Kansas gets another shot at building something off last weekend’s upset, but the market still isn’t buying in just yet.
After the Jayhawks knocked off Baylor on a game-winning field goal block by Blake Herold, Lance Leipold’s team heads to Fort Worth to face TCU with a little momentum and a lot to prove. The win gave Kansas a much-needed jolt after a stretch of uneven play, but one breakthrough doesn’t erase the bigger picture. Leipold and his staff still have to show they can string together steady performances, and sportsbooks are waiting to see it before treating KU like a real threat.
FanDuel Sportsbook has TCU favored by 5.5 points, with Kansas sitting as a +5.5 underdog. The moneyline lists the Horned Frogs at -210 and the Jayhawks at +172. The over/under is 45.5 points, pointing to a game that could land somewhere around a 25-20 score.
TCU enters at 3-4, but the record doesn’t tell the whole story. The Horned Frogs have beaten Baylor as well, and their other three Big 12 losses have all come by one possession.
Even so, this is still a team Kansas can look at and see chances. TCU’s offense has been sluggish, averaging 23.4 points per game, which ranks second-worst in the conference.
The turnovers have been a bigger issue, too, especially after quarterback Jaden Craig gave it away three times in last week’s loss to West Virginia.
Kansas, of course, has plenty of its own cleanup work to do. The Jayhawks were down by double digits entering the fourth quarter against Baylor before Isaiah Marshall helped spark a pair of touchdown drives that flipped the game.
The defense held up late, and Herold’s block ended up deciding it. That’s the kind of finish Kansas needs more often if it wants to turn one upset into something more meaningful.
The path to another win is straightforward enough: take care of the ball and avoid the kind of self-inflicted mistakes that have tripped this team up. Doing that, though, has been the hard part.
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Stokes brings the profile Kansas has long valued under Bill Self, with size, athleticism and the ability to impact the game in more than one way. His high school resume and international experience only add to the anticipation, but the real test begins once he makes the jump to Division I and settles into a roster where expectations are always high and every new face is measured against the standard in Allen Fieldhouse. [Read more 🡒]
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The bigger question hanging over the group is not just how quickly the newcomers fit, but whether the Jayhawks will have everyone available when it matters. White and Council are the names to watch there, with their eligibility tied to a court ruling that could change the look of the rotation before the season really gets rolling. For a team trying to sort out roles and establish chemistry after an exhibition slate against strong opponents, the answer to that issue could shape a lot more than just the opening week. [Read more 🡒]
