Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Update on QB Jason Bean Ahead of K-State + Bowl Game Possibilities for Kansas Jayhawks Football

Starting point is 00:00:00 On today's Locked on Jayhawks, Kansas is going to be going to a bowl game with seven wins. What are the bowl possibilities for KU football? And what are the most likely bowl game possibilities for them this upcoming December? You are locked on Jayhawks, your daily podcast on the Kansas Jayhawks part of the locked on podcast network,

Starting point is 00:00:22 your team every day. You can hear me as well, Monday through Friday from 3 to 6 p.m. on KLWN in Lawrence with Rock Chalk Sports Talk. Thanks for making Locked On Jayhawks your first listen every day. We are free and available anywhere you get your podcast. You can also find us on our YouTube page if you're looking for the KU Kentucky Recap. You can check that out on our show. We'll have our KUK State Preview on tomorrow's edition

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Starting point is 00:01:11 So we're going to get into where KU's possibilities lie in possible bowl games here. They have two regular season games to go. What could be most likely? My ranking of what I think would just be most fun or would be the best for KU or for fans or for whatever reason for me personally whatever so we'll get to that on today's episode before we get into any of that though I did want to give an update this was from Andy Kodelnicki on Wednesday

Starting point is 00:01:34 on Jason Bean we heard from Lance Leipold back on Monday that he was very optimistic about Jason being able to play on Saturday here's Andy K Andy Kotelicki, KU offensive coordinator, had to say on Wednesday. He said Jason Bean practiced on Wednesday, and then he said, quote, took a bunch of reps, that's all I'll say, took a lot of reps. So he took reps. Now what does that mean? Does that mean he is available in case of emergency? Does that mean that it's going to be Cole Ballard?

Starting point is 00:02:02 But if he were to get injured, that Jason Bean could grit through it and play through injury, does it mean that Jason Bean's going to be a QB1? Or is this just a bit of a smokescreen by KU to make Kansas State think that Jason Bean is going to be the guy? Because if Jason Bean's the guy, then maybe you prepare a little bit differently with stopping a really fast quarterback we saw Cole Ballard be able to run a little bit but it's different with Jason Bean who has track speed right and it's different in terms of you know if you're starting Cole Ballard a true freshman walk

Starting point is 00:02:36 on maybe they're throwing more blitzes at him right maybe the game plan's a little bit different so could this be a smokescreen by KU we go back a week before, and Andy Kolnicki said in regards to KU running the Wildcat, which we saw against Oklahoma and Iowa State, that, yeah, they probably weren't going to, like, use it as much. And then all of a sudden we saw a ton in the game. Or maybe that was even going to the weekend's Iowa State, I think it was, after the Oklahoma game, that it was like a package just being used that they put it in the bye week, and who knows how much they were going to use it and then they used it a bunch in Iowa State

Starting point is 00:03:06 they used it some more this past week so could just be a smokescreen but I guess going back to Lance Leipold comments that uh could be good news for KU with having Jason Bean back for this Saturday against Kansas State now KU has clinched a record regardless of what happens in the K-State game the Cincinnati game um a winning record and bowl eligibility with seven wins at this point. Hypothetically, there could be more eligible teams in any given year than there are bowl tie-ins, but usually it works itself out. And I think as of like a week ago, they're actually wondering if they're going to be enough. Typically, that is what happens.

Starting point is 00:03:43 Typically, there's not enough, and then you have to have enough five and seven teams point is don't really have to worry about it Kansas seven wins they're going to be playing in a bowl game um as far as the big 12 bowl tie ends how it goes on on the order number one is if they're picked to the college football playoff semifinals if a team is selected so at this point Texas is the only team who has a shot of that from the Big 12. Normally, in a given year, the Sugar Bowl would be next up on this list because you would have the top team from the Sugar Bowl either who wins the Big 12 or the top team from the Big 12 who's not in this semifinal would go to the Sugar Bowl as the top team from the Big 12. But the Sugar Bowl is part of the college football playoff this year,

Starting point is 00:04:24 which means that the Big 12 doesn't the Sugar Bowl is part of the college football playoff this year, which means that the Big 12 doesn't have one of those tie-ins necessarily. Now, if there are any Big 12 teams that are ranked in the top 11, top 10, top 12, whatever, they could possibly still get in to New Year's Six Bowl, which I guess Oklahoma, maybe Kansas State at this point, maybe Oklahoma State would have a shot at. It feels like a stretch. Like even if Kansas were to beat Kansas State by like 30 this Saturday and then beat Cincinnati by 40 the following Saturday, I don't know,

Starting point is 00:04:52 going from 25 where they are up into the top 12, that seems kind of far-fetched to expect. So realistically, it's probably just maybe Oklahoma that has kind of a shot at that. But we'll see with how the Big 12 kind of works out. So number two on the bowl list for the big 12 is the Valero Alamo bowl. That comes against a pack 12 team. Then number three on the list is the pop tarts bowl, which comes against an ACC team.

Starting point is 00:05:14 And I believe the pop tarts bowl is played in, in Orlando, Florida, which the pop tarts ball, I mean, that's going to be a very good bowl game. And if you can get into that, that'd be great. Then the number four on the list is the Tax Act Texas Bowl.

Starting point is 00:05:30 That comes against an SEC team. Number five on the list is the AutoZone Liberty Bowl, which we saw Kansas playing last year. That comes against an SEC team. Six is the Guaranteed Rate Bowl against a Big Ten team, which that one could be kind of interesting from a KU perspective because Nebraska, they're sitting at five wins, and that could be a big possible TV matchup. If you're trying to put together a bowl game, you might want to be like, hey, we know we'll get good viewership if we have Kansas versus Nebraska.

Starting point is 00:05:56 So I don't know. That could be a possibility. Seven is the Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl. That's against Pac-12 school. And then you have two other bowls that aren't fully tied with the Big 12, but it's based on, you know, where are they going to get their, I don't know, eligible bowl teams and stuff. You have the possible ability to add a Big 12 team

Starting point is 00:06:14 to the Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl and or the Servant Pro First Responder Bowl. And it looks like the Big 12 is going to have enough teams to be bowl eligible that you could utilize both these bowl games. So a lot of possibilities for where Kansas would go. And to be clear, the picks here are not necessarily based off of standings. You might be thinking, oh, Kansas technically right now is eighth in the Big 12 because they're tied seventh with Texas Tech, and they lose out on the tiebreaker. First of all, schedules are unbalanced. So realistically, KU being eighth in the Big 12, they could be the fourth or fifth best team in the Big 12.

Starting point is 00:06:50 And I think that's reflected in them being ranked 25th still in the latest college football playoff rankings. But we saw this last year. Kansas was not number five in the Big 12, and the Liberty Bowl selected them there because part of what the Bulls are doing is a lot of times the best team or the highest ranked team is going to lead to the most compelling matchup. And a lot of times, you know, if you are one of the best teams, you will just get selected to that slot. But they're also working on, you know, trying to get the most TV eyeballs

Starting point is 00:07:19 they can to their bowl game and get the most eyeballs to their sponsors and the commercials they're going to be running. They're trying to get the best eyeballs to their sponsors and the commercials they're going to be running. They're trying to get the best attendance to the game and the best fan fair around the game that they possibly can. And so that's why the Liberty bowl jumped the line a little bit to pick Kansas last year, because they knew that, Hey, first bowl game in a while, you're going to bring a lot of, you know, Kansas travels well in general, you're going to bring a lot of fans to the game.

Starting point is 00:07:44 And they sure enough did for KU. And so it was an appealing game for them. And then you got the Kansas Arkansas stuff where you have two kind of regionally based teams and that's why they selected them over. So from that standpoint, Kansas, I think remains an interesting and appealing brand as part of this. Cause you know, you're going to travel and you have an exciting offense and you have big alumni bases

Starting point is 00:08:07 all over the country. But maybe because it's not your first bowl game in forever again, I don't know, maybe it makes you less appealing. So there's a chance they could end up back in the Liberty Bowl again, which would be what it is, right? I mean, go to a bowl game, you can't complain. But as far as where KU is at on some of the major projection sites, Action Network has KU in the Guaranteed Rate Bowl, which that

Starting point is 00:08:30 would be in Phoenix. Athlon Sports has them in the Guaranteed Rate Bowl. CBS Sports has them in the Texas Bowl. Covers.com has them in the Guaranteed Rate Bowl. ESPN has them in the Guaranteed Rate Bowl. And Fox Sports has them in the Guaranteed Rate Bowl. And then 24-7 Sports has them in the guaranteed rate bowl and Fox Sports has them in the guaranteed rate bowl and then 24-7 sports has them in the Pop-Tarts Bowl now I will say as far as uh the Pop-Tarts Bowl people I believe were there during the Oklahoma game I could be wrong on that but I think they were there for that which you saw them storm the field you saw them win a big game you know maybe that if Kansas can win one of these final two and get to eight and four maybe that puts you in serious play to be the Pop-Tarts Bowl. But it's going to be tough if you lose to Kansas State, because then you have K-State

Starting point is 00:09:09 and Oklahoma and Oklahoma State possibly in front of you here. And again, they don't have to select based on the standings. But the further you get down the list, the more they are going to have trouble vaulting you all the way up, right? They're not going to pick a six and six Oklahoma over a nine and three, you know, Oklahoma State. Not that that's happening this year, just if that were the case, just because Oklahoma's going to get more eyeballs.

Starting point is 00:09:28 There all are levels, I think, kind of to all this. But for the most part, that has them playing in the guaranteed rate bowl against a Big Ten team, which I don't think it would be the worst thing in the world going over to Phoenix. And I believe the guaranteed rate bowl is what the old inside bowl used to be, which is Gator's last bowl win. We're going to continue on with what's most likely, the projected based on where KU is in the standings,

Starting point is 00:09:52 how they finished the season, how that impacts it, and also my ranking of what I would most like to see for KU in their bowl game. First, this episode of Locked on Jayhawks is brought to you by LinkedIn jobs. These days, every new hire can feel like a high stakes wager for your small business. You want to be a hundred percent certain that you have access to the best qualified candidates available, which is why you have to check out LinkedIn jobs,

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Starting point is 00:11:04 Now time for game changeranger of the Week. Much like, I think, you know, obviously KU ended up falling short in the game, but much like Cole Ballard on second and 21, running a speed option to the left side, planting his foot in the ground, getting the defender, throwing the pitch at the perfect time, Devin Neal bursting through, great blocking on the outside by the receivers downfield, and scoring the touchdown, getting the crowd hyped up, getting KU back in the game and almost helping KU pull off the comeback against Texas Tech.

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Starting point is 00:12:20 they're probably around fifth or sixth selection in terms of where the bulls kind of go here. And part of this is going to depend if Texas makes it to the college football playoff. That actually would help KU's Bull because that means that there's one less Bull game that has to go to Texas. And I guess Texas would probably go to New Year's Six at this point, even if they didn't make a college football playoff run. But you're almost rooting for at this point, you know, if Oklahoma and Texas both make New Year's Six Bowls whether it's CFP or New Year's Six then that slides everyone up one spot to possibly be selected in a bowl game so I mean the league standings at this point though are so muddled that anything can shift around really all the way through that even though Kansas is tied eighth right now I mean

Starting point is 00:13:02 maybe it makes it tough if they lose to Kansas State. But, like, Texas is 6-1 right now in the league. Then you have Oklahoma State, Oklahoma, Iowa State, Kansas State all at 5-2. And Iowa State's playing Texas this week. Then you have West Virginia, Texas Tech, Kansas all at 4-3. Now, then there's a tier below that with the 2-5 teams. Like, I guess TCU and Houston, BYU and UCF are sitting at 2-5. Still have a shot at making a bowl game.

Starting point is 00:13:24 But they would be further down the pecking order here. So if you're Kansas, if you just win one of your final two, it's going to secure you probably being in the top half of the league. And who knows where the tiebreaker kind of puts you in all this. But the standings are so muddled that any team could lose two straight or win two straight and go from being tied third to being tied eighth or something like that in the conference that it's almost impossible to predict right now what bowl game Kansas would be in. So I think the best way to go about this is trying to figure out, well, what is Kansas' final record going to be,

Starting point is 00:13:52 and then figuring out what the bowl game would be from there. Let's say Kansas is 7-5. Let's say they lose their final two games. At that point, they're riding a three-game losing streak. With the pack of Big 12 teams that you've been in, at that point, your best-case scenario is that you're finishing, you know, that West Virginia and Texas Tech are losing their final two bowl games too. And then at that point, you're finishing tied six in the conference, but maybe technically eighth based on how the standings go. But at that point, you'd be losing

Starting point is 00:14:16 three straight, you know, going into the bowl game. So where would you be picked? Well, I think at that point, if Texas Tech were to lose two straight, I guess two, then that would make them non-bowl eligible. But if you finish seven and five, I think you're probably looking at the guaranteed rate bowl. I think that makes a lot of sense. Again, when you look at the Big Ten ties as kind of being a part of all this, or you're maybe looking at Independence Bowl or one of those other two flex bowls that the Big 12 possibly adds,

Starting point is 00:14:41 which is weird because you think about it, and you're seven and five this year, even if you lose your last two, that still would be a better record than you were last year. So you're like, wait, why wouldn't we end up in just as good of a bowl if not better last year? It's because the Liberty Bowl reached up to get you. Maybe they reach up to get you again and they're like, hey, let's run this thing back with you and have you play a different SEC school

Starting point is 00:15:00 and give you a second crack at winning this thing. I did like the Liberty Bowl logo on some of the KU stuff. So who knows? But I think for fans, you know, you like to rotate. You like to be in different bowl games, you know, from year to year. Maybe if you go back to the Liberty Bowl in eight years from now or five years from now, like it's one thing, but I don't know. Sometimes you like to get different experiences.

Starting point is 00:15:20 If KU goes eight and four, so they win one of their final two. I think part of this will depend who you beat. If you beat Kansas State for your final two, I think there's an increased chance that the Pop-Tarts Bowl would be in play. Because right now the Pop-Tarts Bowl is one of the higher end bowls, and they would have to choose between possibly Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Kansas State. But if you beat Kansas State, that can vault you ahead of them. Maybe Oklahoma ends up in a New Year's Six Bowl.

Starting point is 00:15:42 And then maybe they're just like, well, you know, we're going to choose Kansas over Oklahoma State. Even though Oklahoma State beats you, even if they end up ranked higher, we just like what they're going to bring to the table to our specific bowl game. Again, it's not standings-based solely. So I think if you beat Kansas State, there's a good chance you could end up in the Pop-Tarts Bowl. If you lose to Kansas State and you beat Cincinnati and you end up at 8-4, then at that point that probably puts you into possibly being back in the Liberty Bowl or the Texas Bowl. I think those would be the probably two most likely scenarios. At that point, with still kind of an outside chance of getting to the guaranteed rate bowl.

Starting point is 00:16:17 Now, if you go 9-3, you win your final two games, you beat Kansas State, you beat Cincinnati. At that point, you're ranked in the top 20. Maybe you're ranked right around 15. Maybe you're ranked right around where you were last week when you were 16 before the Texas Tech loss. At that point, Pop-Tarts Bowl feels like your floor if you're able to get that. And the Alamo Bowl becomes an opportunity.

Starting point is 00:16:37 Now, is there any chance that, I guess, I don't know, you're able to burst into the top 12, so to speak, or get a college football playoff ranking, as we were kind of talking about earlier. Like, for instance, is the New Year's stick still a slight possibility for Kansas? Well, if we look at the past couple years of the CFP rankings, last year there were two, three lost teams who were in the top 10, but both of them were conference champions. Utah and K-State had 10 wins. So you go back to 2021,

Starting point is 00:17:12 Utah was the only team with three losses in the top 12 and they were also Pac-12 champion again, and they had 10 wins. So they had that extra game to get to 10 and three. You go back to 2020 and that year was a little weird because of COVID. So I don't know if I want to take it. Iowa State was in there with three losses. They lost in the Big 12 title game. Florida was in there with three losses.

Starting point is 00:17:30 They lost in the SEC title game. But again, that year is so weird with COVID and everything. We go back to 2019 in the college football playoff rankings, and you had Wisconsin at 10-3 at number eight in the country. I think they lost in the Big 10 title game. And then you go to Auburn at 9-3, who was 12th in the college football playoff ranking. So you do have some teams that are around there that if Kansas wins against Kansas State and then, you know, bludgeon Cincinnati, I guess there's an outside chance if some teams

Starting point is 00:17:59 around you lose that you could have the right mix. Maybe Oklahoma loses again and they end up at 9-3. And so they're like, well, we have to put Kansas out of Oklahoma if they're both nine and three. And maybe that gives you an outside shot of, I guess, possibly being in one, but I don't think you should get their hopes up for that. It would take so much to happen and so much chaos around you for that to happen. So realistically you go nine and three, probably Pop-Tarts bowl,

Starting point is 00:18:20 maybe Alabama bowl, eight and fourth, a K-State win. Pop-Tarts bowl becomes chance, maybe Texas Bowl, 7-5, anywhere between, I don't know, Liberty to Guaranteed Rate to one of those other flexed ones like the Armed Forces Bowl. All right, let's pick my favorite, what I think would just be most fun for, I don't know, whether it's yourself, fans, the team, watching, whatever it is, coming up in just a moment here with Locked on Jayhawks. First, this episode of the show is brought to you by PrizePix.

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Starting point is 00:19:06 So, like, you want to take the hometown kid for Kansas, Devin Neal against K-State in-state team. Could be the last time he plays him if he goes off to the NFL. Boom, you can take that and you can mix it with an NBA game or college basketball game. They have quick withdrawals, easy gameplay, and an enormous selection of players and stat types.

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Starting point is 00:19:54 We'll also have a KU Kansas State preview coming up, and then we'll have plenty of KU Maui Invitational content coming up next week with Locked on Jayhawks show. Make sure you're subscribed anywhere you get your podcasts or on our YouTube page to check out all our stuff. Here's my rankings of what I would most want to see KU win bowl game-wise. Number one, obviously New Year's Six. Very, very unlikely, as we just talked about.

Starting point is 00:20:16 But if there is any chance, sure. Of course, that would be number one. Okay, realistic rankings, though. Number one would be the Pop-Tarts Bowl. One, Pop-Tarts, delicious. I'd be all about getting all sorts of ku gear with pop-tarts on it i'm all for it in fact i uh on our other show rock chalk sports talk me and my co-host said that if they're in the pop-tarts bowl we will go to the local

Starting point is 00:20:35 grocery store pick up every type of pop-tarts they have and try every single one maybe try like one every hour of the show or something like that and rate everyone that's how much i'm into the pop-tarts bowl i would love it it'd be a very big time bowl game at that point probably means that you beat kansas state or at least one one of your final two if not both of them you're probably ranked you might be playing a ranked opponent that would go down very well as far as a bowl game number three would be alamo bowl um i know some people have said that uh we go down to san antonio enough or we live in texas or Texas, or we can go down there for a Final Four. I've been there enough.

Starting point is 00:21:08 I don't need to go there. Alamo Bowl is a big bowl game, and I do like the Riverwalk area. I think it's fun for sporting events to kind of be able to go over. So Alamo Bowl would be number three. Guaranteed rate bowl would actually be number four. I think by location, this might actually be number two, but this is why this is up here ahead of some of the other bowls. Even though it's number six on the Big 12 selection sites, maybe it's not as good of a game.

Starting point is 00:21:28 It's in Phoenix, Arizona, which if you're going to a bowl game in December, a lot of times you want to go somewhere that's warmer weather. You can do outdoor activities. Well, you go to Phoenix, Arizona, desert situation. So at night it'll get a little colder, but during the day you'll be fine. You can go out there golf. You can enjoy the outside during the day. And I think you could have some compelling matchups possibly against the big 10.

Starting point is 00:21:48 Number five would be the Texas bowl slash Liberty bowl. These are the same to me. They're both against an sec opponent. Both are fine, but maybe not marquee destinations. I guess Texas bowl is the better matchup than the Liberty bowl. So maybe that one should be slightly higher, but these feel about the same to me in that, you know, you'd be happy you're in a bowl game, but it's not like a destination that you're, you know, chomping at the bit to get to. Number seven, I guess if we're tying those two,

Starting point is 00:22:13 this would drop down to seven, would be the Armed Forces slash First Responder Bowl. They are kind of the flexed bowl games, at least one of them is. It's in Fort Worth for the Armed Forces Bowl. Dallas, which is in the First Responder Bowl, which I think is better than the Texas Bowl and Liberty Bowl for locations. Texas Bowl's in Houston, Liberty Bowl's in Memphis. I'd rather be in Fort Worth or Dallas. Good barbecue, I think a lot more to do than those other two sites, but worse bowl games, so I dropped them lower on here.

Starting point is 00:22:39 And then number nine would be the Independence Bowl. I just don't really have a hankering to get out to Mobile, Alabama, and it's not high up there in terms of the bowl of a marquee matchup anyway. So that's why that one is number nine. All right, that'll do it for this episode of Locked on Jayhawks. You can find our show anywhere you get your podcasts and find us, like and subscribe to us on our YouTube page. Have a great rest of your day. See you next time with LOJ.

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Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Update on QB Jason Bean Ahead of K-State + Bowl Game Possibilities for Kansas Jayhawks Football

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