Grades from KU Jayhawks’ OT victory over West Virginia, and looking ahead to Houston
Here are our letter grades for all three Kansas units — offense, defense, special teams — plus our play of the game from Saturday’s 55-42 overtime win over West Virginia in Morgantown, W.Va.
After that, a look ahead to next weekend’s game at Houston.
Play of the game
Kansas cornerback Cobee Bryant stepped in front of West Virginia receiver Bryce Ford-Wheaton to pick off a JT Daniels pass in overtime and ensure KU’s Big 12 opening victory over the Mountaineers.
Bryant, a 6-foot-0, 170-pound sophomore from Evergreen, Alabama, didn’t need to return the ball 86 yards for a pick-6 score. He could have simply downed the football, since KU had already scored in OT and held a 49-42 lead.
He nonetheless showed great wheels in racing untouched all the way down the sideline for the TD that put an exclamation point on the KU victory, its second of the season against no defeats.
Bryant also had a TD in KU’s 56-10 season-opening win over Tennessee Tech on Sept, 2 at Booth Memorial Stadium. He picked up a blocked field goal (by Jereme Robinson) and raced 61 yards for a score that gave the Jayhawks a 21-0 advantage in the first quarter of that game.
Grades
Offense: A
Kansas, which gained 502 yards in its season-opener against Tennessee Tech, gained 419 yards. Frankly, it seemed like more yardage than that as the Jayhawks had no problem putting the ball in the end zone.
Quarterback Jalon Daniels’ electrifying performance included 85 rushing yards on 12 carries. He completed 18 of 29 passes for 219 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions.
Daniels rushed for 59 yards the first half, which bested his game career high of 45 rushing yards set in 2021 at Texas. During the 2021 season, Daniels rushed for 83 yards on 33 carries.
KU made effective use of plays in which Daniels faked a handoff to one of KU’s backs, then kept the football.
Running back Devin Neal had 42 yards on 10 carries. He had TD runs of 6 and 2 yards. He also caught a 17-yard TD pass. Daniel Hishaw had 63 yards on 10 carries including TD runs of 3 and 30 yards.
Quentin Skinner, who had the game-winning 4-yard reception from Daniels in OT, had three catches for 50 yards.
Defense: C-plus.
The Jayhawks allowed 501 yards but weren’t pushed around by the Mountaineers, who had long TD drives of 12 plays (50 yards), 11 plays (75 yards) and 12 plays (85 yards) to go with some short drives (75 yards/four plays twice). The Jayhawks kept CJ Donaldson pretty much in check (48 yards, 13 carries, 2 TDs with a long run of 10 yards).
WVU QB JT Daniels did have a good game (28 of 40 for 355 yards, 3 TDs), but he also was picked off by Bryant in OT.
Ford-Wheaton had 11 catches for 152 yards and a pair of TDs. The Jayhawks were burned the first half on TD catches of 59 yards (Sam James) and 67 yards (Ford-Wheaton), big plays that could have, but didn;’t cost KU the game.
Linebacker Rich Miller had 12 tackles, safety Kenny Logan 10 and linebacker Craig Young seven.
Special teams B.
Redshirt junior Torry Locklin recovered a muffed punt return by West Virginia, which gave Kansas the ball at the WVU 24 in the third quarter. Kansas scored six plays later, taking its first lead, 35-28, on a 2-yard rushing touchdown by Neal.
Tabor Allen booted it into the end zone on three of his seven kickoffs. Reis Vernon had three punts for a 43.0 yard average with a long punt of 46 yards. He didn’t attempt a punt in KU’s season opener. Kenny Logan had a pair of kickoff returns for just 30 yards. Jacob Borcila was 7-of-7 on extra points.
Next up
KU will play a road game against future Big 12 foe Houston at 3 p.m. Saturday in Houston. The game will be shown on ESPNU.
Houston lost to Texas Tech, 33-30, in two overtimes on Saturday in Lubbock, Texas. Houston won its opener against UTSA, 37-35, on Sept, 3.
This story was originally published September 11, 2022 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Grades from KU Jayhawks’ OT victory over West Virginia, and looking ahead to Houston."
