Kansas opened its season with a 51-6 win over Long Island, and a second look at the game shows a few clear themes right away: some early sloppiness on offense, a defense that lived in LIU’s backfield, and a front seven package that stayed mostly in one look all night.
The first drive had a little rust on it. It started with a strong catch-and-run from Nik McMillan that picked up a first down, and Isaiah Marshall had a clean lane to work with on an option play.
But Keaton Kubecka didn’t connect on a second-level block, and the defender he left free was the one who got to Marshall. There also looked to be room for Marshall behind Kubecka if that block had been made and the defender pushed aside.
Kansas had another chance to stay on schedule, but the execution slipped again. Yasin Willis got moving quickly on second down while following Calvin Clements, though the play got tangled up.
Then on third down, Carson Bruhn didn’t get his man blocked on the edge and the screen to Dylan Edwards was disrupted. A pass interference call on LIU on fourth down could have been considered, but the bigger issue was that Kansas simply didn’t clean up the second and third down snaps well enough to avoid the turnover on downs.
If the offense needed a little time to settle in, the defensive line did the opposite. It came out controlling the line of scrimmage and forcing LIU to operate in traffic.
That pressure showed up in a big way on the first defensive series of the second quarter, when Leroy Harris III nearly took over the possession on his own. He recorded a tackle for loss inside the tackles on first down, added another TFL in the flat on second down, then slipped as he came free from an offensive lineman and helped force the quarterback to scramble and throw it away.
Harris looked like the player people inside the program have been talking about, the one they believed could be ready for a breakout season. The next step is doing it every week.
One other detail stood out on the defensive side: Kansas stayed in 4-2-5 throughout the game. The Jayhawks did mix up some of the line and linebacker alignments, including some shifting up front, but they never went to their odd fronts. Those figures to show up again next week.
In Other News...
Lance Leipold Had One Big Issue With Kansas' Blowout Win
Kansas had little trouble putting away Long Island in a 51-6 win, and for most of the afternoon the only real question was how lopsided it would get. The Jayhawks rolled up 613 yards on offense, got strong work from backs Yasin Willis, Micah Johnson and Jalen Dupree, and saw Isaiah Marshall settle in by completing 14 of 19 passes for 246 yards and two touchdowns. On the other side, the defense smothered the Sharks, holding them to 146 yards and just 11 first downs in a game that looked over early and only grew more one-sided.
The lone sour note came late in the fourth quarter, when redshirt-sophomore safety Khijohnn Cummings-Coleman was sent off after a targeting ruling on a hit that Lance Leipold clearly believed merited a closer look. For a team that otherwise checked just about every box in a runaway nonconference win, the call stood out enough to leave the Kansas coach frustrated as the Jayhawks turned their attention to the next week. [Read more 🡒]
Kansas Looked Ready But One Border War Concern Is Already Brewing
Kansas opened the season exactly the way a veteran team would hope, rolling past Long Island 51-6 and never even needing to punt. Lance Leipold said the Jayhawks had to adjust their pregame routine because of the heat, but once the game started, the operation looked crisp enough to suggest a group that already knows what it wants to be.
Still, the opener was not entirely clean, and the first hint of concern came on defense. A linebacker went down early with a shoulder injury, and the secondary also had to absorb a targeting ejection that could matter more in a much bigger setting to come. For a team that immediately turns its attention to Missouri, the early-season injury and discipline questions are the sort of details that can linger long after a lopsided win. [Read more 🡒]
Kansas Offense Just Created A New Question Before Missouri
Kansas handled Long Island University exactly the way a heavily favored team should, rolling to a 51-6 win and getting the kind of low-stress September result that lets a staff sort through depth and rhythm. The bigger offensive note was the return of coordinator Andy Kotelnicki, and Kansas had enough moving parts to leave with a better feel for its backfield rotation, steady production from several running backs and a more complete picture of how the passing game might look as the season moves forward.
Isaiah Marshall also got his first-ever start and immediately gave the offense something to think about heading into Missouri week, including an early connection with Nik McMillan that stood out in a game with plenty of scoring. On the other side of the ball, Leroy Harris III was disruptive throughout the afternoon with multiple tackles for loss, giving Kansas a defensive edge to match the offensive depth it uncovered, even if the bigger questions now are how all of it carries into a far more demanding rivalry test. [Read more 🡒]