Four Things Kansas Has to Correct After Its Disappointing Loss to Missouri

The Kansas football team entered the Border Showdown against Missouri with plenty of momentum, and there were some exciting moments throughout the contest. However, the Jayhawks were unable to prevail in their second game of the campaign, falling 38-21 to their cross-state rival.

Like last season's meeting between these two schools, this was absolutely a winnable matchup for the Jayhawks. They had some breaks go their way despite being dominated in several facets, yet they were unable to capitalize when they needed to.

It was always going to be tough to take down a ranked Missouri squad, but this defeat proved that the team has several areas it needs to clean up heading into next week's London game against Arizona State. Here are four things Lance Leipold's squad needs to fix.

4. Getting the Running Backs Involved

Given the passing game struggles — we'll get to those in a minute — it felt like KU's running backs were severely underutilized tonight. Dylan Edwards and Yasin Willis, who were both named to the Doak Walker Award Watch List in the preseason, combined for just 14 carries, compared to Isaiah Marshall's 18.

Granted, Missouri was stacking the box on a lot of early downs, but the offense became one-dimensional after a while, with Marshall either taking the ball on designed quarterback runs or rolling out on seemingly every passing play. It never felt as though KU's rushing attack really got going.

In the season opener, Willis scored two touchdowns and tallied 72 yards on 6.5 yards per carry. He was a complete nonfactor against the Tigers, whether that was due to Missouri's defensive scheme or the game script.

Regardless, the Jayhawks are not going to have an effective offense if they can't consistently run the ball with their two tailbacks.

3. Zone Coverage in Secondary

Southpaw Austin Simmons looked very impressive tonight and didn't miss many throws for the Tigers. He finished 19-for-29 passing for 292 yards and three touchdowns.

In total, KU's secondary held up for the better part of a quarter, but it started to collapse whenever the defense needed stops down the stretch. The first example came when Donovan Olugbode went 65 yards untouched down the left sideline after Austin Alexander mistakenly blitzed when there was no one picking up the wideout.

BIG THIRD DOWN CONVERSION

Simmons hits Olugbode for a 65-yard catch and run pic.twitter.com/P5BdBFltc1
— Mizzou Football (@MizzouFootball) September 12, 2026

Quite frankly, the defense could not cover an out-breaking route to save its life tonight. It was déjà vu from last year, when quarterback Beau Pribula pieced up KU's secondary for 334 yards.

There were serious concerns about the defensive backfield going into the season, and those questions will continue to persist until the unit gives fans a reason to think otherwise.

2. Offensive Line Discipline/Penalties

Missouri wasn't exactly disciplined in its win, committing 10 penalties for 76 yards, but the Jayhawks' offensive line began to unravel in the second half.

When the game was 31-21 and the Jayhawks had one last chance to cut the deficit to stay in it, the offensive line committed three costly penalties, in addition to a Tavake Tuikolovatu holding call that wiped out a big gain. KU had 11 penalties on the night, seven of which were committed by the offensive line.

It isn't particularly easy to avoid holding calls when your quarterback is scrambling outside the pocket on every play. Still, offensive line coach Daryl Agpalsa has a lot to clean up with his group.

1. Passing Game Consistency

We had to save this for last because it was going to be the most pressing talking point of the night. In Isaiah Marshall's first start against an FBS opponent, he had a couple of highs, but a lot more lows.

He finished the night 13-of-30 passing for 168 yards, two touchdowns, and two interceptions while fumbling three times and losing one. His poor completion percentage tells the story, as Marshall missed several throws that should have been easy completions, repeatedly sailing the ball over his intended targets or leaving them short.

How did Kansas’ Isaiah Marshall complete this 360 pass?😳

(via Fox) pic.twitter.com/OZV5HhmKVB
— On3 (@On3) September 12, 2026

All the questions surrounding his arm finally came into play tonight, and it showed why Jayhawk fans were wary of the dual-threat signal-caller in the first place. Performances like this simply won't cut it in the Big 12, regardless of how good you are with your legs.

It remains to be seen how long Marshall's leash as a starter is. However, if he plays similarly a week from now, it wouldn't be shocking if Andy Kotelnicki pulls the plug on him and lets Cole Ballard get a few series in with the offense.

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