Daniels, Kansas Remain Undefeated After 35-27 Win Over Duke

The Jayhawks continued their winning ways in front of a sold-out crowd at The Booth.

In front of a sold-out David Booth Memorial Stadium with 47,000 strong waving the wheat, the Kansas Jayhawks moved to 4-0 with a 35-27 win over previously undefeated Duke.

Go ahead and read that sentence again.

The Jayhawks decided not to spot themselves a deficit to start the game like against West Virginia and Houston, getting on the board first with a Jalon Daniels touchdown pass to tight end Trevor Kardell.

But it could have been worse for Duke out of the gate. Kansas’ first drive made it all the way to six-inches from the goal line when Devin Neal was stuffed on fourth and goal. Neal then fumbled deep in Duke territory with the score 7-7 after it could have easily been 21-7 Kansas.

Duke wasn’t stopping Kansas much longer. The play of the first half was a Daniels dump off to Daniel Hishaw, who broke five tackles to take it 73 yards to the house. After holding Duke to a field goal, Daniels and Luke Grimm converted one big third down after another before Daniels hit Grimm in the back of the end zone with 1:04 left. Duke would convert another field goal before the half to go into the locker room trailing 21-13.

The KU defense let Duke off the hook on a couple occasions early in the second half, but ultimately made stops when it needed them. Lonny Phelps was called for a late hit against quarterback Riley Leonard to keep the drive alive, but the Jayhawks then stuffed the Blue Devils on fourth and one. Daniels made Duke pay, capping off the next drive with a 36-yard bullet to Lawrence Arnold to make it 28-13.

Then the offenses picked up. Duke and Kansas traded touchdowns. The Blue Devils went on a 10-play, 91-yard drive to cut it to 28-20 only for Daniels to drive KU back down and keep it himself for his fifth touchdown of the game. But the Jayhawks defense let Duke back into the game. The Blue Devils scored again with 2:40 left and then Kansas chose to punt the ball on the next possession, pinning Duke back to the five yard line.

A late hit out of bounds by Gavin Potter helped the drive stay alive. But a couple of stops made it fourth and seven from the KU 30 with 1:19 left and no timeouts for Duke. Bryant with excellent coverage and a low throw made it a turnover on downs and the Jayhawks were able to kneel out the clock.

If Daniels was getting Heisman buzz before, his performance on Saturday only fanned the flames. Daniels was 19-23 for 324 yards and four touchdowns (to four different receivers) through the air and then added 83 yards and a touchdown on the ground on 11 carries. But he wasn’t the only one to come to play on the offense. Hishaw and Neal each racked up more than 50 yards on the ground, while Arnold, Grimm, and Hishaw all had at least 60 yards receiving.

KU put up 528 yards of total offense to Duke’s 463. And the difference in the game came on third down. Kansas was an efficient 6-10 on third down while Duke was only 5-15. Each team was 50% on their fourth-down conversions.

Next up for the Jayhawks is a homecoming Big 12 battle against Iowa State at 2:30 p.m. next Saturday.