LAWRENCE — A season that began with so much excitement has hit a road bump.
The Kansas football team started the year with hopes that they could compete for a Big 12 title and maybe even get a spot in the FBS playoffs. While those two goals are still achievable, they are much more difficult now having lost consecutive games to Illinois and UNLV.
Interceptions by quarterback Jalon Daniels have been costly, but he and the Jayhawks will try to get back on track Saturday at West Virginia. KU coach Lance Leipold said he along with offensive coordinator Jeff Grimes and quarterbacks coach Jim Zebrowski will get together with Daniels and try to restore his confidence.
“We look at a lot of different things,” Leipold said Monday. “Is there some things that he’s more comfortable with than others? We look at a lot of different situations when things are happening. Jalon has been outstanding with attitude, effort and coachability — all those things. And I’m not going to put this on one guy by any stretch or two people or even three people. I said if anything put it one person. Put it on me.
“But on offense, we have not responded well when something hasn’t gone right, whether it’s a turnover or a three-and-out. We’re not responding off that as an offense, and as a football team. And that’s the No. 1 thing we’ve got to try and fix.”
Through 10 quarters of play, Daniels has 442 yards passing and three touchdowns to go with six interceptions. He’s rushed for 92 yards and two touchdowns both coming in the first half against UNLV.
The Jayhawks, however, didn’t score a touchdown in the second half against the Runnin’ Rebels.
“I’m proud of our offense to start the way that we did,” Daniels said. “But we have to finish. Our defense was out there on the field making plays left and right. And we as an offense have to be able to go out there and help those guys out. So we’re going to have to go in and find a way to get better.”
The Jayhawks (1-2) are hoping conference play might just the remedy they’ve been looking for the past couple of weeks as every team is 0-0 in conference play. The Jayhawks also have recent history on their side in Morgantown.
In 2022, KU defeated the WVU on the road 55-42 in Week 2 as Daniels threw three touchdowns and no picks and rushed for 85 yards. The Jayhawks went on to start that season 5-0, and Daniels hopes Saturday’s game against the Mountaineers can be a springboard to the rest of the season.
“We got to reset all over again,” Daniels said. “At the end of the day we still have the standard that we go by every single day, and we believe that abiding by that standard day in and day out no matter what happens will allow us to get to the outcome that we want.
“We’re always going to be focused on the root, which is the process of everything rather than the fruit, which is the outcome.”
