Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - STATE OF THE KANSAS PROGRAM: Proper Expectations + Takeaways from Jayhawks' Loss to Texas Tech

Episode Date: October 13, 2025

Kansas Jayhawks football faces crossroads after Texas Tech setback. Can they rebound and meet fan expectations, which have exponentially grown since the beginning of the Lance Leipold era.Host Derek J...ohnson dissects KU's recent loss, analyzing offensive line struggles and defensive improvements. Key discussions include realistic program expectations, receiver core development, and concerns about stopping mobile quarterbacks. Johnson highlights standout performances from Jalon Daniels, Bangally Kamara, Cam Pickett and evaluates the team's trajectory as a potential 6-7 win squad.Tune in for expert insights on KU's offensive tackle woes, the emerging receiving threats, and how the Jayhawks stack up against upcoming opponents like Kansas State.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!SupplyHouseJoin the free TradeMaster program today and score serious perks like priority shipping, lower prices, and a dedicated support line. Visit https://www.supplyhouse.com/apply-for-trademasterto sign up for free and use promo code SHCOLLEGE5 for 5% off your first order.  WayfairGet organized, refreshed, and back to routine for way less. Head to https://Wayfair.com right now to shop all things home. PelotonLet yourself run, lift, flex, and push forward. Explore the new Peloton Cross Training Tread+ today at https://www.onepeloton.com. Rugiet150,000 men have made the switch →https://Rugiet.com/LOCKEDONCOLLEGEUse code LOCKEDONNFL to get 15% off your order! DoorDashWith DoorDash Streaks, you save every Saturday you order — stack it up all season and you could save up to $250. Order this Saturday. Keep the streak alive. Fuel your gameday — only with DoorDash. Terms apply. Promo period through 11/18.MazdaIt’s the small details that make the big plays. And just like there’s more to every player, there’s more to a Mazda vehicle. Mazda. Move and Be Moved. GametimeToday's episode is brought to you by Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONCOLLEGE for $20 off your first purchase. Terms and conditions apply.Monarch MoneyTake control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONCOLLEGE at https://www.monarchmoney.com/lockedoncollege for 50% off your first year.FanDuelToday's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Football season is around the corner, visit the FanDuel App today and start planning your futures bets now.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN)

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Starting point is 00:00:00 On today's Locked-on Jayhawks, we get to the biggest takeaways from KU's loss to Texas Tech, including some of the positives and negatives from the game for KU, but also what are the proper expectations for this program at this point in time? 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 the everydayers catching each and every episode of the show. We are free and available anywhere here, podcasts, including on YouTube. And on today's
Starting point is 00:00:41 addition, we're talking more takeaways from KU's lost to Texas Tech as we're going to get into what should be the proper expectations for this program as well, because I've seen a lot of conversation about that, as well as some of the positives and negatives to take away long term from the game. We'll get to our goats of the game. We'll get to our goats of the game who performed well, who struggled, and then we'll have a early look ahead to the bye week and Kansas State. 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
Starting point is 00:01:16 move and be moved. So Kansas loses the Texas Tech 42 to 17. And honestly, like the biggest like debate and argument that I mean a lot of conversation about the game but the biggest like debate and argument I was seen among fans was what are the proper expectations for where this Kansas football program is because it is such a vast difference of opinion when you look at you know where this Kansas program was in the 2010s the fact that if you're even winning five six seven games a season right now that becomes incredibly impressive and becomes incredibly I don't know like much more valuable or much more enjoyable than it was, you know, just five, six years ago even. The flip side to it is, okay, you're now entering, what is this, your five is with this
Starting point is 00:02:06 coaching staff, I guess, is, you know, where you are with the program. You've seen a nine win season under your belt. You've seen two bowl seasons under your belt. Should you start to raise the expectations? Should the bar start to be raised higher? I do think it's interesting when you go back to, you know, when they were making a higher, every time that Kansas has made a coaching hire, you know, from the 2010s or whatever, and there would always be certain people who would say they should hire a triple option coach
Starting point is 00:02:31 because that'll help them get to, you know, at least five and seven, six and six, seven and five. And I always had a friend who would point out and be like, trust me, if that happens, you're saying it from a point right now where they're winning two, three games every year. If you get to a point where you're winning five, six, seven games every year, all of a sudden then your adjustment, your expectations are going to adjust. and you're going to start being like, but what if we went nine? It is human nature. We always just want more, you know?
Starting point is 00:02:59 Was it, is Andrew Carnegie or I don't know, one of the old like billionaires, moguls or whatever back in like the early industrial revolution? And they were asked like, how much is enough money? And the answer was more. It's always want more. And that's where you get to as a fan. The bar is always moving as things go on. And so I think this is difficult because you do have the fan basis like,
Starting point is 00:03:21 why shouldn't I hope for the best? You know, like look what Indiana is doing. You know, Indiana is not a tradition-rich football program, and they're like one of the best teams in the country this year. And they went to the college football playoff last year. You know, I don't know, like, you look at the success. I know Oklahoma State stunk this year and last year, but like you look at the state or the success that Mike Gundy, for instance,
Starting point is 00:03:42 a lot of the past coaches, Les Miles, Jimmy Johnson had at Oklahoma State. Geographically, there is not really much of an inherent advantage for Oklahoma State to what it is for Kansas. I guess you could say it's closer to Texas and maybe the state of Oklahoma recruiting is is a little bit better than the state of Kansas. I don't know, but like you get what I'm saying. Like if you're just talking like the campus and stuff like that, like it's not really like one advantage over the other. So, you know, why shouldn't you have high expectations? Why shouldn't you want the best for your team? That's all totally fair and well. At the same point in time, I guess this is where I'm out with it is that I think you have to, you should hope,
Starting point is 00:04:20 but you should aspire to be that. There's no reason not to set the goals, you know, aim for the moon, land in the clouds. There's no reason you shouldn't set your goals and hope and want for that to be the case. If you own a, if you own a, you know, local business, sure, shoot for the moon. You know, try to make $100 million this year. But there's a difference between your hope and your dream and what you should push for because, you know, shooting for those aspirations is what is going to allow you to even have a chance of getting there and is going to better your chance of, you know, falling short still having success.
Starting point is 00:04:59 But there's a difference between that and like having a understanding of, okay, but what is realistic here, I guess? Like, again, it's only two bowl seasons in four years in what we're talking about being removed from a decade of despair for KU football. This isn't a situation like Dave Doran at NC State where they're winning seven, eight, nine games for a decade. You know, this isn't fully established yet. It's not. I know we want it to be. It's year five. They've had some good success and games and stuff, but it's not.
Starting point is 00:05:31 And at the end of the day, we talked in the preseason. And heck, I talked to a lot of people. I'm like, oh, what do you think before the season, right? And most people, you know, let's win six games. Let's go back to a bowl game. That's what I want to see. Let's win seven games, you know? Oh, the Vegas over under seven and a half.
Starting point is 00:05:44 That'd be cool if they went over. They win eight games. And then at some point along the way in the season, and I get it. Again, hope for the best, shoot for the moon. But you have to have the understanding that even though you are shooting for the moon, you have to have the realistic expectation of saying, hey, realistically, what did I say all along? Win six or seven games, beat Kansas State, win a bowl game, like whatever.
Starting point is 00:06:07 Those are your goals. Kansas right now is sitting at four and three. They just lost to Texas Tech 42 to 17. It's a big loss. Probably could have been closer than that based on. on the second quarter momentum, but also probably could have been further than that, if not for the right second quarter. Look back to some of the years with Mark Mangino where they're making a
Starting point is 00:06:25 bull game, not the Orange Bowl year, but some of the other years where they're making a bowl game. And it's like when you went up against Texas or in Oklahoma, you got smashed. And again, that doesn't mean you should just accept that. You should be working actively so that, you know, next year, you're the team in Texas tax position, right? That you get the donations from, I don't know, but maybe that stuff is just not possible. The point being, um,
Starting point is 00:06:46 you should both be hopeful for the best possible outcome while also not making rash decisions if it doesn't hit the best possible outcome. It's like playing the lottery and being like, I'm going to win the lottery. I'm hoping to win this thing. I'm going to make hundreds of millions of dollars. And then if you lose, instead of having an understanding of being like, okay, I really wanted to win that, but I understand why I didn't, like the odds are against me. Instead of doing that, it's being like, okay, well, now I'm going to sell my hands.
Starting point is 00:07:16 house. Now I'm going to sell my car. Now I'm going to quit my job. I'm going to get a different and like upheaving everything. So I guess point being this, Kansas right now through seven games the season is playing very much like a team who's a six or seven win team. They're better than bad teams. They're on par with other teams or it's going to be close. And then they're going to be worse than the teams who were like your top 10, 15, 20 teams in the country. That kind of defines a six or seven win team to me. And so I guess I'm not over. really freaking out about the tech game. Yes, there were certain things. We'll get to our takeaways from the game that, you know, you don't like to see and some things you like to
Starting point is 00:07:53 see. But I guess from a big picture perspective, again, I'd love for Kansas to play for a big 12th title. I'd love for them to have that be their goal. That should be their goal, right? Aim for the moon. But it's okay if you land in the clouds too. It's okay. And again, if we're talking, if we fast forward to 2035 and every year Kansas winning five, six, seven games, sure. We can, we can transform that conversation then. But I don't. just feel like we've rushed this a little too much. And I'm not going to hold it against you if you want the best for this university, because you should have high aspirations. But I am going to hold it against you if you're like six or seven wins just isn't enough right now.
Starting point is 00:08:29 It's okay to want 10 or 12. It's also okay to be okay when, I don't know, those things don't always happen. I guess is kind of what I'm saying. Like, there is a good middle ground here where it's like, hey, it's not the A output that you want. And if this happens every single time, sure, I'm going to be a little bummed by it. But like, you have to have a realistic expectation and sit back on what we were expecting in the preseason to kind of be like, okay, this is kind of par for the course right now. So I don't know. Maybe that's going to go on deaf ears.
Starting point is 00:09:05 We'll see. But takeaways from the game. We went a little long on the first one. Let's get to our in-game takeaways, that next. Today's episode of the show is. brought to you by Mazda. This episode moving the game forward like Mazda, for those who believe it's not just about playing the game, it's about redefining it. There's moments that do more than put points on the board. They move crowds, move culture, and keep moving the game forward. This
Starting point is 00:09:31 week's moment that moved the game forward, the late Marjan 55-yard field goal, literally moved it forward, moved it to halftime shortly afterwards. But that was really cool to see that a KU kicker had that in him. And he's been a weapon so far for KU. Obviously, didn't end up, you know, changing the outcome of this one, but having a kicker like that, having the confidence that you can go to that, who knows, that could be the different. Like, we've talked a lot about KU having, you know, some struggles at times in one score games is having a guy like Leif Marjohn. Is that going to be worth a win for KU in one of those possible low score or one score games over the final five for KU? And when you follow what moves you, the unexpected is only the beginning. Just like there's
Starting point is 00:10:08 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. Okay, let's get to actual game takeaways. Obviously, the offensive line was the biggest issue for KU. You look at Pro Football Focus, and they had a 10.1 pass blocking grade. They had a 55 run blocking grade.
Starting point is 00:10:36 The run blocking grade is their second worst of the season. You can guess the worst. It's the Missouri game. And the pass blocking grade is, yes, it is their worst. I think it's some Michael Swain of Fogg.net. I think he was saying it was the worst for KU since the Oklahoma game, I want to say, in 2020, where they had nine sacks. And this game also had nine sacks. But yeah, so not great, obviously. It was obviously a big issue. I'll be honest, though. I don't have like an overwhelming concern for the rest of the season. I'm not saying I'm not at least a little concerned because what you saw out there is certainly concerning. But this is kind of where I'm at. And this is kind of like a, Honestly, it's everything with Kansas right now, except for like Jalen Daniels. Jalen Daniels has been the one thing which, I guess you could, I don't know, but
Starting point is 00:11:22 Jalen Daniels has been the one thing for KU that it's like he's just been excellent all season long for Kansas. Everything else, you look at the offensive line play, you look at the secondary, although this game, oddly against tack, you didn't really get torched in the air, despite some early mistakes. The defense overall is the definition of what we were talking about earlier. When you're a six or seven win team, you're going to beat the teams who are three, four, five win teams. You're going to lose to the teams who are nine, ten, eleven, win teams.
Starting point is 00:11:54 And then those teams are like five-day wins. It's going to be close and it's going to kind of be coin flips. Like that's kind of where it feels like Kansas is. And it feels like that's a lot of the units too, like with the offense line. Think about it. In the games where you were playing teams who were overmatched, like Wagner, I don't know, I guess to a certain extent, like the West Virginia and the UCF games. UCF had a pretty good defense applied, but it felt like you handled them well, right? You had decent games. You had solid games. You look at the run totals. You look at the lack of
Starting point is 00:12:23 pressures and sacks and TFL's allowed. You had decent games. You look at, I guess, Fresno State, like, I don't know, you look at the games where they've played like really good competition, both Texas Tech and Missouri are top five in the country in SAC rate defensively, and you've really struggled and you haven't been able to run the ball at all on those. Now, Utah is top 10 in sack rate, although Utah is oddly enough, like you look at some of the EPA numbers against the run, they haven't been great there. Arizona has been their top 15 in sack rate. They're also like top 30 in some of the EPA against the run numbers. At least they were before the BYU game. I haven't checked after that. But outside of that, the other three teams
Starting point is 00:13:00 you play down the road are like not top 50 or not top 45 teams in sack rate. So it is something where it's like, yes, it's a bit of a concern. But I don't know that Kansas is going to play another defense line to the same level as Missouri or Texas Tech. And also if we're talking about, again, going back to the expectation thing, I've kind of thought all the way through like six or seven wins. And if that is the case, like it's not like you're going to a New Year's six bowl game. It's not like you're going to the playoff. It's not like you're going to the big 12th title game.
Starting point is 00:13:33 Based on who is left on the schedule for KU, I think the offensive line is going to be fine. You know, could you get wrecked in one more and more game possibly? but I don't think it's going to be as big of as concern as it was in this game or Missouri, I guess is where I'm at. I will say, I guess one long-term takeaway, I would like to see them start to seed a little bit of reps at left tackle. Calvin Clements had a zero pass block grade in this game. I didn't know that was possible.
Starting point is 00:14:02 And it's interesting because you've consistently looked at the offensive line snaps game to game. Like whether it's Amir Herring or Enrique Cruz, both guys have been playing a, majority of the snaps for KU at guard and tackle, but they're usually given up 10, 15, 20 snaps per game to Nolan Gorsica is coming in for Cruz, and then Tavaki Tuiko Lovatu is coming in for a mere herring. And I can't help but wonder, like, would you be better off doing that at left tackle? And maybe you just don't have as good of an answer there, but like, you look at Clemens as here. And again, I remain kind of steadfast that, like, I think Clements could follow that Bryce Cable Do path where, you know, Cable Do was thrown into the fire early as a young
Starting point is 00:14:45 player, slowly got better over the course of his career. And he was a five-year player, KU, his fourth and fifth years at Kansas, he really took off. Clements is in year three at Kansas. And right now the PFF grade 39.6, the overall pass block grade this year, 14.2, that's not getting it done. And I can't help but wonder, like, if a kid is struggling and he keeps going out there, would you be better off giving him a breather at points? I don't know. know. That would be my one long-term takeaway from this. Obviously, it wasn't a good game, but, you know, I think there's reason to believe it could get better, especially when you look at tech, arguably has the best defensive line in the country. The receiver core, if we're looking at a positive one, I do think they are coming along. We know what Emmanuel Henderson can do. We've seen some of the big games for him. Cam Pickett's starting to get healthy again, and he's at back-to-back big weeks for KU with the UCF game and Texas Tech game. It feels like Keaton, Koebeka is solidly getting into like a two-to-three catch a game role. where you can count on him to make a few plays. Bowden Grown has become this big-time passing target for KU.
Starting point is 00:15:49 So I'm really starting to like when you combine what Jalen Daniels is doing with the receiving core coming along. I'm really liking that aspect for KU. I also wonder, like, did we see the KU passing defense get something figured out? Because you go back to the second half against UCF, and yes, you get a backup quarterback in there, but you go back to the second half against UCF and then you carry it over into the Texas Tech game. And overall, the passing defense, look, I mean, Texas, Tech's completing 50% of their passes.
Starting point is 00:16:12 They had under 200 of passing yards in this game. Now, it was ugly early. Texas Tech, no matter what they were doing, guys were just, like, running wide open. But I was more in the running game, honestly, than the passing game. I know the second touchdown for Tech was a pass where the guy went untouched. But like, outside of a few mistakes, like, TAU was actually good against the pass, like legitimately. And you could say, oh, well, they got a backup quarterback in this one, too, with Will Hammond. But like, look what Will Hammond did against Utah on the air.
Starting point is 00:16:37 He did it both in the air and on the ground. You know, I, maybe, maybe. That's the hope. The kids figuring something out at least in the passing game there. Now, on the flip side, I did mention the quarterback run a little bit there. I am a tad worried about stopping quarterback run because this isn't a situation of, oh, backup quarterback came in. He's never been in before.
Starting point is 00:16:59 We didn't know what to expect. And all of a sudden he's running around. We didn't, you know, tailor a game plan to that. We weren't able to adjust fast enough. That's one story. It's another when we've seen Will Hammond. He came into this game very notable as the backup. tech fans are a clamoring, like, is he better than Baron Morton? You saw the Utah game.
Starting point is 00:17:15 And they knew what they were getting into, and they weren't able to stop the QB run. And that scares me, especially going into the Kansas State game with Avery Johnson. Now, you look to the rest of the season, there's some other players that stick out there, too. You think of Devin Dampeer at Utah, definitely a very good running quarterback. Noah Fafita is somebody who can run. So that's something that Kansas is going to have to get shored up, short up after that wasn't great. And then the last piece here is probably one that I should at least touch on to mention. It's the idea of too conservative of play calling or being too conservative in game management,
Starting point is 00:17:51 however you want to kind of term it. And yes, that would be accurate defining Kansas specifically in the second half there. At the same point in time, I mentioned this earlier. I think it was after the Missouri game, one of our biggest takeaways. I think of every day or if you already caught it, where we talked about, yes,
Starting point is 00:18:11 it's a thing, but it's not one of my biggest takeaways from the game. We talked about it in the recap show, and it is a part of the game. But if we're having our biggest takeaways from the game, I don't know that it is one, because we've seen enough sample size here
Starting point is 00:18:24 that I don't really expect it to change. And so it's not really an evaluation thing for me where it's like, okay, hey, this guy struggled doing this. Let's see if he can do this. You know, or you could make this personnel change,
Starting point is 00:18:36 do this instead of that. I think we've seen enough that, like, some of the questionable things that you have, like, that stuff's just there. That's just part of it, you know? And from that perspective, it's not really a takeaway for me, even though it was a part of the game and we did talk about it extensively in the recap show, which thank you if you caught that one. All right, let's get to our goats to the game.
Starting point is 00:18:57 I don't think we're going to get an early look at Kansas State. Probably not going to have time. But that's okay. We have a bye week, extra week to do so. This is locked on Jayhawks. And today's episode of LOJ is brought to you by Fandual Sportsbook. The NFL season's here, and Fandual has an offer you don't want to miss. Right now, new customers can bet just $500 and get $300 of bonus bets if you win.
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Starting point is 00:20:47 That's 50% off your first year at MonarchMoney.com with code Locked on College. Thanks, joining us on today's episode of Locked on Jayhawks. All right, let's get to our goats of the game, good and bad for KU. Let's start with the offense. Jalen Daniels gets a good goat. We talked about it, gave him one of our game balls in the postgame recap, was really efficient overall. And even under duress, he still made things happen.
Starting point is 00:21:11 He actually was KU's highest graded offensive player on pro football focus. Daniel Hyshaw was second at 68.1. I thought he looked pretty good, but obviously he didn't want to overrun him. And KU was also in a position in the game where they couldn't, you know, establish the run a ton necessarily, not that it would have been easy against Texas Tech, nor did they for the most part but high shot had the most success running ball for k u in this one cam picket and bowden groan and um bryson canty all had solid grades on on pro football focus uh in a game where the k u offense line wasn't very good give credit to bryce foster he had an
Starting point is 00:21:44 80.5 pass block grade um so at least there was a i don't know i think i made this mention a week ago it's the opposite of the turd and the punch bowl it's the punch bowl with the turd and he was the punch bowl side of it he was the good part of it for KU. But yeah, if we're looking at the bad goats from the KU offense, again, it would be the pass blocking you. Let's just read through them. So Foster an 80.5 pass block rate.
Starting point is 00:22:12 Kobe Baines had a 47.4, Nolan Gorska, 41.8. Tavacu, Tuakutu, Lovatu, 27.8. Amir, Haring, 19.1. Layton Cure, 18.7. That was one. That was, yeah, no, not a good one. I think we know which one that one was. Calvin Clements and Enrique Cruz both had a zero.
Starting point is 00:22:29 So, KU had zero pass blocking grades from both offensive tackles. You're not going to win a game like that. You're just not. That's unfortunate. Run blocking grades, if we're looking at that, Tobaki Tuika Lovatu had a 65.5. Let's see. Other offensive linemen, you have to go down to, gosh, this is not a good sign.
Starting point is 00:22:48 Nolan Gorsica, 58.9. Bryce Foster, 57.7. the lowest on the run blocking grades were Kobe Baines of 49.3, Calvin Clements of 52, and Ricker Cruz 52.1 as far as the offensive lineman for KU. So yeah, offensive line gets a bad goat. This was obviously a very bad game for the KU offensive line. I think third and one play calling gets a bad goat here. This is something we talked about on the recap show too, that it felt like the two third and one situation should have been flipped and how you kind of called them. Beyond that, I guess you would also
Starting point is 00:23:21 say for the bad goats on the offense side, like using Cole Ballard over Isaiah Marshall, to me, I don't love that. Like, I think Isaiah Marshall just has more juice. And so if you're running the backup quarterback to avoid a hit on Jalen Daniels, that's fine. But to me, Isaiah Marshall is the better runner. Like, that's why he was such a highly recruited player, some of the running ability. So I don't know why you wouldn't go with Marshall. I also was, you know, they brought in Ballard at the end of the game instead of Marshall. So clearly he's still ahead of him on the two deep. But I thought that would have been a great opportunity to get Marshall some live reps. We've seen Ballard get like live reps in a big 12 game. In fact, against
Starting point is 00:24:01 Texas Tech. I would have loved Marshall to get those reps. So didn't love that there necessarily for KU either. Okay, defensive side of the ball, good goats for KU. Taylor Davis ended up with four tackles. He was targeted twice in coverage. And he gave up 121-yard catch. There was a touchdown. but he also had an interception for KU. He also overall wound up with a really good game on pro football focus. He had a 79.3 grade, 84.8 in coverage. So shout out to Taylor Davis. Very good game for him.
Starting point is 00:24:33 DJ Graham has had some struggles at moments this year. The Cincinnati game wasn't great, but he had a 78.6th this game. Again, we talked about it. The past coverage was actually pretty good for Kansas. There was a few mistakes early, but overall was pretty good. Graham ended up with 79 coverage. He was targeted five times, gave up three catches, in the end, but just 17 yards.
Starting point is 00:24:50 I mean, five targets with 17 yards allowed with a pass breakup, that's really good. Overall stats for DJ Graham. Keenan Caldwell had a 73.9. It feels like against the teams who have had the best running success against Kansas, Keenan Caldwell has come in and at least provided a little bit of pushback and, I don't know, and it's allowed him to have higher snap counts in those games, but this is a good one. Dak Brinkley, just 12 snaps, but a 71.1. So that's a positive there for KU.
Starting point is 00:25:17 And then Austin, Alexander, 68.6, 72.7 in pass coverage. So again, those corners, maybe starting to take steps up. That could be one positive for KU out of this game. Not a lot of pressure on the quarterback this game, just five pressures. So that would be a bad go for KU would be the pass rush. I would also say in general, the defensive line, this is probably the worst game of the season for the KU defensive line. Because at least in the Cincinnati game, they got the occasional run stuff. They got the occasional pressure.
Starting point is 00:25:47 In the Missouri game, you know, you were at least pretty good on first and second down. You did get actually a good amount of like havoc plays. This game was just kind of the worst all around. So just five pressures in the end. Yeah, that would be a bad goat for KU. The miss tackles at 10. Honestly, like that's not an insanely high number. It's probably, you probably want it closer to seven or eight.
Starting point is 00:26:07 But like it's not like the Missouri game when it was 24, you know. So I don't know, tackling wasn't a bad goat. Maybe you could say the angles on the tackle because there were a lot of times, tech just ran through and maybe it was just like they just got out blocked and then it was just a lot of untouched plays it wasn't a lot of broken tackles I guess necessarily for KU which I don't know what better or worse necessarily um I'm also going to give I'm going to give a bad goat to PFF's grading system here because Bengali Kumar is a 52.9 we're watching the same game Bengali Kumar was awesome um so whatever
Starting point is 00:26:44 he gets a good goat for KU lyric roll is only at a 60. there as well and he only missed one tackle with 10 connected tackles he also was targeted four times in coverage and only gave up one catch he gets a good goat i don't know why he only has a 60.7 so yeah bad bad goad for the pff grading system here and then uh yeah uh john jacmarr only had a 28.6 grade and 13 snaps dean miller a 46.3 tray lathen uh his worst game is uh is a jahawk 47.4 just as fincly was on a tear he only had a 52.4 though again take those with a grain of salt because You know, we just went over Bengali Kamara and his grade being way too low. So it's possible that that's the case for those guys as well.
Starting point is 00:27:24 But overall, I think we just in general say run defense was a bad goat for KU. It was very, very bad. You know, shedding blocks on defense on the run, bad goat for KU, pass rush, bad goat for the KU defense. So those are all be bad goats. A good go for Leif Marjan as well. So I'll mention him. All right, that'll do for this episode of Lockdown Jayhawks. You can find our show anywhere you get your podcast, including on our YouTube page,
Starting point is 00:27:47 can like and subscribe to the show. Buy week for KU football. We'll be talking a lot of KU basketball throughout the rest of the week with late night and the fog later this week. And then next week, it starts to get real. You get a KU exhibition game at Louisville. It's going to be really good. You get KU football against Kansas State.
Starting point is 00:28:03 And from then on, we have kind of crossover season with basketball and football. So make sure to subscribe to the show anywhere you get your podcast, including on our YouTube page where you can like and subscribe. See you next time with Locked on Jayhawks.

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