98 Days Until Kansas Football: Grading The Second Half of On-Field Results in Year 1 of Lance Leipold
On yesterday's entry to the countdown, we went over the first half of the on-field results of the first year of the Lance Leipold tenure. Today, we finish up our grades before we evaluate other parts of his first season at the helm for the Kansas Jayhawks.
A reminder that we are grading on a bit of a curve given the unconventional timing of his hire and the loss of a large portion of the offseason preparation you would expect.
Week 7: vs Oklahoma
Result: 35-23 Loss
The Kansas defense came to play early in this one, holding Oklahoma scoreless in the first half while the Jayhawks scored 10 points on three methodical drives down the field to take a halftime lead.
Unfortunately it didn't last, as Oklahoma scored touchdowns on five straight drives, including a controversial Caleb Williams strip fumble of his own running back on a fourth down play to extend a drive.
While Kansas lost the game, they impressed a lot of people in this one.
Grade: B+
Week 8: at Oklahoma State
Result: 55-3 Loss
This one was a massacre from start to finish, and had many Kansas fans thinking that the strides made against Oklahoma were just a mirage. It was hard to argue with them after this game, and there are no redeeming qualities to this contest.
Grade: F
Week 9: vs Kansas State
Result: 35-10 Loss
The offense couldn't get going in this one, but it's hard to blame them when Jason Bean, Miles Kendrick and Torry Locklin all got injured in the first half.
Jalon Daniels struggled against a Kansas State defense that was teeing off on the offensive line all day. Add in multiple long touchdown drives, and it was a rough day all around.
Grade: C-
Week 10: at Texas
Result: 57-56 OT Win
This game had basically everything you could ever ask for, all rolled up into one. The Jayhawks got out to a great start, with two long touchdown drives sandwiching a Texas fumble to give Kansas the early two-score lead. Then Texas fought back on a two touchdown drives sandwiching a Kansas three-and-out. But Kansas used a dominant defensive effort to force two more turnovers and go into the half with a 21 point lead.
The second half was not great for the Jayhawks, as the offense stalled out repeatedly, including immediately after what many thought was a game-sealing interception with just over a minute left. Instead, Kansas went three-and-out and left enough time for the Longhorns to get a final score to send the game into overtime.
Kansas fans will remember what came next: Texas scoring first before a Jared Casey two-point conversion sealed the victory for the Jayhawks. Sure, the game wasn't pretty. But the fact that Kansas twice gave up multiple score leads but still ended up with a big victory is nothing but a positive.
Grade: A
Week 11: at TCU
Result: 31-28 Loss
Jalon Daniels officially burned his redshirt to play in this game, and the team rallied around him to put on another great performance. An injury to Devin Neal in the game hurt Kansas in the second half, and they ultimately weren't able to pull off the second straight upset win on the road.
Again, a strong showing across the board for the team was a positive sign to take from this game. While the Texas game was impressive in its own right, the fact that the team followed it up with a strong performance against a team that was still considered to be the more talented one was at least as impressive.
Grade: B+
Week 12: vs West Virginia
Result: 34-28 Loss
This was the third straight game where Kansas was extremely competitive to end the season, which gave plenty of reasons for Kansas fans to be optimistic going into the offseason. Gavin Potter stepped up big on the defensive side of the ball, recovering a fumble and scoring on a pick six, but the offense struggled in this one.
Grade: B
Overall
It was a rough season, with only a 2-10 record for the Jayhawks. However, not all 2-10 records are created equal, and the positive strides made as the season went on were huge.
Taking into account the amount of time lost due to offseason circumstances, it's easy to be more forgiving of the early season struggles. The fact that the Jayhawks showed real development over the course of the season and remained competitive against teams that were more talented than them was a huge credit to the way that Leipold and staff worked with the team in Year 1.
Overall Grade: B
Join the discussion! Come talk about this or any of our articles on the Blue Wing Rising Discord Server.
Follow Blue Wings Rising on Twitter.
Listen to the official podcast of Blue Wings Rising: The Rock Chalk Podcast.
