Kansas Jayhawks at Texas Longhorns Statistical Recap: Not A Complete Disaster

The box score might indicate that this was a complete blowout, but let's dive in deeper to see what it's really saying.

For those that want to worry about the rest of the season for the Kansas Jayhawks, the game against the Texas Longhorns would seem to provide some good evidence. Kansas kept it close until halfway through the third quarter, and then Texas blew the doors off of them the rest of the way. 

But that doesn't account for a lot of context surrounding the unusual pregame situation. So let's dive through the box score, providing context along the way, to see just how much you should worry about what you saw last Saturday.

Offense

The overall stats here look abysmal. The team only totaled 260 yards, earned 11 first downs, and didn't convert a single time on third and fourth down. There was a turnover on a fumble that was caused by a botched handoff. They only ran 46 plays on offense. There really is no sugarcoating just how bad this performance was, but the details surrounding the availability of Jalon Daniels and the timing of when Kansas knew he was going to be out make it highly unlikely that something like this happens again.

Passing

Kansas only had 21 passing attempts on the day, and was plagued by a quarterback that was just not on the same page as his receivers.

Jason Bean completed just 9 of his 21 pass attempts for 136 yards and 1 touchdown. While he didn't throw an interception, he also wasn't able to get into any type of rhythm, with most of his throws consisting of deep shots and/or sideline throws, where his lack of pinpoint accuracy caused some problems.

Trevor Wilson led the team with a 58-yard touchdown reception, which highlighted the issues for Bean. This throw was right in the middle of the field, giving Wilson time to adjust to it and haul it in for that long reception. It was his only catch on the day.

Mason Fairchild and Devin Neal were the only two players to catch more than a single pass. Fairchild had 30 yards and Neal had 10.

Jared Casey, Doug Emilien, Lawrence Arnold and Luke Grimm each had a single catch on the day.

Rushing

The running game was great right out of the gate with a monster of a play, but a lack of consistency and some baffling decisions made it difficult to build any momentum. Kansas only totaled 124 yards rushing.

Devin Neal started the game with a 26-yard run around the left end, but was inexplicably only given 8 carries for the game. He ended the day with 45 yards.

Jason Bean carried the ball 7 times, gaining 42 total yards.

Daniel Hishaw also had 8 carries, totaling 44 yards. But he had a very up and down game. His highlight came on a big hit to Jason Bean downfield, which knocked the ball loose. However, it bounced right to the trailing Hishaw who was able to pick it up mid-stride and get into the end zone. His lowlight came when he squeezed the ball too tight on a triple option play that Bean tried to pull back to head the opposite direction. The ensuing fumble was recovered by Texas.

Defense

The defense had a surprisingly good game for giving up 661 yards. Texas had 33 first downs and seemed to move the ball at will between the 25s, but they struggled to put the ball into the end zone in the first half. But the lack of help from the offense led to a very tired team in the second half, where the dam broke open for the Longhorns. The early pressure never materialized in the fourth quarter, and Texas was able to run away with it.

There isn't a lot to say in terms of highlights in the stats, except for 2 sacks (one for Jereme Robinson and the other split by Hayden Hatcher and Austin Booker) and the first interception for Quinn Ewers on the season going to Cornell Wheeler to stop a scoring threat for Texas right before halftime.

OJ Burroughs led the team in tackles with 13, including one tackle for loss.

JB Brown had 9 tackles, including 5 solo tackles.

Kenny Logan Jr. had 8 tackles, including 1 tackle for loss.

Special Teams

You could argue that the special teams were the star of the game for Kansas, as they couldn't get much going on offense and had to punt quite a bit.

Damon Greaves punted six times, averaging 45.3 yards and pinning Texas inside the 20 three times. His longest punt was 53 yards, and he routinely flipped the field for Kansas.

Tabor Allen had 3 kickoffs, with only one of them being returned for no gain.

Seth Keller was a perfect 2/2 on extra points.

Trevor Wilson handled kick return duties, getting 32 total yards on 2 kick returns

Kansas did not force a Texas punt.

Up next, the Jayhawks come back home to host the UCF Knights, who are still looking for their first Big 12 win. Kickoff is scheduled for 3pm Central time on FOX.

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