Both sides of the ball stuffed the stat sheet for the Kansas Jayhawks.
The Kansas Jayhawks fell to the TCU Horned Frogs on Saturday in a close game that lived up to the GameDay billing. But with the loss, we get an opportunity to look through the stats to determine just how well the Jayhawks played.
Offense
The Jayhawks led nearly every offensive category in this game, outrushing the Horned Frogs 189 yards to 144 yards, and outpassing them 351 yards to 308 yards. Neither teams was extremely effective on 3rd and 4th down conversions.
Each team lost a fumble and had an interception, but the Horned Frogs were able to turn their interception into points, while Kansas instead just ended a potential scoring threat.
Passing
Kansas struggled in the passing game during the first half, but in the second half, the offense opened up and Kansas picked up some big yardage.
Jalon Daniels was 5-10 for 89 yards, but he left the game late in the first half.
Jason Bean started the second half and went 16-24 for 262 yards, 4 touchdowns and 1 interception. He had passing touchdowns of 12, 8, 38 and 29 yards, showing off his arm on multiple occasions.
Luke Grimm caught 6 passes on 8 targets, totaling 73 yards and a touchdown.
Quentin Skinner caught 4 passes on 7 targets for 98 yards and 2 touchdowns.
Mason Fairchild caught 3 passes for 80 yards and a touchdown. He had a 48 yard pass when Jalon Daniels threw it to the wrong shoulder, but he was able to turn, see the ball and then turn back over the other shoulder and still make the catch.
Lawrence Arnold had 3 catches for 41 yards, while Tanaka Scott caught the only pass thrown his way, picking up 52 yards on the first drive of the second half.
Rushing
The Jayhawks won in the rushing game, but a critical error may have cost Kansas the game.
Daniels only gained 6 yards on his 7 rushes, but he also fumbled the ball just before the goal line, losing a chance to score and giving TCU some momentum in the first half..
Devin Neal led all rushers with 88 yards on 15 carries.
Bean had 34 yards on 7 carries.
Sevion Morrison had a single carry, but picked up 40 yards on the play.
Ky Thomas totaled 19 yards, but took 6 carries to do it.
Defense
The Kansas defense was phenomenal in the first half of this game, singlehandedly keeping the Jayhawks in the game when the offense struggled.
Kenny Logan led the Jayhawks with 12 tackles. He also forced a fumble and recovered it.
OJ Burroughs had 5 tackles, including 0.5 tackles for loss. He also intercepted a Max Duggan pass at the end of the first half to prevent a scoring opportunity.
Rich Miller ended the day with 9 total tackles, including combining with Burroughs for a tackle for loss near the end of the first quarter.
Lonnie Phelps had 5 tackles, including a sack. He is tied for the most sacks in college football.
Craig Young had 5 tackles, including a tackle for loss in space right after the Phelps sack.
Special Teams
The special teams were nothing special in this game, with no big plays on either side that swung the game.
Reis Vernon punted 3 times for Kansas, with one of those pinning TCU inside the 20 yard line.
The Jayhawks did not have any punt returns in this game. Logan and Steven McBride each returned a kickoff, returning them for 21 yards and 31 yards, respectively.
The kicking game was mixed. Tabor Allen had 4 of his kickoffs returned, with the longest being a 37-yard return by Shadrach Banks. Jacob Borcila was 1-2 on field goal attempts, but was 4/4 on extra point attempts.
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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