Kansas dropped its first Big 12 game to Cincinnati in Week 5, falling to 3-2 on the year in heartbreaking fashion. It was a back-and-forth contest all night, but the defense struggled to get stops, and a costly turnover and red-zone inefficiency plagued the Jayhawks in the long run.
It’s hard for KU fans to find positives after such a grueling loss, but hopefully the team can learn from its mistakes and make corrections.
There were more negatives than positives, but there were still positives nonetheless. Let’s take a look at what went right and what went wrong yesterday.
What Went Right
When the Jayhawks dropped back to pass, they were unstoppable for most of the day. Quarterback Jalon Daniels threw for an unbelievable 445 yards and four touchdowns, averaging 23.4 yards per completion, with nearly half of his production going to Emmanuel Henderson Jr.
The Alabama transfer hauled in five catches for 214 yards and two scores, including touchdowns of 93 and 75 yards. Daniels also found some success on quarterback runs, aside from his costly turnover in the fourth quarter.
This offense clearly has the firepower to compete with some of the best in the Big 12, and it was the only reason KU stayed in the game as long as it did.
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On the defensive end, there weren’t many positives, but KU did become the first of Cincinnati’s four opponents to record a sack. Even though it only logged one, the Jayhawks were generating pressure throughout the night.
Brendan Sorsby simply wasn’t fazed and did a great job of evading defenders, but the KU edge rushers still deserve credit for consistently breaking into the backfield.
What Went Wrong
Where do we start? Oh, yeah… the defense.
This was undoubtedly one of the worst defensive showings we’ve seen a Kansas team put out in the Leipold era. Cincinnati tallied 603 total yards, including a 29-of-43, 388-yard passing performance from Sorsby.
The Bearcats converted on all three of their fourth-down attempts and dominated the time of possession. Even when the refs bailed the Jayhawks out with penalty calls, UC would simply keep going and move the ball in chunk gains of 20-30 yards at times.
Sorsby is a talented quarterback, but D.K. McDonald’s unit made him look like Baker Mayfield at Oklahoma. Keep in mind that he is the same player who threw 69 yards on 13-of-25 passing against Nebraska.
It seemed at one point that the two teams were simply trading touchdowns, and when KU held its opponent to a field goal, it felt like they had the edge. Then, Daniels fumbled the ball at the 1-yard line, and most fans knew then and there that it was a foreshadowing of what was to come.
And for as much praise that Daniels deserves for making big-time throws, he deserves just as much criticism for his costly late-game mistakes. Fumbling in the red-zone is a cardinal sin and turnovers like these have become a repeated theme over the years with him.