89 Days Until Kansas Football: Way Too Early Predictions - Early Conference Games
Yesterday, we decided that having 3 months to go before Kansas Football kicks off the season wasn't a good enough reason to avoid giving some super early predictions. The passing of one day doesn't do anything to persuade me that this is a bad idea.
I'm sure that these predictions will be used against me in the future as people look back after these games happen, but again, that's the majority of the fun of these things.
Today we are looking at the first three conference games of the season. Full disclosure, I had planned on splitting these up into home and away conference games, but it seemed to make sense to just do three games in each article. Have to fill the countdown somehow.
A reminder that for these predictions, we will be looking at ESPN's FPI Rankings. For reference, the Kansas Jayhawks rank 97th coming into this season, while they ended last season ranked 114th.
Make sure you catch up on the non-conference game predictions as well.
at West Virginia (52)
The Mountaineers have arguably lost the most in the transfer portal of any Big 12 team, but the addition of JT Daniels can do a lot to make up for any issues.
But Kansas fans are used to have good quarterback play ruined by the inability of the rest of the offense to keep up, and there is an honest question about just how much West Virginia has to work with this season.
I could see this game going either way, as Kansas is going to have the advantage of returning a LOT of production early in the season. The main question is going to be how difficult the defensive line can make it on Daniels in his first conference game as a Mountaineer.
Prediction: West Virginia 28, Kansas 24
vs Iowa State (27)
Iowa State still gets a lot of love from the FPI system, and likely for good reason. But they have a lot of holes to fill. Only five of their top 13 players on defense (by number of snaps) are returning this season, which means that it isn't guaranteed that the defense picks up where it left off.
Add in that the offense lost Brock Purdy, Breece Hall and Charlie Kolar, and it is likely that the offense will have some growing pains as well.
Hunter Dekkers looked like the real deal in spring ball, and Xavier Hutchinson returns to give him a true threat at the wide receiver position. But this Kansaas team won't be horribly outmatched this time around. I don't know that they would be favored to win, but I wouldn't be shocked to see this come down to the wire.
Prediction: Iowa State 31, Kansas 27
vs TCU (42)
It will be weird seeing TCU coached by someone besides Gary Patterson, and Sonny Dykes has done quite a bit to put his stamp on the program already.
The schemes should be fairly different, especially on defense. Joe Gillespie brings a 3-3-5 defense to Fort Worth, and it's not immediately clear how well the players will slot into the new scheme.
Add in that the quarterback situation is still unsettled, and there are still a lot of questions to be answered for TCU. If this game was in Fort Worth, I would have a harder time picking the upset. But Kansas is going to get at least one upset this season, and this is one they usually perform well in.
Prediction: Kansas 34, TCU 28
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