Why Jayhawks present a major threat to No. 6 Cougars’ unbeaten season

After celebrating Saturday’s 22-21 rivalry win over Utah to the fullest extent possible for the 24 hours allotted by head coach Kalani Sitake, special teams coordinator and rush ends coach Kelly Poppinga popped on the tape of Kansas’ 45-36 upset of nationally ranked Iowa State and quickly sent out a text Monday morning to players on BYU’s 9-0 football team.
“This is the best 3-6 team I have ever seen,” Poppinga texted.
Indeed, the Jayhawks (3-6, 2-4) are arguably playing the best football in the Big 12 right now, along with No. 6 BYU (9-0, 6-0) and Coach Prime’s Colorado Buffaloes, who host Utah at 10 a.m. MST Saturday in Boulder.
Three months ago, this looked like it was going to be one of the toughest games on BYU’s schedule — and it still is. But instead of the Jayhawks, who were a preseason top 25 pick, being the dominant force it is BYU, picked to finish 13th in the 16-team Big 12 at home in front of more than 60,000 fans energized by the winning streak and the improbable come-from-behind win over the Utes, the Cougars are only a slight favorite, less than a field goal.
A lot of national prognosticators are predicting an upset.
“We see on film how dangerous they are,” Sitake said on Monday. “Tons of talent. … They are playing some really good football right now.”
On Kansas’ record is a 23-17 loss at Illinois, a 23-20 loss to UNLV, a 32-28 loss at West Virginia, a 35-31 loss at Arizona State, and a 29-27 loss at nationally ranked Kansas State. The Jayhawks could easily be 6-3, or better.
“We respect all of our opponents similarly, regardless of record,” said BYU safety Tanner Wall. “It was eye-opening to see them come out and beat such a respectable team as Iowa State in the fashion that they did as well. … They have lost a lot of close, one-possession games. They have been in every game. Their offense scores a lot of points. So it is going to be a good battle.”
Kansas brings one of the best quarterbacks, Jalon Daniels, and two of the best running backs, Devin Neal and Daniel Hishaw, that the BYU defense will face all season. The Jayhawks are averaging 421 yards per game, 42nd best in the country. They are No. 4 in third-down conversion percentage (51.8%).
Kansas’ offensive coordinator is former BYU offensive coordinator Jeff Grimes, who was almost hired to be BYU’s offensive line coach last winter after he lost his job at Baylor.
“Their offense is very creative. They have great players. We have faced them, they have faced us,” said BYU defensive coordinator Jay Hill. “I think they will be familiar with our scheme and we will be familiar with a lot of the things they do. It is going to come down to execution.”
With the expected cold weather possibly being a neutralizer, the Cougars could have a shootout on their hands, after grinding out the win over Utah that could leave them with an emotional hangover, if they aren’t careful.
Kansas’ defense has been mostly mediocre, although that wasn’t the case last year when the Jayhawks used two defensive scores — one came on BYU’s first possession — in the 38-27 win over BYU in Lawrence.
“A year ago, they got after us pretty good. Their secondary is really good. They execute their stuff. They are an athletic team,” said BYU offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick. “They seem to have a little wrinkle every week for somebody that you are not ready for. We are going to get something on Saturday we haven’t seen this year, and then they are also just very good at what they do every week.”
BYU led 17-14 at halftime last year, and had held the Jayhawks to 139 yards in the first 30 minutes, before faltering in the second half. The Cougars’ leading tackler, Ben Bywater, sustained a shoulder injury in the third quarter that would end his college football career.
Oregon transfer Harrison Taggart stepped in for Bywater, and is now a mainstay on the BYU defense. And he’s looking for a little revenge.
“They did give us that Big 12 awakening, which I think gives our team a little bit of a chip on our shoulder,” Taggart said. “So yeah, I have got a little chip on my shoulder, personally.”
Hill and Roderick both mentioned this week how big of a home-field advantage that Utah’s crowd gave the Utes last week, and would like to see the LES crowd deliver again like it has done the first four home games. BYU is 14-2 in its last 16 night games at home.
“Home-field advantage is huge for us, and being in LaVell Edwards Stadium and just the way our crowd is, and how rowdy it gets, and just the advantage they give us, is big,” Hill said. “We are still going to have to go out there and make plays. When the ball is kicked off it is another football game. But being at home is a huge advantage for us. We need all the fans out and we need them showing up loud and crazy.”