Kansas got its first real look at the 2026 defense Friday night against Missouri, and the results came back mixed.
The Jayhawks took their lumps through the air. Missouri piled up 292 passing yards, the most KU has surrendered since game No. 5 last season, when Brendan Sorsby threw for 388. Austin Simmons finished with a 66% completion rate and three touchdown passes, and Missouri’s 10.0 yards per dropback landed in the 90th percentile.
There was more to like against the run. KU did give up a 64-yard burst to Jamal Roberts in the second quarter, but outside of that play the front held up.
Remove that run, and Missouri managed just 2.7 yards per carry. The Tigers’ EPA per rush also ranked in the 34th percentile on the night.
“I thought we held up good up front,” D.K. McDonald said.
“Besides the one run that got out on us, I thought we did a good job hanging in there. They wanted to run inside zone.
I think we stopped that at a good rate. We got to do a better job covering to give our defensive line a chance to get to them.
I think we got a really good defensive line, but the rush and coverage got to work together, and it didn't on Friday night. So we've got to do a better job of trying to lock some guys down.”
McDonald’s bigger issue was how quickly Simmons was able to operate. KU’s defensive backs weren’t forcing the quarterback into deeper progression reads, and that made life easier for Missouri’s passing game.
The Jayhawks came away with only a handful of pressures and no sacks, but McDonald wasn’t pinning that on the front.
“Many people just think, 'Hey, the rush isn't doing good' and that's not the case,” McDonald said. “You got to make a quarterback get to a second look, third look, and by that time, we believe our ends and our defensive tackles can get there. But I think we did a poor job of locking on guys and getting to that second and third look, and that's been the emphasis that we've been working on so far this week.”
Another issue that carried over from last season showed up again: the cushion KU’s cornerbacks were giving before the snap. On several plays, Simmons had enough room to get the ball out on a short route before a Kansas defensive back could close and contest it.
McDonald was asked whether that spacing was by design or something the players were choosing on their own.
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