Kansas Jayhawks at Nevada Wolf Pack Statistical Recap: Not as bad as you think.
Talk about a let-down. While the Kansas Jayhawks were still able to get the win this week, they struggled mightily to put away a Nevada Wolf Pack team that came into the game as one of the worst teams overall. But it wasn't all bad. So let's dive through the box score to figure out what went well and what needs improvement.
Offense
The overall offensive output was down, as the Jayhawks totaled just 441 yards total offense. But let's not pretend like that is an Iowa level performance. Kansas racked up 24 first downs, were 7-11 on third down and only had one turnover on the night. It was a successful outing by any stretch of the imagination, but one that saw a lot of opportunities left on the table.
Passing
The Jayhawks were held without a passing touchdown for the first time this season, but it wasn't from lack of trying. Three times Jalon Daniels completed a long passing play only for the receiver to be stopped just outside the end zone. But 298 yards is a successful outing.
Jalon Daniels completed 21 of his 27 pass attempts for 298 yards without any touchdowns or interceptions. He did however lose a fumble where he was sacked. It was a solid effort but not spectacular.
Mason Fairchild led the Jayhawks with 74 yards on 5 receptions. Lawrence Arnold also caught 5 passes, but he only totaled 46 yards on the day.
Luke Grimm caught 4 passes for 55 yards, with all four of those receptions resulting in a first down.
Quentin Skinner was the only other receiver with more than one reception. He totaled 50 yards on 4 catches.
Devin Neal had a single catch for 59 yards, being tackled at the one yard line.
Rushing
The running game struggled in this one, only hitting a total of 143 yards on the night. Jalon Daniels, typically a reliable rusher, had negative four yards on 7 total carries. However, it's fair to say that the rushing performance was muted by having multiple rushing touchdowns of 3 yards or less.
Devin Neal led all rushers, needing 17 carries to hit 89 yards. However, he had just 5 yards on his three rushing touchdowns, so it is fair to say that his yards per carry were limited by those scoring runs.
Daniel Hishaw totaled 48 yards and 1 touchdown on 9 carries.
Dylan McDuffie had 13 yards on 5 carries.
Defense
The defense had a good night despite allowing Nevada to hit their highest point total of the season. The defense only gave up 258 total yards and 14 first downs. What made the difference on the night was that they were unable to turn even one of the five fumbles they forced into a turnover.
Kenny Logan led the team with 9 tackles, including 6 solo tackles and 2.5 tackles for loss. The last one was a huge hit on 4th down to end Nevada's final attempt to tie the game.
Craig Young, Rich Miller and Mello Dotson each had 6 tackles and at least 1 tackle for loss. Young had a sack and Dotson had two pass breakups.
Overall, the Jayhawks totaled 10 tackles for loss on the night with 2 sacks, with the other coming early from Tommy Dunn Jr.
Special Teams
The special teams were called on sparingly and were not in any way awful in this game.
Damon Greaves had three punts on the day for an average of 39.7 yards
Tabor Allen got a touchback on each of his kickoffs.
Seth Keller made his only attempted field goal of 44 yards, and was a perfect 4/4 on extra points.
Neither team had any kick or punt returns.
Up next, the Jayhawks open up conference play, welcoming in the BYU Cougars for their first even Big 12 game. Kickoff is scheduled for 2:30pm Central time on ESPN.
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