Kansas will look to get back on the winning track and earn its first win in Big 12 Conference play when it hosts Houston on Saturday afternoon in a league game at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Mo.
The Jayhawks (1-5, 0-3 Big 12) are coming off an opening week after dropping five straight shutouts. Kansas’ most recent game was a 35-31 loss at Arizona State in which the Jayhawks gave up a touchdown with 16 seconds left. Jalon Daniels passed for 260 yards and two scores in the loss.
The loss marked the fourth time in the skid that the Jayhawks lost by six points or less. Kansas hasn’t won since beating FCS rival Lindenwood on Aug. 29.
The Jayhawks have been plagued by a number of injuries, especially on the defensive end, and the opening week did not get their players as good as coach Lance Leipold would have liked.
“We still have a lot of questionable guys,” Leipold said. “(We’re) working on it, but we’ll have to see where (the week) takes us. A couple of guys are getting a little better.”
Kansas running back Devin Neal enters Saturday’s game just 181 yards from breaking the school rushing record of 3,841 yards set by June Henley from 1993-96.
Houston (2-4, 1-2 Big 12) heads north after an open week that came on the heels of a dramatic 30-19 win at TCU on Oct. 4. Zeon Chriss threw and ran 97 yards for another first down. career start while leading a Houston offense that totaled 361 yards and held the ball for nearly 37 minutes.
The win snapped a two-game losing streak in which the Cougars were held to points.
Chriss, who has been splitting playing time at quarterback with veteran Donovan Smith, was named the team’s first starting quarterback on Monday by Houston coach Willie Fritz.
“There are a lot of positives to take from the TCU game, but obviously we can be a lot better,” Fritz said. “We have to continue to do a great job on ball defense and win the turnover/takeaway margin — we were plus-4 in the last game.”
The teams will meet for the first time as Big 12 foes, and Kansas holds a 4-0 advantage in the all-time series. The most recent matchup was the Jayhawks’ 48-30 win at Houston in 2022 in which Daniels accounted for five touchdowns (three passing, two rushing).
–Field Level Media
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