Kansas Jayhawks football vs. Texas Longhorns: Five things to watch for Saturday

Kansas football coach Les Miles — as of Monday morning — is optimistic about his team’s chances of playing host to Texas on Saturday.

The Jayhawks, who are coming off a bye week, have yet to have an in-season cancellation or postponement because of COVID-19. Last week, 15 FBS games were altered because of the virus.

“We feel pretty good,” Miles said about his team’s COVID status during Monday’s Big 12 teleconference. “We’re going to get some test results back today I think, but we’ll be able to tell you more in the next day or so.”

This begins the final three-game stretch of KU’s season; the Jayhawks will play at home against TCU next week before finishing Dec. 5 at Texas Tech.

Here’s a look at this week’s game.

THE DETAILS

Kickoff: 2:30 p.m. Saturday

Where: Booth Memorial Stadium, Lawrence

TV: ESPN2

Betting line: Texas by 29.

Radio: WHB (810 AM) in Kansas City, KFH (1240 AM) in Wichita

Five things to watch

1. Keepin’ it close: Though KU has been at least a two-touchdown underdog in its last four games against Texas, it has covered the spread each time, according to the database at Odds Shark. That includes last year’s contest, when the Longhorns, as three-touchdown favorites, needed a last-play field goal to beat KU 50-4 at home.
2. Need some explosives: KU’s offense has struggled to gain chunk yardage, posting just 16 twenty-plus-yard plays through seven games. That’s the lowest mark among any FBS team that has completed more than four games.
3. Trying to avoid history: The Jayhawks have allowed 48.4 points per game, which is 125th out of 126 FBS schools and ahead of only Bowling Green, which has played just twice. If KU’s number holds, it’ll be the highest points allowed total by a Power Five team this decade, breaking the mark previously set by 2015 Kansas (46.1).
   
   
4. Bad blood? KU’s players said after last year’s 50-48 loss at Texas that they were fired up by some bulletin board material from Texas coach Tom Herman. That appears to be somewhat manufactured by KU’s coaching staff, however, as 16 minutes into his news conference before last year’s game, Herman was finally asked his first question about the Jayhawks. Reporters in attendance said, at that point, that the coach playfully chided writers for not asking him about the Jayhawks sooner, saying, “We actually play a game this week?” That snippet — taken by itself — seemed to fire up KU’s players, who perceived it as the coach overlooking his team’s next opponent.
5. Ehlinger’s jam: Texas quarterback Sam Ehlinger leads the Big 12 in total offense, averaging 308 yards per game, with 262 of those coming through the air. He’s also tied for fourth nationally with 22 touchdown passes.

This story was originally published November 16, 2020 at 11:57 AM with the headline "Kansas Jayhawks football vs. Texas Longhorns: Five things to watch for Saturday."

Jesse Newell

The Kansas City Star

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Jesse Newell covered the Chiefs for The Star until August 2025. He won an EPPY for best sports blog and previously was named top beat writer in his circulation by AP’s Sports Editors. His interest in sports analytics comes from his math teacher father, who handed out rulers to Trick-or-Treaters each year.