Kansas Jayhawks
2010 record: 3-9
2010 Against the Spread: 5-7
2010 over/under: 6-6
Returning Starters: 15 (7 offense, 8 defense)

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To say the Turner Gill era at Kansas got off to a slow start would be an understatement. It started off with a disastrous 6-3 home loss to FCS school North Dakota St. The next week Kansas upset then #15 Georgia Tech 28-25. The Jayhawks would only win 2 more games the rest of the season against New Mexico St and Colorado to finish 3-9. In that Colorado game, Kansas was down 28 points going into the 4th quarter and scored 35 unanswered points to win 52-45. This year Kansas returns 15 starters and will be better, but how much is the question.

Here is a look at the Jayhawks’ offense, defense, special teams and schedule.

Offense

In the 3 wins for Kansas last year they averaged 40.6 points, but in the 9 losses they averaged only 9.2 points a game. In fact Kansas scored 122 points in the three wins and only 83 total in the losses. For the season, the Jayhawks averaged 17.1 points a game overall, which was near the bottom of the country. Kansas only averaged 296.8 yards a game including 161.8 passing yards, both also near the bottom. The rushing game was a “bright spot” so to speak as it averaged 134.9 ypg, which was 87th in the country.

Last season Kansas used three quarterbacks and all were ineffective. Jordan Webb and Quinn Mecham look to compete for the starting job, as they were two of the quarterbacks who played last year along with Kale Pick who moved to wide receiver last year. Webb threw for 1,195 yards, 7 touchdowns and 8 interceptions. His best game was in the upset of Georgia Tech where he was 18 for 29 with three touchdowns.   Mecham completed 59.8% of his passes for 554 yards, 4 touchdowns and 5 interceptions. If Webb and Mecham struggle look for a pair of freshmen Blake Jablonski and Brock Berglund to get playing time as well.

Kansas returns 3 of their top 4 rushers from last season. Sophomore James Sims showed flashes of brilliance last season despite running behind a leaky offensive line and getting virtually no support from the passing game. Sims had 168 carries for 742 yards and 9 touchdowns last season. He also caught 19 passes and a touchdown. Deshaun Sands and redshirt frosh Brandon Bourbon will get significant carries as well along with true freshman Darrian Miller, who was the Missouri high school player of the year. . Kansas only rushed for 3.4 yards a carry last year.

Senior Daymond Patterson is the top receiver. He had 60 catches for 487 yards and 2 touchdowns last season. Interestingly the other three top receivers all switched over from other positions. Kale Pick and Christian Matthews are converted quarterbacks and D.J. Beshears switched over from running back. Senior tight end Tim Biere had 19 catches for 228 yards and 4 touchdowns.

The offensive line was a disaster last season giving up 37 sacks which is more than 3 a game. They weren’t much better at run blocking either. They return 3 starters and hope the experience will help become a better unit. If they don’t it will be another long season in Lawrence.

Defense

The defense was almost as bad as the offense last year for Kansas. The Jayhawks gave up 34.4 points a game last season and 428.9 yards a game. The run defense was awful giving up 206.4 yards a game. The pass defense was pretty good relatively giving up 222.5 yards a game. However, that is a little misleading as teams didn’t really need to throw the ball when they could rush for over 200 yards a game. Kansas does reurn 8 starters from teh unit last year.

The star of the defense could be sophomore linebacker Darius Willis who transferred from Buffalo to follow coach Turner Gill. The defensive line returns 3 starters but couldn’t form any semblance of a pass rush last year. The secondary returns 3 starters and could be a strength of the unit.

Special Teams

Sophomore Ron Doherty will handle both the kicking and punting duties to start the season. Doherty should be fine on kicks inside the 40 but anything longer than that is a question mark. Redshirt Freshman Victor McBride could take over the punting duties so Doherty can concentrate on just kicking.

Daymond Patterson will return punts but he only averaged 3.8 yards a return last year. D.J. Beshears will return kicks and he had a 25.6 yard return average.

Schedule

Kansas opens with McNeese St and Northern Illinois at home before traveling to Georgia Tech for the rematch. The Jayhawks need to watch out for a dangerous NIU team that might be the best team in the MAC. In conference, the Jayhawks get Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Kansas St, and Baylor at home and plays Missouri in Kansas City. Kansas goes on the road to Oklahoma St, Texas, Iowa St, and Texas A&M. Kansas will not be favored in any game except for McNeese and Northern Illinois. They will need to pull off a couple of upsets in conference in order to improve on their 3-9 record from last year. The problem is Iowa St is the only team in the conference that Kansas has a realistic shot of beating, but that is why they call them upsets.

Betting Trends

Kansas was 5-7 ATS last season including 3-4 at home and 2-3 on the road. The over under was 6-6 including 5-2 at home and 1-4 on the road.

Game to play Kansas

Almost by default I have to pick Kansas to cover at Iowa St. Last season in Ames Iowa St won 28-16. Excluding the Colorado game that was the closest Kansas came to winning a conference game. Every other conference game they lost by scores of 55-7, 59-7, 45-10, 20-3, 48-14, and 35-7.

Game to bet against Kansas

September 17, Kansas travels to Georgia Tech for the rematch of last year’s game in Lawrence. The Yellow Jackets were embarrassed 28-25 last year despite rushing for 291 yards. they will be pumped for the rematch, and should cover the spread. Kansas should be a double digit underdog in most games, especially on the road.

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