Know the Foe: Kansas Jayhawks

The No. 6 BYU Cougars welcome the Kansas Jayhawks to Provo this weekend for a late Saturday night contest.

Last year, the Cougars went to Lawrence to face the Jayhawks and suffered a 38-27 loss on the road. The Cougars were up 17-14 at halftime, but directly following the break, Kedon Slovis threw a tipped ball that was returned for a pick-six to give the Jayhawks the lead and, maybe more importantly, the momentum.

The Jayhawks would go on to finish the year with a 9-4 record while the Cougars finished with a 5-7 record.

After last year's success, Kansas was picked to finish 4th in the Big 12 this season, however right now the Jayhawks are sitting at 12th place in the conference with a 3-6 overall record and 2-4 in conference play.

But hey, if this year has taught us anything, it's that the Big 12 Preseason Poll was hysterically wrong.

The Jayhawks suffered a brutal five-game losing streak earlier this season, but since then, they are 2-1. It's worth noting that in that five-game losing streak, the average margin of defeat was only a mere 5.6 points.

Kansas is 0-5 in one score games while BYU is 5-0 in such games.

Two weeks ago in the Sunflower Showdown, Kansas almost beat its bitter rival, No. 16 Kansas State on the road. With 1:45 remaining, Kansas State kicked what would end up being the game-winning field goal after the Jayhawks could not convert on 4th-and-7 with less than a minute left. The final score was 29-27.

Last week Kansas bounced back and defeated No. 17 Iowa State by nine points at Arrowhead Stadium. Quarterback Jalon Daniels finished the game with nearly 300 passing yards, two passing touchdowns and one rushing touchdown. Running back Devin Neal rushed for 18 carries, 116 yards and two touchdowns. Wide receiver Quentin Skinner finished with four catches, 135 yards and one touchdown.

The matchup to watch on Saturday night may be the Cougars' defense against the explosive Kansas offense. The Jayhawks are ranked 41st in total offense averaging 421 yards per game while the Cougars are ranked 29th in total defense only allowing 323 yards per game.

All year long, BYU has struggled to contain the quarterback run game and Jalon Daniels might just be the best running quarterback the Cougars have seen all year.

If this stat doesn't scare you, it should.

Head coach Lance Leipold has been with the program for three years now with a 20-27 overall record. His offensive coordinator is Jeff Grimes, who was also the Cougars' offensive coordinator from 2018-2020.

Notable wins during Grimes' tenure at BYU include on the road against No. 6 Wisconsin in 2018 and on the road against Tennessee in 2019. Of course in 2020, BYU went 11-1 and had three offensive players get drafted in the 2021 NFL draft (Zach Wilson, Brady Christensen, Dax Milne).

One other connection is the Lassiter family. Darius Lassiter had two brothers and his late father all play football for the Jayhawks. In last year's game, Darius matched up with his brother Kwinton, who played cornerback for the Jayhawks, but has since graduated. Their mother stole the show at last year's game with a split Kansas and BYU jersey to support both of her sons.

The Jayhawks are traditionally known as a basketball school, however they began playing football all the way back in 1890. The Jayhawks are original members of the Big 12, which formed in the mid 1990s.

Enrollment at the university is around 30,000 students. BYU is approximately 35,000 students.

Saturday night's game may be considered a revenge/redemption game for BYU's Parker Kingston. Fans on both sides will surely remember the crushing hit delivered by Kansas cornerback Cobee Bryant on BYU's first possession of the game last year. Bryant returned the loose ball for a touchdown and the Jayhawks never looked back from there.

BYU is currently a 2.5 point favorite for the game, but with the Jayhawks' recent resurgence, anything could happen.