Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Why Kansas Jayhawks Football Needs a Big Game from Center Bryce Foster to Defeat UNLV Rebels

Starting point is 00:00:00 On today's Locked on Jayhawks, why KU starting center Bryce Foster has to have a big game for KU to take down UNLV and Rebels players to watch for the matchup. 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 the Johnson Radio, and you can find our show. It's called Locked On Jayhawks anywhere you get your podcast, including on our YouTube page where you can like and subscribe to the show. Thank you to the everydayers tuning in to each and every episode.

Starting point is 00:00:39 Thank you to making Locked On Jayhawks your first listen every day. We're going to be getting into why Bryce Foster needs a big game for KU to take down UNLV on Friday night. We're going to get into some players to watch for UNLV in the matchup, and we're going to get into, through the first two games, three areas where KU is excelling, three areas where KU is struggling in the early portion of the season. This episode of Locked on Jayhawks is brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook.

Starting point is 00:01:07 Now through September 22nd, all FanDuel customers can bet $5 and get a three-week free trial of NFL Sunday Ticket from YouTube and YouTube TV. Visit FanDuel.com to get started today. So we're going to start with Bryce Foster, why I think he needs to have a big game. I guess full disclosure, last week we talked about why the linebackers needed to have a big game for KU to win. Linebackers did have a good game. Linebackers helped KU stop the run,

Starting point is 00:01:31 and I think the defense did everything from their part to win the game. This is not necessarily a guarantee that if this plays well, because something else could not play well that you're not expecting, which in that case was Jalen Daniels. You weren't expecting Jalen Daniels to have a poor performance, to have three interceptions, right? If Jalen Daniels has a normal game from the larger sample size of games we've seen, Kansas wins that game. So I still feel good about where we were at last week. Okay, this week, Bryce Foster's the player

Starting point is 00:01:56 I'm kind of highlighting for this. UNLV runs a very interesting defense, I guess you would say. You see a lot of these, especially nowadays in college football with how open everything is, you see a lot of teams running like a 4-2-5, four down linemen, two linebackers, five DBs, where the fifth DB could be an extra corner, could be an extra safety. You see 3-3-5 stacks. In the Iowa State defense, it's kind of like a 3-3-5 where they have two corners, three linebackers, three down linemen, and then they have three safeties that kind of mix and match the looks. And it makes it tough to read defenses before the play. If you look at pro football focus, the lineup that it has UNLV running most

Starting point is 00:02:35 often right now is like a 2-4-5, which you like never see in college football. But basically what it ends up being is it ends up being kind of a hybrid between a 3-3-5 and a 4-2-5 or a 4-3. And like they can kind of mix and match to what they want in a specific lineup. It's basically two defensive linemen who are kind of like defensive end, defensive lineman types, two outside linebackers who are kind of outside linebacker defensive end

Starting point is 00:03:01 hybrid. So like technically it could be a 4-2-5 or it could be a 2-4-5, depending on the way you look at it. And then two inside linebackers, fifth DB on the field, who's kind of like a slot corner. So again, it's not always this way, but that seems to be what their main lineup is, according at least to pro football focus.

Starting point is 00:03:17 So what does that mean? It means a lot of confusing looks. It means a lot of confusing fronts. It means a lot of fronts where, you know, two guys have their hand in the dirt, or three guys have their hand in the dirt, or you don't know who's blitzing. Is one of the outside linebackers going to drop back into coverage, or are they going to come and rush? And so that can be difficult for a quarterback to diagnose, but it can also be

Starting point is 00:03:37 difficult for the center to diagnose who's calling out some of these protections that need to be blocked, whether it's in the running game or in the passing lane. And so it means a lot of questions. It means a lot of puzzles that kind of have to be solved by the mental side of it from KU's offense. Who needs to be blocked? Who needs to go where? Who needs to be double teamed?

Starting point is 00:03:58 Who's doing what? And so far, it's helped UNLV have a great defensive start. It didn't necessarily have them have a great defense last year. They struggled on the defensive end of the floor or on the field, but so far this year, albeit against an FCS team and a not good Houston offense, so take it with a grain of salt, they have looked good. Seven sacks, 14 TFLs through two games.

Starting point is 00:04:21 That's helped them create confusion. They've shut down the run a little bit. I mean, this has just been a good defense through two weeks of the season. Again, we'll see what they're worth against what should be a better offense in Kansas, though last week against Illinois, I guess there's questions about the KU offense, but typically it's the center who is the brain of the offensive line operation. It is the center who is the one pointing out the protections. It is the center who is kind of communicating what is going on in the front of the defense. And that means a lot would be on the plate of KU's center, which is Bryce Foster,

Starting point is 00:04:52 especially from the mental side of the game. And then you add on to the fact that he hasn't been with Kansas a super long period of time. You have a new offense coordinator where you're running this new offense. He can be kind of a safety blanket for Jalen Daniels, I think, at the front. Good news is that in the early going, Bryce Foster is having a strong start to the season. So on pro football focus, Bryce Foster has a 75.9 PFF grade. Again, I talk about this all the time, like in the 60s is kind of you're just like average starter, which it's good to have average starters, right? If you have a bunch of average starters and then you have some star players, like boom, you're a good team, right?

Starting point is 00:05:26 So if he's in the 70s, that means he's been a good player to start this year. He has 78 pass block grade on PFF, 71 run block grade. And his overall pro football focus grade through two weeks, and I guess for some teams, three weeks if you played in week zero, but he is right now ranked 11th among all centers in the country on pro football focus and if you just look at power four centers he's ranked third in the country among power four centers by overall pro football focus grade so it's been a good start for him right then you could say well one of those against an fcs opponent which that's gonna help the score

Starting point is 00:06:01 but point like he's been as and above advertised through two weeks of the season. Now, the two UNLV defensive linemen have a 62 and a 70 PFF grade overall. The high number belongs to Alex Whitmore, who has an 85 grade in run defense. He's been really good there. But beyond the physical of trying to block those guys and whoever he ends up having to block, as I just mentioned,

Starting point is 00:06:26 this game is going to test you mentally. And so that is where it really comes into play. I also look back to the Illinois game. And I say that everybody is coming out of this game, myself included, going run the ball, like run the ball more, right? And so you hope KU becomes more committed to running the football and playing behind their star players in Devin Neal and Daniel Hyshaw there. So if that's what you're going to do, if you end up running the football more than that puts more onus on the offensive line to create those holes for the running backs, enter the offensive line,

Starting point is 00:06:56 including Bryce Foster to kind of pave the way and dominate in that way. The one problem with this, I will say just to speak a little on the opposite. UNLV has been good against the run this year. They only gave up 38 yards, one and a half yard per carry to Houston. Now, a lot of that was sacks. If you take out the sacks, it's 20 carries for 98 yards, which is closer to five yards per carry. FCS game, Utah Tech only had 67 rush yards on 2.8 per carry. If you take out the sack they have there, it would be 23 carries for 75 yards, so still under three yards per pop.

Starting point is 00:07:29 But they also shut down the running game. I guess slowed it down maybe would be the way of putting it. In the bowl game, KU had 142 rushing yards, but it took 39 carries. That's 3.6 yards per carry. Devin Neal had just 3.6 yards per carry. So KU's going to have to figure out this defense and how to run on it more than they did last year. And if you remember kind of a similar style of just this like defense that you're trying to figure out what they're doing, Iowa State,

Starting point is 00:07:52 KU struggled to run on them the last couple of seasons. So KU is going to have to figure that out, especially knowing that last week, like the passing issues that he had against Illinois, it's hard for me to see KU doing in the air what they did in the bowl game against UNLV in the air again this go-around. And so you have to run the football a little bit more. But the good news, guess who wasn't in the bowl game for KU when they played UNLV? Sure, Logan Brown would be one answer, and he's had a good start to the season too. But Bryce Foster is the other answer, another reason why kind of an X factor in this game. So I'll say that last week we, again, kind of hit on this, but kind of didn't. But I could also say the quarterback is the player that has to play well

Starting point is 00:08:32 every week for KU to win, and that is the case. So, like, it almost isn't obvious. So I think for KU to win this game, Jalen Daniels does have to play well. But, like, besides Jalen Daniels, because of the quarterback always being so important, I look at Bryce Foster as being just as important as anybody else who is out there. And I think if he does play well and does help open up running lanes and they are able to run the football better than they were in the bowl game against

Starting point is 00:08:54 UNLV or better than any of the couple early opponents that they've played this season has been able to run on them, then it's going to open things up more for the passing game. If you can get like, it feels like KU has been just running in general, as opposed to setting up the passing game with run, which I think is when they're kind of at their best. All right,

Starting point is 00:09:12 let's continue on other players of note for UNLV and what it could tell us about the matchup for KU. Today's Locked on Jayhawks brought to you by Factor Meals. Fuel up with factors, no prep, no mess meals. Meet your wellness goals thanks to the menu of chef-crafted meals with options like Calorie Smart, Protein Plus, and Keto. Factor Fresh's never-frozen meals are dietitian-approved and ready to eat in just two minutes.

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Starting point is 00:10:42 or four points coming in to this matchup, but that was kind of off the doldrums of the low points of the Illinois game. But still, I actually was looking at CFB graphs, which does a lot of good analytic work. It actually has this closer to KU being like 12-point favorites. So I don't know. Maybe they're just underrating what UNLV has been so far. You can do that what you will. But guess what? We have something a little different for you too with FanDuel

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Starting point is 00:11:35 partner of the Locked On Podcast Network. Thank you for making Locked On Jayhawks your first listen every day. Don't forget to make Locked On College Football your second listen every day. It was on Locked On Big 12, and we did our weekly roundtable, so you can check that episode out as well. Other players of note for UNLV that I wanted to discuss. Obviously, KU Center becomes important with the structure of their defense

Starting point is 00:11:59 and everything. They have really good skill players. Ricky White is an All-American level receiver. He had 1,483 receiving yards last year, seven catches, 97 yards, and a touchdown in the bowl against Kansas. So far earlier this year, seven catches. He had five last week. He'll be a focal part of the game plan. Jacob DeJesus, he's a slot receiver running back hybrid. He went off against KU in the bowl game. Super shifty, agile, does it all. KU's done a pretty good job tackling early in the season, but I don't know that they've been tested like they will with UNLV.

Starting point is 00:12:29 Illinois tested you from a power football sense. UNLV is going to test you from a speed sense and being able to wrap up and tackle guys in the open field who are very good at making you miss. The quarterback is Matthew Sluka, not nearly as good of a passer as Jaden Maieva, so that's the positive. But the negative is that he is, I don't know, maybe even better at like protecting the football,

Starting point is 00:12:51 like not throwing interceptions, but more so he is just an unbelievable runner of the football. He actually had a 92 pro football focus grade in 2023. That was at Holy Cross at the FCS level, but his final two seasons at Holy Cross, because he played like four years, he had 66 total touchdowns to nine interceptions. He had 2,500 rushing yards. This dude is big. He's kind of a Colin Klein type runner. He's been inaccurate early on, but experienced player, dual threat. It'll be a much different challenge for KU. The left tackle, Jalen St. John, he struggled in run blocking, but he has a 90 pass block grade. So that'll be something interesting for the KU pass rushers. That's kind of the case for the left side of the line, whereas the right side of the line features are really good. Side with Tiger Shanks at right

Starting point is 00:13:33 tackle and Matthias Sua, who is, both of those are very balanced, good players at right guard and right tackle. And then you look at the defensive side of the ball for what UNLV has out there. We mentioned Whitmore being a really good run stopper with that 85 PFF run stopping grade. Jalen Dixon has also been solid against the run on the same side. His side is kind of that edge outside linebacker, so maybe a little tougher to run to that side of the football, run to the opposite side, and you would think you're going to have more success.

Starting point is 00:14:03 And then you have the two inside linebackers are really stars of the show for the UNLV defense. Marcel McDuffie, he was average last year by PFF grade. He's early on this season, got a 77 PFF grade. So he's looked really good. Jackson Woodard is just a production machine. Racks up tackles, TFLs. He's a good blitzer from the linebacker position.

Starting point is 00:14:23 So those guys are ones to watch. And then a corner, Cameron Oliver is a stud. I don't know that I love their corner depth, but he can help take away. We've seen Jalen Daniels really like to go to Luke Grimm. What if he takes away Luke Grimm? In theory, KU has, I think, good depth of having a second and third receiver with Arnold and Skinner, but we haven't always seen Daniels so far this season want to really spread it out that way. They also have a note, Tony Grimes. He's a former five-star corner who's played at like North Carolina and I think one or two other schools. He's been playing like safety so far this year.

Starting point is 00:14:54 And then they have Jalen Catalan, who's a former Arkansas player. I think he played against KU in the bowl game. He has a 90 PFF grade early on in the season at strong safety. So they have a talented back end to the secondary for sure that is going to make things a little bit more difficult on KU. It's a very good UNLV football team. It's one that could win double-digit games, could contend to be the top team out of the group of five, and certainly they have a lot of star players to go with it.

Starting point is 00:15:19 All right, let's talk three areas where KU is excelling, three areas where KU is struggling statistically on the other side with Lockdown Jayhawks. This episode is brought to you by LinkedIn Jobs. When you're hiring for small businesses, you want to find quality professionals that are right for the role. That's why you have to check out LinkedIn Jobs. LinkedIn Jobs is the tools to help you find the right professionals for your team faster and for free. LinkedIn isn't just a job board. They help you hire professionals you can't find anywhere else, even those who aren't actively searching for a new job but might be open to a perfect role. In a given month, over 70% of LinkedIn users don't visit other leading job sites.

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Starting point is 00:16:32 Our three areas where KU is excelling and struggling statistically and with pro football focus. Let's start with the strong areas early this season. Blocking has been a big one. Kansas ranks 28th in pass blocking grade on Pro Football Focus, and they rank second right now in run blocking grade. The only team that's higher than them in run blocking grade is Navy, who, like, that's all they do.

Starting point is 00:16:51 They run the football. They run triple option, right? That's a good company to be in. From a raw stats basis, KU's also only allowed one sack in two games. That's a good number. This one is the one that really blew my mind they've only given up three tackles for loss allowed they are they are pushing the pile forward uh the only teams who have given up less tfls than ku navy again and army two teams are on triple

Starting point is 00:17:17 option which is like very hard like that's the whole point of the triple option that you're going to consistently be gaining two or three yards at the very least to keep things moving forward uh doesn't how her hurt uh when describing that the blocking's been good either and saying that they're averaging 6.6 yards per carry so line's been really good early this season for ku uh the tackling has been good for ku as i mentioned this is going to be a different beast because unov has more speed and like skill talent than the other teams you played against so different way of going at it. But KU right now is 13th in tackling grade. And I'll be interested to see if it does translate

Starting point is 00:17:49 into a game like this because you're, you know, there, there are teams in the big 12 who are going to have that skill talent to make you miss, right? Like you don't play UCF this year, but that would be the type of team TCU. That's the type of team that they are like, they're going to have still skill talent that can make you miss with speed. So this one will be more like Colorado, right? This one will be more indicative of how good of a tackling unit they'll be against teams like this will carry to the Big 12 than it will the Illinois game. But you look at the West Virginia game, the Illinois game probably lines up more with the West Virginia game.

Starting point is 00:18:20 So it just kind of depends. But still, it's really been everybody all over over the field uh even the secondary the front seven there's only one player on ku who's even missed two or more tackles so far this season everybody's either missed zero or one the only guy who's missed two ironically is tommy dunn i say ironically because tommy dunn's been awesome to start the season right and like that's been the only thing right um kansas only missed 10 tackles so far through two games they missed more than that by a handful in just the Missouri State game a season ago. So tackling seems to be improved. I think a big reason why is the linebacker improvement. But again, going to get tested more against UNLV. And then coverage has been good. Kansas is sixth in coverage grade on PFF.

Starting point is 00:18:59 I think it makes sense to me. I even look at some of the big plays that Illinois had in the fourth quarter passing the football. It was pretty coverage it was just like it was just like a perfectly thrown ball and a good play by the receiver like Franklin makes that catch with one hand and I argued earlier that like okay maybe if Kobe Bryant is the one guarding him on the outside with a little bit more size maybe that doesn't happen but like still it wasn't like bad coverage it's not like he just got burned uh you look at the one like third and long they had where he kind of toe drags on the sideline and able to catch that thing coming in like that's a perfect throw and catch you know that's really tough to defend so uh sixth and coverage grade which makes sense based on what we thought with

Starting point is 00:19:36 players coming in and uh specifically the the top two in terms of like nfl passer rating against for for ku mellow dots and been targeted eight times 33 nfl passer rating against for KU. Mello Dotson been targeted eight times, 33 NFL passer rating against. OJ Burrows targeted five times, only a 39.6 NFL passer rating against. Okay, what about the weak areas early on for KU right now statistically? Passing the football. I mean, that just hasn't been a thing for KU so far.

Starting point is 00:19:59 They're 106th when you look at pro football focuses, passing grade. When you look at ESPN's total QBR, we did the who stat line is it anyway with Nick, that Galen's total QBR, which has been amazing in 2022 and 2023, is now like for this year below that of guys like Peyton Bender and Jordan Webb and stuff like that.

Starting point is 00:20:22 But it's 102nd right now for this year. KU was also 111th in EPA on the passing game. And Jalen is also tied 200, and I don't even know how this is possible, tied 261st in the country in interceptions thrown. I guess it would be possible because it may be this early in the season. Everybody's qualified.

Starting point is 00:20:42 So it's like if a random third string came into an FCS game for some team, like any through no picks, cause he threw two passes. It counts, but still that's pretty bananas. KU is also just 15th of 16, big 12 teams and passing yards per game. They're getting just 6.4 pass yards per attempt.

Starting point is 00:20:58 That would be the lowest mark for KU since 2020 when they were at 4.9 before that 2018, when they were 5.9 and the air yards per attempt is 4.5 which like the past couple years they've been closer to 10 so they're not throwing the even the even through the deep balls that they've thrown they're throwing so many short passes and screens that it is still like counteracting that for that average so I don't think the receivers maybe have been as good at gaining separation early this season as they were the last two years although I will say the last couple years I I don't think they mostly excelled at getting separation it was making catches

Starting point is 00:21:33 when contested catches and making good plays but I think that's more about Andy Kotelnicki not being here uh who's so good at scheming guys more open. Okay, turnover margin. That's been a weak area early. Kansas currently minus three in turnover margin. That ranks 126th in the country. It's a combo of things. They're not forcing them. They had the pick six early in the Lindenwood game, but they weren't really forcing a ton that game besides that. I don't think they had any others.

Starting point is 00:21:59 Did they have any against Illinois? Man, they got so close to having one on that punt that could have been. But currently minus three there. They're not forcing them, and they're giving them up way too much. That's a bad combo to be in. And then the last one here that's been kind of a weak area early is explosive plays. This was something that Kansas excelled at under Andy Kornilicki

Starting point is 00:22:19 the last couple of seasons. And it feels like KU early this season has replaced the big plays with like I don't know I almost feel like the big plays for Kansas a lot of them happened organically it was like we're gonna run this good play and it's a 15-yard pass and boom all of a sudden it was great scheme and now our guy busted into a 30-yard gain and we're gonna run this this running play that we think is good that can get us you know eight to ten yards and boom, it busts open for a 60 yard gain or something like that. Whereas it feels like with this offense, it's like trying to get the big play.

Starting point is 00:22:51 Like it's like, no, we are going to throw it 60 yards downfield. We're going to throw it 40 yards downfield and trying to get that. I don't know. Maybe that's just me overthinking it early in the season, but like plays of 10 or more yards in 2023, Kansas was 29th in the country right now this season, they're 67th plays of 20 or more yards. In 2023, Kansas was 29th in the country. Right now this season, they're 67th. Plays of 20 or more yards in 2023.

Starting point is 00:23:11 Kansas was 17th. Right now they're 47th. Plays of 30 plus yards in 2023. Kansas was 10th. 2024, they're 103rd. Plays of 40 plus yards. Last season, Kansas was 7th. This year, they're 55th.

Starting point is 00:23:26 This is probably more about the passing game. Some of the issues that they're happening right now. And if they can figure out the passing game, it probably opens up the run game more that you can hit more of these ones. But yeah, that's kind of the big thing that, that they need to figure out. They need to hit those bigger plays.

Starting point is 00:23:38 They need to hit the passing game a little bit more consistently. And if they can, then there'll be back to where we thought they were in the preseason. If they don't, then, you know, it's just going to be a different conversation all season long. That'll do it for this episode of locked on Jayhawks.

Starting point is 00:23:50 We'll be back tomorrow for our KU UNLV preview. So make sure you subscribe to the show and catching it anywhere you get your podcast. See you then.

Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Why Kansas Jayhawks Football Needs a Big Game from Center Bryce Foster to Defeat UNLV Rebels

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