Kansas football grades: Analysis from KU Jayhawks’ Game 5 loss to the Texas Longhorns
The Kansas Jayhawks suffered their first loss of the season on Saturday.
Texas (5-0, 2-0 Big 12 play) defeated Kansas 40-14 at Darrell K Royal Texas Memorial Stadium in Austin.
The Jayhawks (4-1, 1-1 Big 12 play) were thoroughly outplayed after Kansas starting quarterback Jalon Daniels re-aggravated his back injury hours before the game.
Backup Jason Bean said he found out he was starting about 30 to 45 minutes before game time.
“It is what it is — can’t do much about it,” coach Lance Leipold said. “I don’t know if I’ve ever had that happen like that. Jason stepped in. He gets reps, he gets work. We did walkthroughs at the hotel and he barely got any reps. ... But it’s what happened.”
Here are grades for all three KU units against Texas, plus our Kansas player of the game...
Kansas football grades
Offense: C-
KU’s offense left a lot to be desired.
The Jayhawks came into the game leading the nation in third-down conversions (on percentage), but went 0-for-8 against the Longhorns.
Bean, back for his super-senior season, struggled mightily. He finished 9-for-21 passing for 136 yards with one touchdown and no interceptions.
Nearly half of his yards came on one play, a 58-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Trevor Wilson. He looked uncomfortable all game and didn’t complete a pass until late into the first quarter.
Bean struggled with his accuracy, with multiple off-target throws. His inability to string passes and first downs together led to Texas dominating the time of possession (39:41, compared to KU’s 20:19).
The Longhorns ran 86 plays while KU ran 46. It put a huge amount of pressure on the KU run game to produce — plus the defense, which was gassed by the end of the game.
The lone bright spot on Kansas’ offense was its run game, which had a total of 124 yards. Lawrence-native Devin Neal led all rushers with 45 yards on attempts (5.3 yards per carry).
Defense: C
KU’s defense did an excellent job of limiting the Longhorns’ points ... for a half.
The Kansas defense kept the game close in the first half, holding the Longhorns to three field goal attempts — UT went 2-for-3 on field goals.
But Texas caught fire in the second half. After Texas opened the half with a touchdown, Kansas answered with one of its own. After that, the Longhorns scored 20 straight points to end the game.
The Jayhawks struggled to tackle the shifty Texas players, leading to multiple big-yardage plays. But it didn’t help that KU’s offense couldn’t sustain drives, and thus the defense had to keep coming back onto the field.
The Longhorns’ offense put up five touchdowns and 661 yards, so there’s still plenty to improve on regardless.
Special teams: B+
If there was any bright spot for Kansas in this game, it was its special teams.
Kansas punter Damon Greaves had his best game of the season. He punted six times with an average of 45.3 yards.
Kicker Seth Keller didn’t attempt a field goal but made both extra points.
Player of the Game: Kansas safety OJ Burroughs
Burroughs made his presence felt all over the field. He finished with a team-leading 13 tackles, nine solo, and one tackle-for-loss.
Known for his coverage skills, Burroughs nearly had a pick-six one week ago, and he continues to make plays for the KU defense.
This story was originally published October 1, 2023 at 6:30 AM with the headline "Kansas football grades: Analysis from KU Jayhawks’ Game 5 loss to the Texas Longhorns."
