Can Kansas Football Revive Excitement Around the Program This Season?

Most Kansas football fans are likely down in the dumps right now as this group enters a bye week. All of the preseason hype surrounding the squad has fizzled out since the Jayhawks lost consecutive games to Missouri and Arizona State.

Despite renewed optimism in the program when it named Isaiah Marshall the starting quarterback, things have not worked out well for KU. The offense hasn't looked right through its first three games, and special teams and coaching mistakes have loomed large.

A lot of people are rightfully fed up with Lance Leipold, as the football team appears headed back to its dark days of the 2010s. The reality is that Kansas has reached one bowl in the past 17 seasons and is on its way to its third consecutive losing campaign.

Is there any scenario where Leipold and Co. can revive hope in the fanbase this season? Can the Jayhawks prove everyone wrong and go on a run in league play to become bowl eligible?

Hope in the Kansas Football Program Is Fading

People are dejected about the state of the football program. Everything looked so, so promising after 2023. Kansas was picked fourth in the Big 12 preseason poll the next year. Where did everything go wrong?

That's what we are all trying to figure out.

But if there is anything Leipold can do to salvage the 2026 season and potentially his job, it starts with the final rivalry game against Kansas State. While KU football supporters have grown accustomed to losing seasons, it becomes a different story when you've lost 17 consecutive outings to your in-state rival.

I feel like a broken record saying this, but the Jayhawks can instill some confidence in the KU faithful with a win over the Wildcats in Manhattan. Nothing from their first three showings suggests they'll have much of a shot on Oct. 17, but all we can do is take it on a game-to-game basis.

Sep 11, 2026; Lawrence, Kansas, USA; Kansas Jayhawks head coach Lance Leipold talks with an official against the Missouri Tigers during the first half of the game at David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The Jayhawks' bowl outlook is bleak heading into their next matchup against Middle Tennessee State. The team will be heavily favored in that contest, though every matchup beyond it is either a toss-up or a projected Kansas loss.

Either way, the Jayhawks can slightly redeem themselves toward the latter stages of the season, whether it be with a streak-breaking win over K-State or by stringing together a few victories in a row like they did toward the end of the 2024 campaign. Otherwise, the university can't possibly expect the fine people of Lawrence to pack the new and improved Booth.

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