AP Photo/Darryl Webb

Kansas’ defense celebrates recovering a fumble against Arizona State in the first half of an NCAA college football game Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024, in Tempe, Arizona.

Kansas head coach Lance Leipold often emphasizes that his team doesn’t change its approach based on results. At a certain point, the outcome of one game, good or bad, can no longer influence the next.

“Things you do don’t change because of wins and losses,” he said Monday. “To me, these are knee-jerk reactions to how you’re going to proceed.”

The Jayhawks entered the week leading up to Saturday’s game against Houston with an even bigger gap than before. With the benefit of a week off (their first of two) at the halfway point of the season after an extremely disappointing start, they view their remaining six games as “a whole new season,” as quarterback Jalon Daniels said Leipold put it.

The opener came at an opportune time for the Jayhawks, many of whom benefited from the extra break.

“It was much needed and I think we felt really good going into practice on Sunday,” running back Devin Neal said. “We had a lot of energy and (we could) see people turning the page and focusing on the next thing.”

However, wide receiver Luke Grimm said the Jayhawks probably would have liked to play last weekend just to shake off their losing streak.

“We’re just pissed that we’re putting ourselves in this position,” he said. “…This is not who we think we are, but this is how we show who we are.”

They have an opportunity to capitalize on that frustration against Houston on Saturday. Heading into the year, the Cougars appeared to be one of the Big 12’s worst teams, failing to score against their first two conference opponents.

However, against TCU on Oct. 4, Houston turned to new quarterback Zeon Chriss, who threw for 141 yards and ran for 97 yards as the Cougars limited a Horned Frogs offense that had just given KU major problems. UH picked up a 30-19 win and entered the bye week with the momentum that had eluded the Jayhawks all year.

Chriss is Houston’s starter going forward, which means the Jayhawks will have to figure out how to contain quarterback runs after failing to do so all season — while continuing to battle significant injuries at linebacker and in the secondary .

“Not as elusive a tackle-breaker as some of the other guys we’ve had, but he’s long and he’s linear and a little hard to tackle at times just because of the length,” defensive coordinator Brian Borland said of Chriss. “He makes some tackles and stiff arms and keeps guys away.”

UH has put together a stingy defense in head coach Willie Fritz’s first year, allowing some of the lowest yardage totals in the country. KU offensive coordinator Jeff Grimes noted the defensive line’s ability to “hold a gap and make it really difficult for you to move up to the second level.”

“I feel like they have a lot of confidence in their defense and their ability to take advantage of one-on-one opportunities,” Daniels said.

Daniels has looked more like himself in recent weeks, particularly at Arizona State, but continues to emphasize that he won’t have done his job until the Jayhawks win.

Kansas Jayhawks (1-5, 0-3 Big 12) vs. Houston Cougars (2-4, 1-2 Big 12)

• GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium, Kansas City, Missouri, 2:30 p.m

• Transmitted: ESPN+

• radio: Jayhawk Radio Network (in Lawrence, KLWN AM 1320 / K269GB FM 101.7 / KKSW FM 105.9)

• Betting line: KU -5.5; over/under 47.5

• Series story: KU leads 4-0

What you should pay attention to

1. work overtime: Daniels and especially wide receiver Quentin Skinner (six catches, 130 yards, two touchdowns) had breakout performances at ASU that gave them confidence to hit the ground running in the second half of the season. Grimes, who has frequently spoken about Daniels playing some catch-up after missing much of the offseason, praised her willingness to put in extra work outside of practice. Daniels said: “I have the feeling that in every single game we have managed to slowly but surely reestablish that connection.”

2. Man in the middle: With defensive leader Cornell Wheeler doubtful for Saturday’s game, Taiwan Berryhill Jr. will likely continue in his role as middle linebacker and primary communicator on defense. Berryhill has been a popular target of fan criticism for racking up extremely poor Pro Football Focus grades, but Borland said Wednesday, “I don’t have anything negative to say about Taiwan Berryhill,” and fellow linebacker JB Brown praised the way how he appeared and getting louder.

3. See red: Grimes noted Wednesday that KU has generally had success in the red zone, but twice recently failed to score touchdowns when starting with first downs deep in opposing teams’ territory. In both cases, against TCU and ASU, the Jayhawks created a goal-to-go situation and settled for a field goal that made the score 17-14; Of course, they ended up losing both games, and in ASU’s case the loss was only four points.

Spotlight on…

Taylor Davis: The inexperienced redshirt freshman safety played 37 defensive snaps at ASU over the course of the season due to various injuries to the Dye brothers and Mason Ellis. With Leipold pointing out that the bye week didn’t do as much for the Jayhawks’ health as he had hoped, and Borland noting that Davis and fellow freshman Jalen Todd are “really working and training really well,” it’s starting to appear In any case, the Missouri City, Texas native has another big workload coming up against his hometown school. As Neal put it, “He’s one of those guys that you can watch grow every day.”

Within the numbers

100: Tabor Allen’s field goal success percentage in the first half of the season, obviously an improvement over what KU has achieved over a similar period of time the last two years.

88.1: Houston lineman Carlos Allen’s run defense grade at Pro Football Focus is the best among Big 12 interior defenders and one of the top grades in the country.

8: The total number of passes defended (five breakups, three picks) by AJ Haulcy, a defensive back from Houston who was the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week after the Cougars beat TCU.

forecast

KU wins 23-16. It could get ugly, like every game Houston has been involved in this year, but the Jayhawks have enough weapons to come out of this game with their long-awaited second win of the season.

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Written by Henry Greenstein

Henry is a sports editor at Lawrence Journal-World and KUsports.com and serves as a KU beat writer while managing daily sports coverage. He previously worked as a sports reporter at The Bakersfield Californian and is a graduate of Washington University in St. Louis (BA, Linguistics) and Arizona State University (MA, Sports Journalism). Despite being from Los Angeles, he’s often been told that he doesn’t give off “California vibes,” whatever that means.

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