Mike Gundy Preparing For Kansas to Start Jason Bean at Quarterback, Jalon Daniels 'Doubtful'
The Oklahoma State Cowboys are coming off a big win against Kansas State, where the defense set the tone early and controlled the game, leading to the 29-21 upset win. Now, the Cowboys take on a top-25 opponent in the Kansas Jayhawks, who might be without their starting quarterback.
Jalon Daniels has been inactive in the last two games, dealing with a back injury. Jason Bean has been starting in Daniels' place in the last two games for the Jayhawks because of that.
Pete Thamel of ESPN reports that Daniels is "considered doubtful" ahead of the matchup.
"He's been dealing with back issues that kept him out of practice on Monday and Tuesday. Veteran back-up Jason Bean is expected to start again," Thamel reports.
With the Cowboys prepping to host No. 23 Kansas on Saturday, in front of yet another sold-out crowd, Mike Gundy and the team have no other choice but to prep for Bean to play under center.
“We have to prepare for Bean,” Gundy said during his Monday presser. “I don't know what's going on with Jalon Daniels, but he's not been out there in a couple of weeks, and I don't know that they change a lot when he's in there. They're going to do the same stuff in my opinion. Now he might bring a few things to the table differently, but we have to prepare for the guy that's been out there.”
With the way that the Jayhawks run their offense, with plenty of pre-snap motion, Gundy was asked about the challenge of facing that with a youthful secondary.
“Well, they present challenges for a variety of reasons, but this is the third week we've seen this,” he said. “Iowa State motions and shifts tight ends on every snap, and so does Kansas State. They all do the same thing. They're trying to create leverage and get confusion and not try to give you a beat on number and where he is at and if they run the ball with him in this location and certain things."
The pre-snap motions and extra stuff before the snap make a lot less of an impact when Bean is under center instead of Daniels. The Jayhawks threw the ball just eight times in their win over UCF last week, whereas they pounded the rock on the ground 51 times.
The Cowboys will see a similar offensive approach that they saw against Kansas State, and Bryan Nardo's defense and its 3-3-5 scheme will have to show up and show out once again.
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