KU’s offense, ranked last in the Big 12 in scoring, hopes to click at West Virginia
Kansas’ football offense enters Saturday’s game at West Virginia as the least productive unit in the Big 12 Conference and No. 73-ranked squad (out of 76 teams) in the country.
“Right now we are not great at running the football. We are not great at throwing the football. I’m trying to find a third part of an offense outside of running it and throwing it right now,” KU offensive coordinator Brent Dearmon quipped during a recent Zoom call.
“We’ve just got to do a better job as a whole. That’s going to open up our big playmakers,” Dearmon added in a serious tone.
Playmakers he mentioned include running backs Pooka Williams and Velton Gardner and receivers Andrew Parchment, Stephon Robinson, Takulve Williams, Lawrence Arnold and Kwamie Lassiter.
They haven’t been able to get going for the 0-3 Jayhawks heading into Saturday’s 11 a.m. contest against 2-1 WVU. The game will be played before 15,000 fans allowed to attend at Milan Puskar Stadium in Morgantown, West Virginia. It will be shown live on FOX.
KU has averaged a league-low 14.7 points a game — nearly two touchdowns worse than TCU, which ranks ninth in the league at 27.0 points per game.
The only teams in the country with a worse points per-game average are South Florida (14.5 ppg), Louisiana Monroe (13.4) and Vanderbilt (8.7). Just 76 teams in Div. I are playing football this year.
Also … KU ranks No. 48 of 76 teams in rushing offense at 149.3 yards per game.
Junior running back Williams, a first-team all-Big 12 player the past two seasons, has gained 175 yards on 40 carries with two TDs in an injury-plagued season. He’s caught three passes for 24 yards.
“He is an electric player,” Dearmon said. “We’ve got to figure out ways to put the ball in his hands in (an) unconditional fashion.”
KU ranks No. 68 of 76 teams in passing yards per outing (146.7) and 71st in total offense, at 296.
The Jayhawks have managed just five plays of 20 yards or more.
“We’ve got to do a better job of getting the ball in their hands,” Dearmon said of KU’s receivers. “We’ve got to do a better job of scheming to get the ball in their hands. We’ve got to do a better job of protecting to get the ball in their hands and the quarterback (either starter Miles Kendrick or backup Thomas MacVittie; Jalon Daniels may miss the game with a foot injury) has got to get them a catchable ball.
“They (receivers) have got to help us out a bit, too. Those guys are showing up. Those guys are getting behind our quarterbacks, loving ‘em up, saying, ‘We believe in you guys.’”
KU’s offensive line this week goes against a West Virginia defensive line considered by many the best in the Big 12. Overall, WVU has allowed 19.3 points a game which ranks No. 2 in the conference; KU has allowed 44.0 points a game, which ranks No. 9.
“It is a little bit of us going back to the drawing board,” Dearmon said of working with the offensive linemen, “figuring out what are we good at, what can we do to simplify. Also those guys have come in on their own and said, ‘We’ve all got to be better. We’ve all got to take the steps that need to happen for us to get better.’ It’s a little bit of simplifying some things. It’s a little bit of doing what we do better and also a little bit of accountability with all of them stepping up as well.”
As far as the quarterback situation, Dearmon said: “In three games we played all three of them because of injury and because of other reasons. I don’t think anybody has lost the job. What I tell them every day is nobody really has gone out there and won the job. I think that’s the fairest evaluation of that situation.
“In my world,” Dearmon said, “I’d like to play one quarterback. I’d like to go with that guy and build confidence with him, but in the crazy 2020 and the COVID pandemic situation, you have got to have No. 2 and 3 ready. Your No. 3 has to probably get more reps than he’s ever gotten before because of COVID. Both of those guys (Kendrick, MacVittie) have got to be ready to go.”
KU will meet Kansas State a week from Saturday. Kickoff is 11 a.m. in Manhattan.
This story was originally published October 16, 2020 at 9:58 AM with the headline "KU’s offense, ranked last in the Big 12 in scoring, hopes to click at West Virginia."
