Boston College 2019 Opponent Previews: Kansas Jayhawks
During the summer months and as we prepare for the upcoming season, BC Maven will be doing weekly previews of all of Boston College's opponents. Their third opponent are the Kansas Jayhawks, a struggling program who just made a huge hire, Les Miles. Can they turn it around against Boston College at Alumni Stadium on a Friday night?
Previous Previews: Week 1 Against Virginia Tech
Previous Matchups: This will be the first matchup between Boston College and Kansas in football.
Head Coach: Kansas made waves this offseason after they agreed to term with legendary head coach Les Miles. "The Mad Hatter" won the National Championship in 2007 with the LSU Tigers and was the Coach of the Year in 2011. Miles is well known for his special teams gadget plays, taking gambles on the field, and has a 142-55 record as a coach between his time at Oklahoma State and LSU.
2018 Season: It was another abysmal year for the Jayhawks last year on the gridiron as they finished 3-9. They started the year off by losing to FCS opponent Nicholls State at home 26-23, but then snapped off two wins against Rutgers and Central Michigan, definitely not big time FBS programs but at least they were wins. They followed that up with four straight losses, in which they gave up 48 points twice, 38 points once, and only managed 7 points of offense in the other. They miraculously defeated TCU at home, in front of 15,000 fans, before losing out the rest of the season to Iowa State, Kansas State, Oklahoma and Texas.
It was a brutal year on both sides of the ball for Kansas as they allowed 30 points per game, 82nd in the country, along with averaging only 350 yards per game on offense, good for 110th in the country. Clearly at the end of the year changes needed to be made, and David Beaty was let go.
2019 Outlook: On the offensive side of the ball, Les Miles should have some experience to work with. The offensive line is mostly entirely back, and that should allow Miles to develop a solid run game with Pooka Williams Jr who rushed for 1100 yards his freshman year.
As of this writing the passing game is a giant question mark for the Jayhawks. They currently haven't named a starting QB, which could be JUCO transfer Thomas MacVittie, or it could be senior Carter Stanley. In terms of wide receivers, their top 4 wide outs graduated last year as well. They have Alabama transfer Daylon Charlot, but he has only seen limited game time so far.
The defense on the other hand probably will not improve much this year, as they are basically replacing the entire front seven. Now you may say, if there is anyone who can fix a defense it is Les Miles, but remember he was filling in holes with blue chip five stars at LSU, not bringing in recruiting classes like Kansas which was 68th in the country, a similar ranking to Boston College.
Using Bill Connelly's S&P+ Projections, Kansas is only projected to be win two games this year, and aren't projected to keep it close against anyone else, Boston College included. According to the projections, Kansas is projected to lose to BC by 15.
BC Game Date: Friday September 13, 2019
Location: Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts
Chances of BC Victory: 95%.
S&P Chances of BC Victory: 81%