Kansas Jayhawks at Kansas State Wildcats Statistical Recap: Not ALL Bad

The final score was ugly, but there were multiple promising performances that Kansas can build on for the postseason and next season.

Even the weather was miserable on Saturday, as the Kansas Jayhawks fell decisively to the Kansas State Wildcats in Manhattan. But while the final score seemed to indicate a blowout, it was only a few big errors that ultimately led to the Jayhawks dropping their regular season finale.

Normally a 20-point margin means that there is a lot more bad than good, but looking through the box score tells a different story. So lets dive in and see what the box score tells us about this performance.

Offense

Just like last week's performance was uncharacteristically bad, this week had a 307 yard total for the offense that wasn't actually as bad as you might think. Considering the driving rain that was falling for most of the game, Passing was naturally a bit suppressed. And with the deficit that Kansas faced most of the night, the running game took somewhat of a back seat as the Jayhawks tried to push the ball down the field. Kansas converted 6 of 12 third-down conversion attempts and their only fourth down attempt. But one offensive turnover killed the offensive momentum that Kansas was trying to build in the second half.

Passing

The passing game wasn't wildly successful, given that it only accumulated 180 yards, but it also wasn't awful considering the conditions. And the 21 completed passes were caught by seven different players. However, the team only averaged 5.6 yards per passing attempt, which isn't great by any means.

Jalon Daniels completed 20 of his 32 pass attempts for 168 yards. He seemed to be scanning the field much better this week than he did in the week prior, which made it easier for him to identify players cutting over the middle and in advantageous positions on the sideline.

Jason Bean threw a single pass on a misdirection play that appeared to be a Jalon Daniels run. Instead, Bean rolled out the opposite direction and hit Luke Grimm down the sideline for 12 yards. That play set Kansas up with a 1st and goal from the Kansas State 7 yard line, ultimately leading to the final score for the Jayhawks.

Luke Grimm led the Jayhawks in receiving yards, with 48 yards on 3 catches. His longest of the night was a 33 yard catch and run to start the final touchdown drive of the first half. He also drew a crucial pass interference penalty on Kansas State in the end zone to set up the touchdown run.

Mason Fairchild had four receptions for 41 yards, with three of the four for 10+ yards and a first down in tight situations, including two crucial third down conversions.

Jared Casey also had four catches, but for just 23 yards. He was also the intended receiver on an incomplete pass that resulted in a first down by face mask penalty.

Lawrence Arnold had four catches as well for 26 yards, none of which were particularly consequential on their own.

Torry Locklin, Devin Neal and Kevin Terry  were each credited with 2 receptions, for 23, 10 and 9 yards respectively.

Rushing

While the running game only totaled 127 yards on the night, all four scores for the offense came on the ground. This was partly due to the effectiveness of the passing game in limited opportunities, but also due to an average of 4.2 yards per carry that the Jayhawks averaged.

Devin Neal led all rushers, with 16 carries for 59 yards and 2 touchdowns.

Daniels  had 8 carries for just 51 yards and a single touchdown.

Torry Locklin had 6 carries for just 17 yards and a single touchdown. However, he also had a costly fumble early in the second half that killed the momentum from a Kansas defensive stop.

Defense

It wasn't a stellar day from the defense by any means, but you also have to acknowledge that the rest of the team didn't put them in fantastic positions multiple times on the evening. The Wildcats had one touchdown drive of just five yards, and another for just 38 yards, plus a field goal drive that only had to travel 22 yards due to a long kickoff return.

The main area that Kansas struggled was on third downs. The Jayhawks were able to force multiple 3rd down and 6+ yards, but allowed Kansas State to convert way too many of them, usually by breaking tackles from defenders trying to make arm tackles or slipping on the grass. But the defense made some great stops, and made many of the drives more difficult than expected for the Wildcats.

Craig Young led the team with 8 total tackles, including 7 solo tackles and 1 sack, and was also credited with another QB hurry.

Kenny Logan Jr. had 6 total tackles, including 5 solo tackles. His only assisted tackle was a tackle-for-loss that he split with Marvin Grant, who had 5 total tackles, including 4 solo tackles.

Lonnie Phelps Jr. had 5  total tackles, including 4 solo tackles. He had a sack on which he also forced Will Howard to fumble the ball, which was scooped up by Caleb Sampson.

Also credited with tackles for loss were Taiwan Berryhill, Eriq Gilyard and Malcolm Lee.

Special Teams

The special teams were not good in this game.

Trevor Wilson returned the second kickoff by Kansas State from the end zone , only advancing the ball to the Kansas 6 yard line. That drive resulted in a safety.

O.J. Burroughs slipped while trying to field the Kansas State punt after a three-and-out on the first drive of the game, fumbling the ball and giving it to the Wildcat offense at the Kansas 5.

Reis Vernon had five punts on the day, dropping two inside the 20. The only return resulted in a five-yard loss due to a block in the back penalty that pushes the coverage player into the runner..

Tabor Allen had 5 kickoffs, only one of which went for a touchback. One was returned to just the Kansas State 8, but the other 3 all resulted in more favorable field position, including a 69 yard return to set the Wildcats up at the Kansas 31.

Owen Piepergerdes made all three of his extra point attempts, and did not attempt a field goal on the night.

While Kansas did not finish the season as the team had hoped, there were still improvements this week that the team can build on in order to have a good showing in their bowl game and use as a foundation for next season.

The bowl matchup for Kansas will be announced on Sunday night.

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