Hawking Points: Kansas Opens the Season Defeating Missouri State 48-17

Stats, key plays, and takeaways as the Jayhawks move to 1-0 without starting quarterback Jalon Daniels seeing the field.

The 2023 season kicked off for the Kansas Jayhawks on Friday night inside David Booth Memorial Stadium, with KU taking care of the Missouri State Bears 48-17.

The start was about as strong as the Jayhawks could have asked for. KU’s defense forced multiple three and outs while Devin Neal got the Jayhawks on the board on his first carry of the season (more on that in a minute). Then a series of poorly executed plays saw the Bears take a 10-7 lead early in the second quarter.

Kansas added 10 straight points to end the half up 17-10. The third quarter was all Jayhawks, but Missouri State refused to go away, cutting the lead to 10 early in the fourth quarter before KU sealed the door shut and definitively.

Let’s look at the biggest plays, best stat lines, and main takeaways from week one at The booth.

Key Plays

– After three straight passes to open the game for KU, Devin Neal took his first handoff 48 yards to the end zone to give Kansas a 7-0 lead 3:49 seconds into the game.

– Jason Bean went deep for the first time in the first play of the second quarter, finding Lawrence Arnold for a 52-yard play to get down to the MSU 14 yard line. On the next play, Bean found Luke Grimm for a touchdown to give Kansas a 14-10 lead.

– Dylan McDuffie also felt like getting in on the first-carry-for-a-touchdown action, taking his first carry to the house for 17 yards to cap off the first drive of the second half in which KU went 69 yards in nine plays and put the Jayhawks up 24-10.

– The momentum swing took place early in the fourth quarter. After Hishaw gave the Jayhawks a nice cushion with a 24-yard touchdown run, it was Cobee Bryant’s first interception of the year on the next play that gave KU the ball back and allowed the Jayhawks to score again just two minutes later.

Eye-Catching Stat Lines

– Kansas outrushed Missouri State 74 to -1 after the first quarter. Missouri State was better in the second quarter, but Kansas still dominated the ground game. Neal, Hishaw, McDuffie, and Bean all had runs of 17 yards or more and KU finished with 245 yards on the ground and four rushing touchdowns by four different backs (Neal, Hishaw, McDuffie, and Sevion Morrison).

– Bean gave you about all you could ask for as a backup that likely didn’t know if he was going to play until shortly before kickoff. Before coming out of the game with six minutes left in the fourth quarter, Bean racked up an impressive stat line of 22-28 for 276 yards and 2 TDs. 

– The Jayhawks also showed their discipline, only committing one penalty for 15 yards (albeit a costly one) in the first half and three for35 yards for the game. Meanwhile, the Bears finished with six penalties for 50 yards, all of which occurred in the first half.

Eye-Covering Moments

– As good of a start Devin Neal had, Daniel Hishaw had the opposite. After just a two-yard gain on his first carry, the next play he coughed it up and Missouri State recovered in Kansas territory. He would redeem himself, Dumb and Dumber style. 

– After the fumble, KU’s defense couldn’t get off the field. Missouri State converted its first first down on a fourth-and-eight pass. KU kept them on the field with a roughing the passing call in the red zone, and then the Jayhawks weren’t able to recover a fumble on the two and keep the Bears out of the endzone.

– The Kansas defense still has some work to do in terms of open-field tackling. A few huge misses kept Missouri State’s drive alive near the end of the third quarter as KU was cruising up 17 at that point. This led to a touchdown run that cut the lead to 10.

Takeaways

It’s important to remember that this was week one against an FCS opponent and with a Big Ten foe coming to town next week. All that is to say that it’s understandable that KU coaches didn’t want to show too much of the game plan tonight. It’s also worth noting that defensive coordinator Brian Borland didn’t coach tonight due to a personal matter.

Jalon Daniels’ health is still a concern, but your outlook of the season shouldn’t change after three hours of play on September 1.