll give it to the entire defensive line.

Kenny Logan Jr. really graded out well in coverage on Pro Football Focus, made some huge plays. Obviously the one that sticks out the most is the one on the little, I guess it was a deep ball or fade route kind of up the left sideline to Xavier Hutchinson. And I don't know if KU was in kind of a cover two there. That would be kind of my guess based on how that worked out, that Kobe Bryant was, because I think it's easy to look at that and say, oh, well, Kobe Bryant bid on the fake, and he was burnt on that play to Xavier Hutchinson, who ran kind of the double move up there,

and that Bryant went for the short route, and that opened him up on the deep route. But if that was a cover two, that would be kind of in line with what Kobe Bryant was supposed to do, because in the cover two, he's kind of guarding that short intermediate flank to the side of where you have the safety up top for help. And the idea of what Iowa State could have been doing was there's that little hole that if you can squeeze it in there quickly and make a tight contested throw and catch,

you can fit it in between where the corner and the safeties kind of boundary responsibilities are. And I think that might have been what Kobe Bryant was doing. Otherwise, he just got toasted on the play. I don't know. It was one of the two. We'll give him the benefit of the doubt there. But Kenny Logan had to come over and make a play. Otherwise, Xavier Hutchinson scores that touchdown. And I think at that point, it would have been 17-14 with the PAT pending. And then it would have been all on the KU offense, which to that point might not give you a ton of confidence. I do think if you're down 18-14, you maybe open up the playbook a little bit more, and maybe KU would have had more success in finding a drive to possibly win the game on a touchdown

there, but that's another conversation. And Kenny Logan went from behind Xavier Hutchinson, just knocks him hard, clean hit, knocks the ball free. That was probably the play of the game, what Kenny Logan did there. But he made some other big plays too. I mean, there were several times that, again, like similar to Craig Young, that Iowa State was taking a lot of short passes or check downs because they're A, just may not have been as much open downfield,

or B, they were under pressure and had to take some of the shorter throws. And Kenny Logan came up a couple times and popped guys short of the sticks, whether it was to make a third down or a fourth down or whatever it was, or just to prevent yards after catch. It was a really good game for Kenny Logan. Probably, I would say, his best game of the season to this point, just because he was kind of everywhere on the field. And really, it was all the safeties for KU in that game.

Like, O.J. Burroughs played really, really well. O.J. Burroughs, who is not like a giant guy or anything, he had KU's highest graded tackling game by Pro Football Focus, also graded out really well in coverage. It was actually O.J. Burroughs and Kenny Logan who had the highest coverage grades in that game for KU, so they were good. Marvin Grant stepped up and made some big plays.

Didn't play as much as the week before, so maybe just more of a Burroughs game this week because they're just kind of different what they do. Rich Miller, I do think the defensive line was a big part in him able to have a good game because they were able to, you know, shut off some of the blockers and whatnot, but he just continues to rack up tacklers. He graded out well in every facet, including one of KU's higher coverage grades coming from the linebacker spot with Rich Miller and then Kobe Bryant like I said I think even that one play that would have been a touchdown to Xavier Hutchinson that might have just been a scheme thing we'll give him benefit of the doubt plus it doesn't even matter because

in the end it was an incompletion because of Kenny Logan. You trusted your teammate. He made a play, right? He had an interception. He had a handful of tackles. And, man, he had a ton of volume coming at him. You might think, like, oh, I remember a handful of plays where he gave up a reception or gave up an amount of yards. Well, it makes sense because he was targeted 13 times in that game. He gave up six catches. So if you're giving up six of 13, to begin with, that's below 50%, he gave up 51 receiving yards.

So if you're doing the math, 51 yards allowed on 13 targets, that's less than four yards per pass attempt, which would be like by far the lowest number if a team averaged that over the course of the season in the country. So Kobe Bryant had a lot of volume coming at him. They kind of tested him a little bit, but he made the interception. Kenny Logan helped him with that big play. Again, might have been a scheme thing. And overall, he was just really good in the game. I do want to give some credit to the KU offensive line. I know you would think, oh, the offense struggled. They only put up 14 points and there were a handful of designed run plays for KU, especially on those early downs that

they were unable to move the defensive line or get a sizable push and get a big gain on the play. KU actually averaged 2.2 yards per attempt before contact in that game, which is not like an astounding number. Like the Houston game, it was like four and a half, which is like, if you do that, you're going to be like one of the best or the best running teams in the country. 2.2, though, is like an above average number. It's a solid number. They just weren't really able to be aggressive enough or just kind of find that extra finish to the play to make it from what we saw in weeks past where it might be a super explosive play

versus just being like a three-yard gain. But Earl Bostic Jr. I think deserves some credit here he didn't grade out super well on pro football focus but I was looking at at some of the most successful plays for KU it was running around the left edge I think Jason Bean's one of his runs the one that went for like two or three yards or whatever that was around the edge. Devin Neal ran four times around the left edge. He gained 50 yards on those four runs. Daniel Hysha had one run around the left edge. That was for five yards. So basically from your running backs, you got five carries for 50 yards

around that left edge. Obviously that accounts for other players. You might have a tight end over there. You might have a pulling guard from the other way that's going to help you kind of seal that left edge. But Earl Bostic is the anchor of that left edge. So I did at least want to kind of shout him out in the good goats here. And then Mike Nowitzki.

He was KU's highest graded run blocker among offensive linemen. He also graded out in the 80s as a pass blocker. Every week he's just like KU's best blocker. Like he's going to be well on his way to all Big 12 honors. I should also make a good goat of a bit of good luck. You got a bit of good luck with the Iowa State missing the kicks, but we for so long had KU be on down luck, so you deserve it. Okay, on to the bad goats of the week.

Injuries, don't love that. The Daniel Hyshaw one, really unfortunate, had to be carted off. He's had such a breakout good season, and a guy who just had a season-ending injury last year seems to be that'll be the case this year again for Daniel Hyshaw. So, unfortunate there. You hope he can make speedy recovery now. Kind of the onus on Savion Morrison, Kai Thomas, one of the two, maybe both of them, to step up in his absence. The lack of aggressiveness, or maybe it would just be aggressiveness, would be a bad goat here for KU. Again,

they had multiple fourth down and shorts that they could have gone for it, could have gone for maybe the kill shot, could have played the aggressor. Instead, you kind of sat back and played not to lose. It ended up resulting in a win, so it worked out in your favor, but probably shouldn't have been in a situation toward the end of the game. Again, as I mentioned, the win expectancy was closer to eight points for KU. Would have been nice if that last drive Iowa State was just driving to make it a one-score game when they were down 21-11 or something like that. And it doesn't just come down to aggressiveness on fourth downs. It's aggressiveness

with play calling. It's how conservative are you going to be? Are you going to be just running into a wall every first down? Are you going to unload it and let Jalen Daniels pass? There are other parts of it and let Jalen Daniels pass or run right there there are other parts of it too that that was probably I mean not probably that was KU's least aggressive game of the season uh bad goat for the Jason Bean package not necessarily Bean like I don't think he might have done anything wrong but it just felt like it it took away from any rhythm you were trying to establish offensively there was the one cool play like I'm all for that the play where you hand it off to him and then he's running right and throws it because that that messes with the defense that's like a trick play I'm all about

that and that play actually worked um but he had basically three action plays he ran it twice he had that one throw three action plays went for 10 yards 3.3 per play yeah didn't really work out and maybe just kind of killed some rhythm from your Heisman winning or not Heisman winning your Heisman hopeful quarterback in Jalen Daniels maybe Heisman winner uh and then the last one the just kind of offense overall again not sure if it was lack of aggressiveness Iowa State's stellar defense the KU scheme starting to get a book on it individuals struggling just having an off day or a combo of multiple of those or all of those. But there's just not really much to stand out for the offense. So those are the good goats and bad goats of the week.

Coming up in just a moment, we're going to get an early look on the KU-TCU game coming up this Saturday. BetOnline.net is your number one source for football betting information this season. Find all of the latest player developments, team matchups, news, podcasts, and in-depth articles and analysis on every game you can find. And as always, BetOnline remains your continued source for all your sport wagering information with live betting and up-to-the-minute scores for every sport out there. The fastest and easiest way to check in on all your favorite games and events, including MLB, MMA, boxing, and golf.

Head to BetOnline.net or use your mobile device to learn more. BetOnline, where the game starts. The early line opened up for KU getting five points on BetOnline against TCU, but some of the betting public has been really betting TCU after they just hammered Oklahoma last week. That number is getting up closer to six seven points for this game so maybe wait if you want to take the KU side of things and see what that number can balloon up to but TCU has an elite offense man every time you would see stats really through the early part of the season of hey KU's you know

third in the country in yards per play or they're this and scoring. TCU was right around there in a lot of those marks, and they've continued to do that, and they just put up huge numbers against Oklahoma. Now, I will say, if you saw some of the highlights of that game or watched that game, there were several TCU touchdowns where it was like a guy just ran a deep, skinny post or a deep route on the outside or something. It was like there's not an Oklahoma defender within 20 yards of him. Or like a guy just took off running up the middle, just goes untouched, like never even has to break a tackle.

Guys take terrible angles. Like I do think the TCU offense is really, really good. Like they have a really good coordinator slash coach in Sonny Comby or Sonny Dykes. They do have an offense that was really good last year and brought a lot of guys back. Max Duggan's been really, really good. They have a lot of skill, talent, and everything. But when you watch that game, you're like, eh, if you had a more fundamentally sound defense, maybe it's not giving up 55 points. Maybe TCU scores 35 or something. And that might be enough because if KU's offense bounces back, if you can hold a really good TCU scores 35 or something, right? And that might be enough because if KU's offense

bounces back, if you can hold a really good TCU offense at 35, honestly, I think you might take that right now. But the thing is, the TCU defense is really good too. They've only played Colorado, Tarleton State, SMU, and are struggling Oklahoma so far. And in the case of Colorado, worst power five team, Tarleton State, FCS team, SMU, who probably like power five team Tarleton State FCS team SMU who probably like a bold team six or seven win team out of the AAC SMU did put up 34 on them they did look good in holding OU to 24 points though so this is a good defense I don't think it's nearly as good as what Iowa State has but it still might be like a top half of the league defense and they genuinely might be the best offense in the Big 12. So the one thing going for KU is that they're kind of coming off like a like even though the defense

played great the offense did not play well so maybe there's extra motivation there maybe there's a bunch of learning tools that they can have this week whereas TCU maybe they're riding the big high of having that big blowout win and whatnot. KU's going to have the buzz here, game day atmosphere. They played well in the series, but certainly the only way KU wins this game or keeps it within that spread, the KU offense has to figure it out and bounce back from what they did last week because you legitimately might have to put up 40 or 50 points to win this game. Even as good as the KU defense was last week against Iowa State, this is a whole other animal in TCU. That's Locked on Jayhawks for the day.

Thanks for tuning in. Coming up on tomorrow's show, we're going to get into a special team's deep dive over KU. They've just been so much better on that end. We'll get into how, why, what it means. Don't forget to subscribe to the show, and if you'd like to talk about anything specifically here on the show, hit me up at D Johnson radio on Twitter. That'll do it for today's episode. Have a good rest of your day. See some of you on Rock Chalk Sports Talk later today. Adios.