Kansas walked into Morgantown with plenty to prove after back-to-back losses to TCU and UCF, and the Jayhawks answered with their sharpest showing of the season. In a 37-14 rout of West Virginia, KU controlled the game from start to finish, handed the Mountaineers a second straight loss in the series, and never let the home crowd believe a comeback was coming.
The biggest spark came from Isaiah Marshall, whose zone-read work gave Kansas a steady edge all night. He finished with 18 carries for 164 yards and a rushing touchdown, repeatedly punishing West Virginia when the defense hesitated.
Marshall’s 50-yard keeper was his longest run of the season, and he kept the offense on schedule by making the right read over and over again. It was the kind of performance that made Andy Kotelnicki’s play design look especially sharp.
The ground game got even more complicated when Dylan Edwards left with an ankle injury on the opening drive. That pushed Khi Cummings-Coleman and Chase Belcher into larger roles, and Cummings-Coleman made the most of the opportunity. The former defensive back carried 15 times for 56 yards and scored twice in the first half, while also showing the kind of ball security Kansas needed after his costly fumble a week earlier.
Kansas didn’t need a perfect offense to bury West Virginia, though, because the defense took over the game. After allowing an early touchdown, the Jayhawks shut the Mountaineers out until late in the fourth quarter and held them to 262 total yards. Every time WVU tried to drop back, Kansas was in the backfield making life miserable.
That pressure started up front. Leroy Harris III posted six solo tackles, two tackles for loss and a sack, while Dak Brinkley added two solo tackles and a sack of his own. Michael Hawkins Jr. and Cam Cook never found any rhythm against Kansas’ front seven, and the Jayhawks dictated the action in the trenches on both sides of the ball.
West Virginia’s defense made the result look even worse. The Mountaineers missed tackles, blew assignments and looked physically outmatched as Kansas ripped off explosive play after explosive play.
For a team that entered the day at 4-6, the Jayhawks suddenly still have a bowl path, though it requires wins over BYU and Oklahoma State to get there. That’s a tall order against two top-25 teams, but Kansas at least kept its season alive with a response that looked nothing like the group that had stumbled the previous two weeks.
In Other News...
Bill Self Sees One Early Tournament Wrinkle For Kansas
Kansas is heading to Las Vegas next week for the Players Era 8 Tournament, and the Jayhawks will open against UNLV on Nov. 17 before the bracket starts to reveal what kind of trip this really becomes. For Bill Self, the event carries the usual early-season value of high-level competition, but it also comes with a wrinkle that can change the feel of the week depending on how the draw unfolds.
The possibility of running into Big 12 opponents West Virginia and Houston is the part that makes the bracket more interesting, and Self has already framed it as neither an ideal setup nor a bad one. Kansas is also still navigating the absence of Melvin Council Jr., who will miss the rest of non-conference play with a foot injury, so the Jayhawks arrive in Las Vegas with both opportunity and uncertainty hanging over their schedule. [Read more 🡒]
Kansas Already Has A Few Early Role Questions At 3-0
Kansas has opened 3-0 with wins over Fordham, Middle Tennessee and Kentucky, but the early season has already brought a familiar kind of good problem. The first few games have offered a clearer look at how the rotation is taking shape, and the breakdown by guards, forwards and centers has made it obvious that some players have already carved out more defined jobs than others.
Tre White, Taylen Kinney, Tyran Stokes and Trey Kaufman-Renn have all been part of that early evaluation, with their contributions helping frame where the Jayhawks are solid and where the questions still linger. The grades from those games point to a roster that has talent and depth, but also a few role decisions that will need sorting out as the schedule gets tougher. [Read more 🡒]
Bill Self Sees Something Different In This Kansas Team
Bill Self has noticed a different edge in this Kansas group, one that shows up in the way the Jayhawks carry themselves and react on the floor. He has pointed to the youthful fire and passion of this team as a welcome change, saying it is easier to work with a group that already brings energy than one that has to be pushed into it. Even in a program that expects intensity as a baseline, that kind of natural emotion can stand out.
The recent game against Kentucky offered a clear example, with Kansas showing a level of intensity and feeling Self said he appreciated. For a coach who has spent years managing the rhythms of a veteran-heavy program, it is a notable shift to see a team respond with that much visible juice so early. Whether that energy becomes a defining trait over the rest of the season is still to be seen, but it has already given Self reason to believe this group may look and feel different from some of his recent ones. [Read more 🡒]