BYU Cougars at Kansas Jayhawks Statistical Recap: Quick Start Pays Off

The Kansas Jayhawks started off quick and kept it going in what the box score shows as a complete team win.

The defense got started quickly, and the offense kept things going for the majority of the day as the Kansas Jayhawks defeated the BYU Cougars in front of a sold out crowd on Saturday. But even though the final score showed a big advantage for the home team, there were plenty of things to nitpick in this matchup.

So let's dive through the box score to see what it says about the dominance that was shown Saturday.

Offense

If you only look at the box score totals, you can be forgiven for thinking this was a poor offensive showing. The 351 total yards seems a bit low for a team that had been averaging over 500 yards a game. But for the full picture you have to look at the long drives that ate the clock by the Cougars and the fact that Kansas only ran 56 total plays on the day. That's an average of 6.3 yards per play, including incompletions.

Passing

The passing output was extremely low in this game, as a combination of a very successful run game and a lower-than-expected number of passing plays removed many of the opportunities that would normally have been there.

Jalon Daniels completed 14 of his 19 pass attempts for 130 yards and 3 touchdowns. He did not throw an interception on the day, and was relatively efficient with his passing on the day. Last week he had multiple plays that appeared to be touchdowns marked down just outside the end zone. This time, he left no doubt with passes to the back of the end zone..

Luke Grimm was the star of the day in the passing game, as both of his catches resulted in touchdowns. He only had 18 yards on the day.

Trevor Kardell caught one of two balls thrown his way. He gained 15 yards and scored a touchdown.

Lawrence Arnold caught 4 passes out of 5 targets for a total of 34 yards. Devin Neal caught all 3 of his targets for just 14 yards, while Jared Casey and Quentin Skinner rounded out the game's receivers.

Rushing

The running game was magnificent, with three huge contributions that led to an outstanding 221 yards on the day. No one was able to get into the end zone, but the Jayhawks used the running game to salt away any chance of a comeback.

Devin Neal led all rushers with 91 yards on 17 carries.

Daniel Hishaw totaled 60 yards on just 8 carries.

Jalon Daniels carried the ball 9 times, gaining 54 yards. Dylan McDuffie had 17 yards on just 2 carries.

Defense

The defense had it's best game all season, even with a few warts. They allowed BYU quarterback Kedon Slovis to throw for 357 yards, but it took him 30 receptions and 51 total passes to do it. And the running game only allowed a measly 9 net rushing yards. And that's before we get to the two defensive scores, one to start each half. On the day, they allowed 23 total first downs in the game, including multiple by penalties, but the Cougars were only 6-14 on 3rd down and 2-4 on 4th down. 

Cobee Bryant was a monster in this game, only allowing one of three balls thrown his way to be completed. He ended the day with one pass breakup, one interception, and one bone-crunching hit on a running back to knock the ball loose before scooping it up and running it in for a touchdown on the second defensive play of the game.

Kenny Logan Jr. also scored a touchdown, snagging a ball out of the air that was tipped by both Kalon Gervin  and Jayson Gilliom before outrunning everyone to the corner. He ended the day with 4 tackles and 2 pass breakups in addition to his interception.

Austin Booker led the team in tackles on the day with 7, including 1.5 sacks and a separate tackle for loss. He shared one of those sacks with Jereme Robinson, who provided pressure all game long but was only credited with 3 total tackles.

JB Brown only had 3 tackles as well, but one was a pretty important sack to keep up the pressure.

OJ Burroughs had a standout day as well, including his own near-pick six just two plays before Logan's in the second half. He had 6 total tackles

Cornell Wheeler forced a fumble, although BYU was able to recover.

Special Teams

The special teams were called on sparingly and were not in any way awful in this game.

Damon Greaves punted twice, averaging 42 yards and pinning BYU inside the 20 once.

Tabor Allen had 6 kickoffs, with only one of them being returned (for just 25 yards).

Seth Keller hit a 23-yard field goal, his only attempt of the day. He was also a perfect 5/5 on extra points.

Trevor Wilson handled kick return duties, getting just 47 total yards on 3 kick returns 

Torry Locklin returned a single punt for 13 yards

Up next, the Jayhawks head down to Austin, TX to take on the #3 Texas Longhorns. Kickoff is scheduled for 2:30pm Central time on ABC.

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