Most Anticipated Game for Kansas Football - BWR Roundtable: 70 Days

We continue our roundtable series where all of our staff answer an important question about Kansas Football.

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For college football, the summer is a time for a lot of different things, from evaluating what happened in the previous year, to looking at what changed already in the offseason, all the way to speculating about what is still to come. All of these angles are intended to answer some important questions about the Kansas Jayhawks program.

But some of those questions have multiple answers, which require looking at it from multiple angles. So during the countdown, we will periodically pose those questions to all of the staff here at Blue Wings Rising. 

Our first article talked about carrying lessons forward from 2022. Today, we look ahead to the upcoming schedule.

Last year saw a lot of talk about building on the previous season, and we saw that pay off in a big way. What was the biggest lesson you learned about the program under Lance Leipold in 2022 season that will affect this year?

Kyle Davis: One last trip to Austin and the combo of Jalon Daniels and Jared Casey sending Texas to the SEC with a loss is really appealing. But I’ll go with K-State at home on Senior Day. The only new conference opponent KU travels to for the first time is Cincinnati. Meanwhile, there’s a chance both of these teams are ranked and the Sunflower Showdown is more competitive than it’s been in a long while.

Brendan Dzwierzynski: Week 2 against Illinois is definitely the one that stands out to me, both for personal and football reasons. For one, I grew up in a household of Illini fans, Illinois is where my parents met and got engaged and I grew up with Illinois football. In terms of the on-field product, I think it’s shaping up to be a fascinating clash of styles. KU should, in my opinion, have one of the best and most high-octane offenses in the country with a suspect defensive line, while Illinois lost a pair of defensive backs to the NFL draft but will play old-school, smash-mouth, powerhouse football offensively. It should be a huge test for the Jayhawks’ unproven defensive front and could really put the offense on the map for 2023 with a strong performance against a well-coached defense.

Derek Noll: I’m going to go with Illinois as well. Because this is such a huge test early in the season, this game could really set the tone for the season much in the way that the West Virginia game did last year. I agree with Brenden’s assessment above, and a win against the Illini will be such a confidence boost on both sides of the ball and will signify that our optimism wasn’t misplaced. If the Jayhawks win, you have every reason to believe that they could be 4-0 when they take on Texas.

Andy Mitts: I agree that the Illinois one is jumping out to me, especially given how electric the atmosphere is going to be. But I expect the excitement to be near an all-time high throughout the year, and there are some particularly juicy matchups that will allow Kansas to take some revenge. You could start with Oklahoma, who beat the Jayhawks on a super controversial play the last time they faced off in Lawrence. Or maybe a Texas Tech team that was able to pull away last year in a game that didn’t feature a healthy Jalon Daniels.

But I’m instead going to go with a road game up in Ames, IA. I attended the last game up there in person, and it was a miserable game in horrible weather that saw the Jayhawks get dismantled in the final year with Brock Purdy at quarterback. I know that Kansas hasn’t forgotten how big of a beating that was, and I fully expect them to be up for that game. Add in that Iowa State is going to have some real big personnel problems on the offensive end, and Kansas will be hoping to put on a show.

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