Hawking Points: Kansas Wins Guaranteed Rate Bowl 49-36
The Guaranteed Rate Bowl was a flag-filled, points-filled rollercoaster but at the end, the Kansas Jayhawks had their first bowl game win in more than a decade when it defeated UNLV 49-36 Tuesday in Phoenix.
Key Plays
As bad as the KU defense looked in drive one (see below), the unit woke up on drive two. A false start by UNLV put the Rebels back to start and then the Jayhawks swarmed the run, forcing a third and 18 that UNLV couldn’t convert.
Kansas started its second possession on its own two yard line after a big UNLV punt. After a first down, Bean again went deep and connected with Quentin Skinner for 36 yards. After a reverse, Bean found Trevor Wilson to get inside the red zone. Neal then took it down to the six and on the next play, Bean found Luke Grimm for a touchdown to tie the game on a 98-yard drive.
With UNLV driving again on offense early in the second quarter, Cobee Bryant picked off Jayden Maiava on third down near the redzone. Bean took the Jayhawks to the 40 and then a play-action pass fooled everyone on UNLV and Grimm was wide-open for a 60-yard touchdown to go up 14-7 with 11:37 to go in the half.
UNLV missed a 51-yard field goal attempt, giving KU the ball back on the 34 yard line. On third and 10, Bean again went deep to Grimm, who beat coverage and picked up 51 yards. Then Bean found Arnold in the back of the end zone and Kansas was up 21-7.
On the next possession, Maiava was being pressured and instead of taking the sack, he threw the ball up, which was picked off by Craig Young.
In the final two minutes of the half, Bean took another deep shot that Skinner went up and grabbed for 43 yards down to the two yard line. Neal capped it in with a touchdown run and his 16th rushing touchdown of the season.
With Kansas spiraling and Bean throwing his third interception, Bryant came off a blitz on first down and sacked Maiava to push UNLV back toward midfield. The defense forced a fourth and 19 and a punt, but UNLV downed it at the one.
Neal runs got KU out of deep territory and KU avoided disaster when Daniel Hishaw fumbled but it was recovered by a Kansas lineman. On second and 13, Bean rolled again to his right and hit Mason Fairchild at midfield. On third and 17 after a sack, Neal ran for 16 yards to bring up fourth and one. Kansas not only went for it but took a shot and Bean found Arnold for a 40-yard touchdown to put Kansas back up 35-24.
Another UNLV touchdown made it a one-score game, but a bobbled snap on the two-point conversion stopped the Rebels from being down just three. And then an unsportsmanlike penalty by UNLV gave Kansas excellent field position on the kickoff. Two plays later, Bean threw a screen to Arnold, who took it 56 yards for a touchdown.
On the next possession, UNLV went for it on fourth and one near midfield and didn’t convert, giving Kansas the ball back inside Rebels territory. On third down, Bean went deep and found Grimm for 44 yards and his third receiving touchdown of the game, Bean’s sixth TD pass.
Eye-Catching Stat Lines
Playing in his final college game, Bean couldn’t have started much better. He was reportedly battling the flu and started 7/9 for 155 yards and two TDs through a quarter and five minutes. The mistakes made this one less than perfect, but boy was he good enough. Bean threw for six touchdowns and 449 yards and three picks on 19-28 passing.
And in doing so, he is now only behind Todd Reesing for passing TDs at Kansas, passing Carter Stanley.
His targets on those touchdowns were Arnold and Grimm, who each had three TD grabs with big yardage. Grimm gained 160 yards on four catches while Arnold had 132 yards on six grabs.
UNLV was focused on slowing down Neal and stopping the run, which they did successfully for the most part, but still Kansas ran for 142 yards on 33 carries. Neal himself had 71 yards and a touchdown on 20 carries.
Eye-Covering Moments
It wasn’t a great start on the opening kickoff when Kansas kicked the ball out of bounds, giving UNLV6): ball at the 35. On the first play, a run up the middle, the Rebels were already in KU territory. It didn't get any better as on third and goal from the three, a run that should have been stopped behind the line of scrimmage ended up with a touchdown. UNLv went 65 yards in eight plays to score first.
The first play for Kansas was a nine-yard pass from Jason Bean to Jared Casey. Devin Neal seemed to break a 39-yard run on the next play but it was called back due to holding. Then on third and six, Bean went deep to Skinner but he couldn’t bring it down and Kansas had to punt. The punt by Damon Greaves was not a good one and again the Rebels had great field position.
After Maiaiva’s second interception, Bean got too greedy and was picked off in the end zone trying to find Skinner in double coverage. Bean made another bad decision to start the second half trying to force a pass on third and 14 that was picked off and gave UNLV the ball at the KU 42. The Rebels immediately turned the mistake into points and cut the lead to 11 with a Maiava touchdown pass three minutes into the half.
Another terrible possession on offense, a bad punt, and so many penalties and UNLV came back on the very next play for a 37-yard touchdown and all of a sudden it’s 28-24 Kansas. The Rebels put up 17 points in about seven minutes of play from the end of the first half through the first five minutes of the second half.
It didn’t get any better. Bean threw another interception on third down deep in KU’s territory.
I can’t end this section without calling out the ESPN production and officiating. Not only did ESPN either not show replays or cut away from live action at odd times, but the referee microphones weren’t working to hear what penalties were. And there were a ton of them. Kansas was called for 10 penalties for 135 yards while UNLV had five for 45 yards in the first half alone. For the game, KU had 216 penalty yards on 18 penalties and UNLV had eight penalties for 84 yards.
Takeaways
Well, it wasn’t always pretty. And it took a long time (like four hours long). But Kansas played with multiple starters out and did what it needed to win. And it’s hard to undersell how fantastic the redemption story is for Bean from the failed two-point attempt in last year’s Liberty Bowl to the performance in Phoenix.
Kansas has nine wins, a bowl game trophy, and plenty of returning production looking to make a run at the Big 12 and the College Football Playoff next year.
