Illinois Fighting Illini at Kansas Jayhawks Statistical Recap: Defense Shines
There was no slow start for the Kansas Jayhawks this week, as they got hot right out of the gate and then settled in to salt the game away. This week, the defense was the star, especially as they tightened up late in the game with officiating issues and a shrinking lead.
Offense
Unbelievably, the offense was even more explosive this week than last week, as the return of Big 12 Preseason Offensive Player of the Year Jalon Daniels provided a huge spark throughout the game. The Jayhawks had 539 total yards, split almost evenly between passing and rushing, and looked unstoppable in the first half.
Passing
The passing output was nearly identical to the output from last week, as they totaled one more yard and the same number of scores. And taking into account the opponent, adding an interception and allowing two sacks still equates to a better performance than against Missouri State. Unfortunately, some late officiating shenanigans didn't allow the game to get to a point to put in backups, so Jason Bean did not attempt a pass.
Jalon Daniels completed 21 of his 29 pass attempts for 277 yards and 2 touchdowns with just one interception, recording a second-best in the Big 12 QBR of 89.7. He completed passes to 9 different Jayhawks.
Lawrence Arnold caught 5 passes for a total of 89 yards, including a long of 25 yards that came on Daniels' scramble play from the Kansas end zone on their third touchdown drive. He did have a fumble that was lost on the second drive of the second half.
Luke Grimm caught 3 passes for 69 yards, including an absolute monster of a catch on a 48-yard play to put Kansas in scoring position just before the half.
Both touchdown catches were made by occasional receivers Jared Casey and Torry Locklin. Neither caught another pass the rest of the game.
Mason Fairchild had 1 catch for 16 yards. Devin Neal caught 4 passes for 47 yards. Quentin Skinner (24 yards), Doug Emilien (15 yards) and Trevor Wilson (8 yards) each had 2 receptions.
Rushing
The running game once again outperformed in this game compared to the Missouri State game, totaling 264 yards after removing lost yardage for kneel downs. But the majority of that load was shared by just two players, something that I expect to see moving forward..
Devin Neal led all rushers. He had 120 yards on just 10 carries, including one touchdown. He also has an insane 9.3 yards per carry on the season.
Daniel Hishaw totaled 98 yards and 1 touchdown on 12 carries, including punching in the touchdown just before halftime.
Jalon Daniels carried the ball 11 times, gaining just 24 yards. Dylan McDuffie had 19 yards on 7 carries.
Defense
The defense had a great night even when taking into account a big 3rd quarter for Illinois, and of course two ridiculous targeting penalties didn't help. Overall, they gave up 341 total yards and 19 first downs. But the big story for this game was the loss of Austin Booker and Cobee Bryant to targeting for the second half and the first half of the upcoming game..
Jereme Robinson and Booker both had 2 sacks on the day, while JB Brown added one in his 6 tackles on the day and Patrick Joyner added a sack early in the game.
Kenny Logan led the team with 8 tackles, including 3 solo tackles and 0.5 tackles for loss.
DJ Withers added a tackle for loss and Hayden Hatcher (3 tackles) shared his tackle for loss with Logan.
Both Mello Dotson and Kwinton Lassiter had an interception on the day. It was Lassiter's second interception in two games, both which sealed victories.
Five players tallied a pass breakup: Brown, Marvin Grant, Bryant, Dotson and Kalon Gervin.
Special Teams
The special teams were called on sparingly and were not in any way awful in this game.
Damon Greaves had one punt on the day for only 37 yards (standing in his own endzone. But the short distance didn't really matter:
Tabor Allen had 7 kickoffs, with only the first one of them being returned (for 30 yards).
Seth Keller was again a perfect 2-2 on field goals and 4-4 on extra points.
Trevor Wilson handled all return duties, getting 41 total yards on two kick returns and losing 2 yards on the only punt return he didn't fair catch.
Up next, the Jayhawks take to the road for Big XII After Dark, as they are in Reno, NV to take on the Nevada Wolfpack. Kickoff is scheduled for 9:30pm Central time on CBS Sports Network.
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