Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - What's the Best Kansas Football Team Since Mark Mangino?

Episode Date: August 24, 2022

Scott Chasen joins the show to discuss the best KU Football team since Mark Mangino and where this one stacks up. How would Lance Leipold positively impact past KU teams, and what if David Beaty were coaching last year's unit? Plus, what will Jared Casey do for an encore?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! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

on today's locked on Jayhawks. We're joined by Scott Jason to talk KU football. I'm Derek Johnson. You can hear me as well on rock chalk sports talk Monday through Friday, three to six on KLWN. Thanks for making locked on Jayhawks. Your first listen every day. We're free and available wherever you get your podcasts on today's edition of locked on Jayhawks your first listen every day. We're free and available wherever you get your podcasts.

On today's edition of Locked on Jayhawks, we are joined by Scott Chasen, who you can hear as well on Booth Review with Kansas City Sports Network. And what we're going to be talking about today is this, the best Kansas football team since Mark Mangino. And there's different ways you can look at that. There's different ways you can approach it. There's different ways you can look at that. There's different ways you can approach it. There's different things you can key in on. But I guess I'll just start it right there.

Scott, is this the best KU team since Mark Mangino and Todd Reising? Well, I think the first question you have to, like when you think about this question, you have to kind of envision it with what you believe this team to be compared to what some of those other teams were. So I'll use the Carter Stanley team because while I'm not 100 percent convinced that was like, you know, undoubtedly the best team since Mark Mangino, since Todd Reising. That was a team that if things broke right, could have been bowl eligible. And I'm not saying they should have been, but it's saying they led Iowa state in the fourth quarter. That game came down to, I believe a fourth and goal where Iowa state scored a touchdown to put it out of reach. Okay. They led Texas with under a minute to go. They lost by five to coastal Carolina in a game where I think they threw like two interceptions

on in plus territory. They scored seven points, 12, seven winnable game. West Virginia was a one score game, right? So like they had all these games that if things broke, right, which rarely it's us, but we hear all the time about teams winning these 50, 50 games. Nebraska was a team last year on the other end of that, right? They lost all their 50, 50 and one score games. So if things had broken, right, that team had the potential to be a bowl team. Derek, I'll turn this over to you. Do you think if everything breaks right for this team, this year's KU team can be a bowl team because that, I'll turn this over to you. Do you think if everything breaks right for this team, this year's KU team could be a bowl team? Because that's kind of the standard when you ask that question. I think, yeah, if everything breaks right. So what you would be referring there is

that, you know, Jalen Daniels is as good as we think he possibly is. The running backs are able to find the right groove with the mix of guys they have. Somebody breaks out at receiver. The offensive line doesn't suffer injuries because we have questions about the depth. The transfers on defense become immediate impact players and all the fifth-year guys and everybody just returning in general across the board understands the scheme better and that leads to some changes.

And then they just have great turnover luck. That is the maximum outcome. Yes, I think in that situation, you could get to six wins. I think that would probably be the very, very ceiling of if everything went that way. Yeah, well, and that's the reason I ask it, because for that team to get to six or even seven, just with the number of games I listed,

every single break would have had to have gone their way. And that also doesn't account for things like because they lost to coastal Carolina that year in 2019, I think that probably helped them out the next week against Boston college because Boston college is looking at this team. Like this team barely beat an FCS team. They just lost to coastal Carolina. Like we,

we could just wake up and beat these guys when that wasn't the case. I want to, I want to give another team that I think has a shot at this. That would be 2018 KU. So I think they won three games that year. David Beatty's last year. They lost to Nichols. Nichols stayed.

That was the overtime game. So easily could have won that game, especially because Puka Williams did not play in that game. So that's one. They obviously trounced Rutgers. That was the game where they just, I think they had like six interceptions or something. They just completely destroyed them, maybe not that many. And then later in the year, they lost a four-point game to K-State, which they were basically driving to go for the win when Peyton Bender had just kind of a bizarre, I think it was technically a fumble, not an interception, where he just sort of lost the ball. They were in a one-score game against Texas. Not many of those other games were close, like West Virginia with 16 points, but they weren't really in a position to win that game. So again, I don't think that was a team that had a super high ceiling,

but let's compare like for like, right? You have Carter Stanley, Peyton Bender versus Jalen Daniels. Okay, that's kind of interesting to me. I think Jalen Daniels and Carter Stanley have a lot more similar than not, including that we had Carter Stanley have a lot more similar than not, including that, you know, we had Carter Stanley on our show and he was talking about how he was not the best practice player because he tried to treat practices like games and he would like have that internal clock going when, you know, what he called like the red jersey or the pink jersey rule was, hey, you're not going to get hit in practice. So you're going to have more time than you ever

would in a game. And the coaches really just want to see you do it perfectly, even, you're not going to get hit in practice. So you're going to have more time than you ever would in a game. And the coaches really just want to see you do it perfectly, even if it's not realistic. So I think Jalen Daniels is in that category because he tries to make the play and he might turn the ball over. But I think that helps him out when he gets in games. So I think that's comparable. Running back talent, I think, is definitely comparable. You had, you know, a really good room with Puka Williams, Khalil Herbert compared to Devin Neal,

Kai Thomas, Daniel Hyshaw, that whole room now. Wide receiver talent, you'd give the edge to the earlier team. Defensively, I think it's interesting because there are a lot of question marks. What do you think when you start looking at positions? I mean, I'll be honest, the 2018 team was the one that sticks out the most to me. I think the 2019 team has higher roller coasters, right? It has more ups and downs with either getting blown out or you blow out Boston College. The 2018 team only gave up 30 points per game. That's 12 points better than KU gave up last year. So if KU's defense this year were to give up 30 points per game, that would be one of the biggest turnarounds from one season to

the next that we've seen in the last handful of years in college football. That team had Joe Dineen playing at his peak. You had Daniel Wise playing really good football on that defensive end. Bryce Tornadin was a solid player in the back end. You had some good defensive backs. Mike Lee, again, solid player in the back end. That team to me is probably the best that KU has had since Mark Mangino. And you're right. I mean, if Puka Williams plays the first game, that's a four-win team. So that's the most wins you've had since Mark Mangino. And I would make the argument that if Carter Stanley was the starter instead of Peyton Bender, maybe they do win the Kansas State game, or maybe they do win one of those other games.

So that's the one to me that I would be comparing this one to, even though 2019, I think 2019 had the most skill talent, right? You have Andrew Parchment, Stephon Robinson on the outside. Daylon Charlotte. He was on both teams, but he played a lot more the next year. I think that would be the best one if you were just looking at offensive talent, skill position talent. I think this one has the deepest running back group that you've had. But if you want to compare to like the 2018 team, like I'm taking the top two of Puka and Khalil over the top two of this team. That's not a knock against this team. I just,

those two guys were special, right? Yeah. Well, and I think the other thing, so I'll see your Peyton Bender versus Carter Stanley, who by the way, had one of the best games of his career against Oklahoma state that year, and then was benched like two drives into the next game. And I think he had a tip ball for an interception or something. And like, that was it. Um, clearly I think David Beatty trusted Peyton Bender. And I think David Beatty was at the point where he's like, Hey, if I'm going down with a ship, I'm going down with, you know, the guys I trust, which, you know, whatever. If it ended up being the best thing for KU or not. But I think then the next year it was the same with the offense, right?

You, it took a little bit for them to turn it over to Brent Dierman. And once they did, I mean, think about the games where Brent Dierman's impact was most felt 48 against Boston college, 48 against Texas, 37 against Texas Tech, 31 against Iowa State. And again, that was an Iowa State game that Kansas led in the fourth quarter. Brock Purdy, you know, basically had one play where it was like they could kick a field goal, they could go for the touchdown, they went for the touchdown, they got it, and that ended the game. So it ended at like 10. But down to the final two or three minutes, that was very much a,

hey, Kansas could still win this game. I think 2018 versus 2019 would be a really interesting kind of matchup fantasy battle, just because of what you said. Like, I think this, I think the defense clearly did more to force turnovers to wreak havoc, um, in that 2018 team. And that Rutgers game is as impressive a performance as I can ever remember KU playing. Arthur Sitkowski, I think was the quarterback at the time. And man, I mean, they just had the read on him. They dominated that game, but I love that 2019 offense. That 2019 offense was legitimately like so fun. They had so many playmakers and I always wonder what would

have happened if that team had been like the second year of KU under the Les Miles, Brent Dierman, whatever brain trust staff, even though obviously the next year it didn't work and they were horrible offensively. The next year they lost like everybody and they lost basically, you know, offensive line had to change quarterbacks playing a 17 year old freshman receiver talent was got it just totally changed um everything so i would have liked to see what that would have looked like if those guys could have stuck around but that's interesting because i think that if you put a line on that game it's like two three points in either direction or maybe less than that maybe it's just to pick them i don't know yeah if you give the 18 defense onto the 19 offense that's probably a bull team i also would shout out 2014 they had some close games tcu and everything but i think it's one of those two in a moment i want to get into though how much just the coach and the quarterback matters to trying to figure out who

is the best team and if this team has kind of an advantage there it can happen so easily you're out with friends or co-workers you're putting back a drinks. A few becomes a few too many. It's time to go, and for a moment, you think of calling for a ride. But nah, you're a good driver. You live nearby. You can make it home okay. What are the odds you'll even get pulled over? And even so, what's the worst that could happen? You lose your license.

You lose your job. You total your car. You kill someone. It only takes one mistake to change your life or someone else's forever. Play it safe and plan ahead to get a ride. On tomorrow's show, we are going to be breaking down KU's newest transfer pickup in Kobe Baines, what that means for the offensive line and whatnot. Scott, as I was saying, I definitely think that if we're talking about best teams, we'll

see where this one is at like you said in doing some of the position players I think it's at least comparable to those 18 and 19 teams I think the defense though is what's holding me back probably the most here but if we're just looking at this from a QB coach combo because there's as much as the whole team is important and all that stuff does matter I mean there's extra weight that's added to how good is your coach, how good is your quarterback. And if we're looking at it from that standpoint, like, sure, you could say maybe senior year Carter Stanley is going to put up a better

season than what Jalen Daniels will put up this year. Or you can say that maybe this guy did this and this year and whatever. But if we're just talking about what you have from the quarterback position this year in terms of talent and what you have from the coach, which to be clear, I don't really even think it's very close with if you were ranking Kansas coaches from now till Mark Mangino, like it's Lance Leipold with a bullet. Then there's a big drop off before you get to the next best coach. Is that enough for you to almost say that, yeah, okay, maybe this team will be the best just because of that duo?

Yeah, I think there's definitely a chance. And a lot of it depends on Jalen Daniels, because I think you're right. Coaching wise, I think this is obviously the best that they've had. But I think while Jalen Daniels has shown flashes, he's still got to show it over a 12 game season. I think that's kind of the next step and the thing that he's got to prove. I'm going to read off Carter Stanley's numbers from his senior year, because I think that's kind of the baseline for quarterback play in the, the post Todd racing world. In fact,

Carter Stanley is the most touchdown passes in a single season at KU by anyone not named Todd racing, which was 24 to get 25 total touchdowns on the year, 11 interceptions. So that's pretty good. 25 to 11, 2,661 passing yards, 61% completion. Those are pretty solid numbers, but I will say if Jalen Daniels does that, this team will do better. I believe than that previous team did. I just think the question becomes, can Jalen Daniels limit his turnovers? Can he be consistently good? Can he make the throws? Can he understand when not to make throws? And can he stay healthy? Can he stay durable? Because that was another

thing about Carter Stanley. He didn't miss a game that year. He started every game and that's not something that has happened a lot. So not to sidestep the question here. I think Jalen Daniels, I like him as a quarterback. I like him as a leader. I think he is this team's QB one. I think he's got a little bit more to prove before I just go out there and say, yep, I think he is definitively better than Carter Stanley and will definitively lead this team to a better offensive season. That being said, if you ask me to pick one and we don't get to see the future,

I'd probably go with the light pole, Jalen Daniels duo, but that would mostly be because of coaching. Yeah, I agree with that. And here's part of our, what if Wednesday for today, if you had to swap out seasons with Lance light poles for just one of the

other coaches, what has the biggest effect? So like, first of all, I'm thinking last year. If David Beatty is Kansas' coach last year instead of Lance Leipold, so that's the opposite of the switch. I think Kansas is 0-12 last year. And on the flip side, if you put Lance Leipold as the head coach

on the 2018 team, does that team win four, five, six games? That's tough because 2018 I'd say probably not, but 2019? 2019, you could talk. It is not hard to talk into that team being not even bowl eligible, but those of us who covered that team at the time, it was like, good God, man. How many ways can you find to lose a game, especially coming down to the last play? Like, again, these were not a bunch of 40 point games that got down to like 14 in the fourth quarter. These were Puka Williams has the ball on the last play of the game against West Virginia. And granted that one was a Hail Mary situation, but if he can score, Kansas is going to win

coastal Carolina. They had a multiple fourth downs where they didn't convert at the end of the game. And that's why they lost not because it was 12, nothing. And then they got a garbage time touchdown. Same with Iowa state, same with all these games. So I think you could convince me if, if you kept some of the, if you merge staffs and just maybe had a little bit better discipline, leadership, just kind of a better preparedness and plan. You could convince me that Carter Stanley team easily wins four to five games, maybe more than that. But that's a really good question because it all kind of comes down to how much is a coach worth?

How long does it take for a coach to show his worth, right? This is technically year two for Lance Leipold. In some ways, it's kind of like year 1.5. I would argue it's closer to a legit year two because he got the whole season last year. I think that hurt last season more than it, you know, sets a timeline back at all. That's a really good question though. Conversely, I don't know who I would want to swap in with Lance Leipold for this season, because that does not sound good. Maybe I'd swap Lance Leipold last season for Lance Leipold this

season, call it a day. No, I wouldn't want to swap anyone for this year. I just hypothetically, like I do really think that they win zero games last year. If it's David Beatty or maybe even less miles like the South Dakota game where they're down 1410 in the fourth quarter and Jason being to that point had kind of been lethargic. Like he didn't make any big mistakes or anything, but they weren't really moving the ball. I think at that point, like David Beatty is going to, I don't know, maybe I guess actually He'd kind of been lethargic. He didn't make any big mistakes or anything, but they weren't really moving the ball. I think at that point, David Beatty is going to,

I don't know, maybe I guess actually that helps, but maybe he's going to Miles. Well, I mean, we think about it going to Jalen Daniels, but maybe at that time, Miles Kendrick would have been the number two. So what if he goes to Miles Kendrick in that situation and they lose to South Dakota? And then the Texas game, are they even in that position to go to overtime? Does he even have the stones to go for two in that situation? Jared Casey is never going to play under David Beatty

because he would worry about that. I don't know. I don't mean to make this just like a rag on David Beatty Fest. I think you're right about one thing, many things, but very, very extremely right about one thing. So the David Beatty thing with switching quarterbacks, not sticking with a guy. And Derek, I know you've talked a ton about how Lance Leipold likes to stick with one guy and really injury is the only, only reason he changed. I know you've brought that up a number of times.

Let's say David Beatty was doing the quarterback carousel. Well, people forget that Jalen Daniels with how bad that first year he played was, how bad specifically offensive line play, how much pressure he faced leading up to that offseason. One of the kind of big storylines was, hey, he's a little skittish, like he doesn't keep his composure in the pocket right now because he's so used to, oh, my God, I have one second. I have to get rid of this ball or I'm going to get killed. I mean, the guy got sacked eight or nine times against Oklahoma. He got injured. He went to the sideline and then someone ran into him and knocked him into a concrete wall. Like he could not avoid getting hit basically at all times. And I think for Jalen Daniels that he actually got to sit and he didn't have to play and that Miles Kendrick was the backup and almost the starter going into the season. I actually think

that helped him immensely and helped him be ready late in the season. Whereas if he were the week one starter, I don't know that he develops and gets there the same way. Guys sometimes need to take that step back before they can jump in and be the best version of themselves. And that's where I think Lance Leipold having a plan and saying, we're going to stick with Jason Bean and then only really changing when injuries happen. I think that actually could have benefited Jalen Daniels more than any other major coaching decision in his career. He's Scott Chasen. You can also check him out on Booth Review.

Scott, appreciate the time. Talk to you next week. Thanks for having me. In just a moment, we're going to continue on with our series Top 10 Questions. We're excited to get answered for the KU football season. We continue on with our top 10 questions we're excited to get answered for the upcoming KU football season. Our number three question on the list, what will Jared Casey do for an encore? Wasn't really playing much over the course of the season. Occasional special teams play, whatever. And then he appears in the Texas game. The first time he's

targeted, I believe, in that game was the two-point conversion. I think that was his first target of his season and his entire career as well. On the two-point conversion, he comes down with the football, makes the contested grab through some contact, falls to the ground with the football. He becomes a folk hero you see the video of his parents at the texas game and uh one of them's filming here i forget if his i think it was his mom uh his dad goes that was jared and you know they're freaking out and it's such an awesome authentic video that i'm sure everybody has seen by now and then he gets

the sponsorship the nil deal with Applebee's. I think he got an NIL deal to get a car. His parents have been driving this older van. I don't know, maybe they still have the van. And then he gets on scholarship in the spring. But it wasn't just about that one moment. Because that one moment was special. That one moment was really cool.

But it wasn't just a moment. Sometimes you have a guy like, for instance, tyree right everybody remembers david tyree makes that incredible catch off his helmet in the super bowl to help the giants upset the undefeated patriots you're hard pressed to remember other moments of david tyree in his nfl career and you know that's great of him he made it all the way to the nfl made a lot of money did more in that one play than a lot of guys will ever do in an athletic career. So I'm not trying to like, you know, say that's a bad thing. Like sometimes if you're a one hit wonder, that's great because a lot of guys don't even have the one hit. Right. But Jared Casey not only had that

one hit the next two weeks, he didn't allow that to be just the one thing. He kind of broke out. He had eight catches for over a hundred yards in the the one thing. He kind of broke out. He had eight catches for over 100 yards in the next two weeks. He seemed to have a great connection with Jalen Daniels. He had the touchdown pass against TCU. He had a really nice one-handed catch in that TCU game. He made a serious impact from the tight end spot for KU. So what does he do for an encore? I mean, if we just extrapolate out what he did in those final two weeks, again, you're looking at four catches a game. You're going to pace for 48 catches. You're looking at over 50 yards per game.

You'd be looking at 600, 700 receiving yards. That would be one of the best receiving tight end seasons in the country if he put up numbers similar to 50 catches for 600, 700 yards. Like, seriously, is that too high of an expectation? the country if he put up numbers similar to 50 catches for 600 700 yards like seriously is that too high of an expectation i think part of it is that there are so many productive tight ends or useful role-playing tight ends that ku now has on the roster to vita noah is going to be used as a really good run blocker probably the best run blocker of the tight ends in to vita noah mason fairchild was the starter last year part of the tight ends in Tevita Noah. Mason Fairchild was the starter last year.

Part of the reason Jared Casey had those opportunities, he was injured at the end of the season. Trevor Cardell, we keep hearing good things about him in camp that he may be kind of breaking out this season. Will Huggins is a guy who he was a pretty big get when you got him from the local Insight Kids, 6'7", great receiving tight end. You have other useful tight ends at that position that could cut into the playing time of Jared Casey.

And that, to me, is the hardest part of this. You could convince me that Jared Casey should and could be the starter at the tight end position. You could convince me that he's going to be the third string and that Tavita Noah, who maybe even if Tavita Noah is behind him on the depth chart, is going get certain plays that Jared Casey does not I don't know the answer to that and obviously a big part is going to be how does Jared Casey do as a blocker like that's a big key for all these tight ends I think he's probably a better blocker than like what Mason Fairchild showed last season so that should be good and in the aftermath of the two-point conversion you

would hear all the different teammates say yeah he's had he has the best hands on the team so now it just adds up that like the only reason this guy was maybe overlooked is because yeah he's a five foot ten or five foot eleven i know he's listed at six feet tall tight end at a position where typically power five these guys are at minimum like six foot three right but he has all the skills and who really cares about that stuff and so I think he is the most productive tight end in that tight end group maybe it'll be Trevor Cardell at first but if he gets a real shake at this I feel like he's going to put together the best part of it what does he do for an encore I don't know what that looks like what the season looks like with everything.

What's cool about this is it's not just one year left for Jared Casey. He's still got a couple years left with this one coming this season. I think he's going to have a productive season, but I wouldn't expect what he did over the last two weeks extrapolated out over the course of the season. Coming up on tomorrow's show, we are

going to break down the addition of KU's newest member of the offensive line with a transfer they picked up from Louisville. If you have anything you'd like for the show to talk about or want to follow along in the action, you can reach out at DJohnsonRadio on Twitter. And don't forget to subscribe to the show so you're getting all the latest with Locked on Jayhawks. That'll do it for today's episode. Have a good rest of your day. I'll see some of you on Rock Chalk Sports Talk later. Adios.