The Kansas Jayhawks defense boosted stats this week

When the offense struggled, the defense stepped up with some big performers. We run through the box score to highlight them.

The Kansas Jayhawks barely escaped in Saturday's win against the Iowa State Cyclones. But the Jayhawks stayed ahead in the one stat that counts the most: points. They never trailed in this game, but looking at the game after the fact, they probably should have lost. Nothing makes that clearer than taking a look at the box score.

Offense

The Jayhawks trailed in every major category here except one: 3rd down conversion percentage. But even that wasn't great for Kansas, as they only converted 3 of 10 chances.

Meanwhile, Iowa State had big leads in each of first downs (20 to 10), total yards (313 to 213), passing yards (287 to 101), fourth down conversions (4-5 to 0-0) and penalties (4 to 7). 

Passing

Kansas struggled in the passing game this week, with many of the throws just missing their intended receivers.

Jalon Daniels was 7-14 for 93 yards.

Luke Grimm caught 4 passes on 7 targets, tallying 46 yards.

Jared Casey caught 1 pass on his only target for 30 yards.

Doug Emilien, Quentin Skinner and Tanaka Scott each caught a single pass for 11, 10 and 4 yards, respectively.

Rushing

The Jayhawks struggled on the ground, as Iowa State held the Jayhawks to just 3.6 yards per rush.

Daniels netted only 9 yards on his 8 rushes, also scoring a rushing touchdown.

Devin Neal led all rushers with 78 yards on 12 carries.

Daniel Hishaw had 28 yards and a touchdown on 8 carries. He also lost a fumble and was injured on the play.

Defense

Where the Kansas offense had lots of problems, the defense had a great day. Iowa State had plenty of opportunities, but the Jayhawks consistently got pressure to set up difficult situations.

Cobee Bryant had 6 total tackles on the day and intercepted a second quarter pass to set the Jayhawks up for a touchdown in the red zone

Mello Dotson and Rich Miller each had 7 tackles on the day.

Lonnie Phelps had 3 tackles, including a sack.

Sam Burt had 2 tackles, including 1.5 sacks.

Taiwan Berryhill and Craig Young each had a sack. 

Kenny Logan had 4 tackles, but also a huge pass breakup in the end zone to save an Iowa State touchdown.

Special Teams

The special teams played a huge role in this game. With three missed field goals by Iowa State kicker Jace Gilbert.

Reis Vernon punted 6 times for Kansas, pinning Iowa State inside the 20 on three of them with one touchback. One of those was fumbled by Jaylin Noel to give Kansas the ball back.

Sevion Morrison returned punts for the Jayhawks in this game, with one big return of 37 yards.

The kicking game was mixed. Tabor Allen had a touchback on each of his 3 kickoffs. Jacob Borcila missed his only field goal attempt but was 2/2 on extra point attempts.

Despite the offensive struggles, the Jayhawks did excel at one statistic that I had highlighted before the game:

Stat to watch for today's #kufball game: Red Zone TD %.

On offense
KU: 20-24 (83.3%) 17th
ISU: 11-18 (61.1%) 79th

On defense
KU: 8-17 (47.1%) 38th
ISU: 6-10 (60.0%) 64th

— Andy Mitts (@AndyMitts12) October 1, 2022

For the game, Kansas was a perfect 2-2 on red zone touchdowns. Iowa State was 1-4.

But ultimately, the score is the only thing that matters at the end of the day, so it can be considered another successful outing. They complete their homestand when the TCU Horned Frogs come to town with College Gameday broadcasting in Lawrence. Kickoff is 2:30 PM this Saturday, October 1st.

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