Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Three Top Takeaways from Kansas Jayhawks Football's 48-3 Victory Over Lindenwood

Episode Date: August 30, 2024

Three top takeaways from Kansas jayhawks Football season-opening win over Lindenwood Lions 48-3 including the run defense with Cornell Wheeler, 4th down aggressiveness with Jeff Grimes compared to Andy Kotelnicki under Lance Leipold and running back usage with Devin Neal and Daniel Hishaw ahead of Sevion Morrison, Johnny Thompson and Harry Stewart.For your next listen, check out the Locked On College Football podcast! From NIL deals to never ending conference realignment rumors, Spencer McLaughlin gets you ready for an exciting season on the gridiron! Click HERE to listen now. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network. Your Team. Every Day.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONCOLLEGE for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.5-Hour EnergyGo to 5hourenergy.com and use promo code LOCKEDONCFB to receive 20% off your order. This offer is only valid until September 30th on one order and cannot be used with other promotions. The code is not good on subscription orders. Go to 5hourenergy.com today!Ultimate GMUltimate College Football HC is a brand-new mobile game that is completely free, has no ads and100% playable offline. Use the promo code LOCKEDONCFB, all caps, inside the game store to receive a free boost to your program. Begin your coaching legacy today!Factor MealsHead to FACTORMEALS.com/lockedoncollege50 and use code lockedoncollege50 to get 50% off your first box PLUS 20% off your next month while your subscription is active!eBay MotorsFrom brakes to exhaust kits and beyond, eBay Motors has over 122 million parts to keep your ride-or-die alive. With all the parts you need at the prices you want, it’s easy to bring home that big win. Keep your ride-or-die alive at EbayMotors.com. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers.FanDuelNow through September 22nd, ALL FanDuel customers can bet FIVE DOLLARS and get a THREE WEEK free trial of NFL Sunday Ticket from YouTube and YouTube TV. Visit FANDUEL.COM/LOCKEDON to get started. 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)

On this bonus episode of Locked on Jayhawks, the three biggest takeaways from KU's dominating 48-3 win over Lindenwood. 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 find me on Twitter at DJohnsonRadio, and you can find our show. It's called Locked on Jayhawks. Anywhere you get your podcast, including on our YouTube page.

Thank you for making it your first listen every day. Thank you to every dayers catching each and every show. This is a bonus episode of the show. Our three biggest takeaways from Kansas' 48-3 victory over Lindenwood. Don't forget you can check out the postcast recap where we went further in depth, give or go to the game, and a little bit on what's next with the KU Illinois game. You can find that again anywhere you get your podcasts and on our YouTube page. We'll have plenty more content talking Illinois next week. We've got some KU basketball content after Bill Self had a fun podcast interview

with Seth Davis, so plenty to talk about here with Locked on Jayhawks. Okay, our three biggest takeaways. Let's get into them right now with limited time. Takeaway number one is that Jeff Grimes being aggressive on fourth down is going to be a huge boon for this KU offense. Maybe this is more of a Lance Leipold thing where it's the head coach who's making more of the decisions on do you go for it or not on fourth down, but I'd certainly imagine there are conversations with the head coach and offensive coordinator, and if the offensive coordinator

is persuasive and wants to be more aggressive on fourth down and wants to call plays that are going to set up the fourth down, then the head coach is going to be more amenable to going for it on those fourth downs. You look back to Baylor the last two seasons when Jeff Grimes, the current KU offense coordinator, was the OC at Baylor. Baylor led the FBS last season with 48 fourth down attempts. They were second in the country in 2022 with 47 of them. And certainly you would think that might carry over a little bit, maybe not as much, but maybe KU goes forward a little bit more now because KU was tied just 92nd in fourth down attempts in 2023. They were second to last in the Big 12. And then in 2022, they were tied 98th nationally, and they were also second to last in the big 12 so Kansas has not been a team who's

gone for a lot of fourth downs these past couple years even with a really good offense Kansas combined for 38 fourth down tries in 2022 and 2023 that's both of those years combined Baylor with Jeff Grimes had more of those each of the last two seasons they had 95 in that same two-year span I get playing conservative if you're Iowa. I get it if you're Georgia, where you just straight up don't have to go for it a lot. But with an offense and a quarterback and a running back as good as KU has, especially because you do have some questions about what is the place-kicking game going to look like, you should be super aggressive on fourth down, in my opinion.

And it doesn't hurt to be more efficient at it either. Like KU was just 7 of 19 last season on fourth down in my opinion and it doesn't hurt to be more efficient at it either like KU was just 7 of 19 last season on fourth down that's 37 that was 112th in the country I think part of it they'll just be better inherently this year part of it they'll be a little bit luckier on it this year but even Baylor last year who was not a great offense they converted 46 percent of fourth downs under Jeff Grimes at an insane volume. So if they're willing to be more aggressive on fourth downs and they're more successful at it, and the new offensive coordinator, Jeff Grimes, is spearheading that, I think that could be worth another point or two points per game

over the course of the season for KU. And maybe most importantly, in one close game over the course of the season, it's enough to swing that close game, swing that close result, your favor because of it. All right, let's get to our takeaways number two and three on this episode of Locked on Jayhawks. First, this is brought to you by Factor. You know, I got some Factor meals delivered to my house.

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You're going to enjoy the meals. It's a lot of fun, so check out Factor today. Thank you to the everydayers tuning in to each and every episode. Don't forget, you're going to make your second listen, Locked on College Football. All right, takeaway number two from KU's 48-3 victory over Lindenwood. KU's run defense will be better in 2024. It's hard to have like a takeaway this definitive from a game like this

where you're playing a team that's overmatched, and in theory this should be the worst run offense that you play all season long. And so it is a little bit of projecting, but I kind of had this thought before the season started. And so if you're giving me one game of evidence, even if it's going to be the worst game of evidence you can give, when you combine it with the personnel, my assumptions of what would happen, the fact that they've just gotten better at it each and every year

under Brian Borland's team, and then what we saw in week one, I feel good about saying this right now. How much better are they going to be? I don't know. Are you going to be just a little bit better? Are you going to be leaps and bounds better and be one of the best run defense in the country? That kind of remains to be seen. But this is what I find interesting because again, you can't totally take too much away from playing an FCS opponent, but what we can compare is Kansas in past seasons versus their other FCS opponents. That's a valid comparison. So 2021 against South Dakota, KU gave up 168 rushing yards.

They gave up 4.0 yards per carry. They gave up 182 yards gained, which I think that stat is important to look at because sometimes the rushing yards can get bogged down by sack numbers in college football. Now, that doesn't include tackles for loss either, which those are real run plays, unlike the sacks, but still, that can give us a good idea. All of those numbers are high watermarks for what a Kansas team has allowed to an FCS opponent. So then you go to 2022 against Tennessee Tech. They gave up 93 rushing yards, 2.2 yards per carry, but 129 yards gained. So this is one where the the South Dakota game. And I think the yards gain tells the better story that the reason the yards per carry is 2.2 isn't because you're only limiting 2.2 yards per carry. It's because Lonnie Phelps went off and your pass rush had a billion sacks

that lowered some of their rushing numbers. Then you go to 20, but still better than 2021. Then you go to 2023, Missouri State, you only give up 74 rushing yards, 2.7 yards per carry, and only 96 yards gained on the ground. So again, the yards per carry a little bit up from 2022, but I just told you part of that is the sack numbers, which were less in the Missouri State game than the Tennessee Tech game. But you gave up less yards. You gave up almost basically 30 less yards gained.

And then you go to Lindenwood this year in 2024, 75 yards rushing. It's only one more than you give up to Missouri State, 2.8 yards per rushing. It's only one more than you give up to Missouri State. 2.8 yards per carry, so 0.1 more than you give up to Missouri State. But just 90 yards gained. The yards gained actually less than the Missouri State one. And it's even misleading to look at those final numbers because the Missouri State game, I think your starting defense or your, not just your starting defense, your players on defense

who are going to be rotating in real games played longer. It was a little bit of a closer game. I think Missouri State a bit of a better opponent, and you'd have to factor that in too that, yeah, maybe Lindenwood's not as good. But you could also counter that by saying, okay, but they returned four of their five starting alignments, so that might be kind of their strength. KU never gave up a crease.

But up until Lindenwood's final offensive possession of the fourth quarter, these were their rushing stats, 42 rushing yards, 2.1 yards per carry and 54 yards gained. That was before their final drive of the fourth quarter. So realistically with what you're playing as, this was your best rushing defense performance against an FCS opponent. Again, could be the personnel you're kind of going up against, but if that holds up, then this is going to be the best rushing defense of the KU era, and if they can keep it going that way, it's going to help your pass defense, it's going to help your overall defense.

It would be a big boon for that KU side of the ball. All right, let's finish up. Take away number three on Lock lockdown. Jayhawks. This episode of the show is brought to you by eBay motors, passion, drive, and patience. The formula for winning championships is also what keeps your rider die alive.

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our third and final big takeaways from the KU victory over Lindenwood, 48-3. Again, check out our postcast if you missed that from late Thursday night. Okay, takeaway number three, the running back usage told a tale. So this isn't necessarily me saying some definitive statement, but I do think it was interesting. I talked Harry Stewart up a lot during fall camp and didn't seem like maybe that carried over extensively because he was really the fifth back for ku they went with devin neal and daniel high

on the first half savion morrison got the third quarter basically with i forget when johnny thompson came in if that was end of the third quarter start of the fourth quarter maybe a little bit of both but he was ahead of harry stewart and then harry stewart came in that last drive with mikey paulie um maybe it was i i don't know i i find it hard to believe that they were going to try to preserve the red shirt like maybe they are trying to preserve the red shirt but if that was the case why even bring him in at all at the end of the game i think that's probably just where he is on the depth chart at the moment now it doesn't mean he can't finish third at the end of the season or something like that, but I did find that interesting.

Also found it interesting that Savion Morrison was the third guy over Johnny Thompson, so maybe winning that battle right now. And I thought Savion Morrison looked good at it. But beyond that, it was only Devin Neal and Daniel Hyshaw getting those carries at the running back position in the first half. And if both guys stay healthy with Neal and Hyshaw, it's mostly been those two guys for KU the last couple of years, at least when both were healthy.

But even then, there was the – I think Andy Kotelnicki dubbed it a pair and a spare. And the spare would still get played. Like Dylan McDuffie last year had like 250 rushing yards. Some of that was maybe in mop-up time or like the end of the UCF game or something like that where he blown out the opponent. But still, like they're getting some run. Or like you think of Torrey Laughlin playing a decent amount there,

again, partially because of injuries, in 2022. But I can't help but wonder after seeing that, that if both guys just stay healthy, like what if they just cannibalize all the running back snaps and the only ones that go out are the ones at the end of the game, right? And that would certainly be beneficial for end of the season accolades for both players. Could Daniel Hyshaw be a second running back that runs for 1,000 yards?

Could Devin Neal be in that All-American and Heisman conversation by eating up some more of the stuff? But from what you got from both those guys, it was pretty darn impressive from what they both looked like in the game. I don't know for this bonus episode of locked on Jayhawks. Don't forget to check out the post game recap show as well. We'll be back as well. Hope you enjoy the long labor day weekend.

We'll have the KU basketball bill self takeaways. We'll have some more KU football talk. We'll have some KU Illinois previews, plenty more to come at you next week with locked on Jayhawks. See you then.