Kansas entered 2026 with real hope of getting back to a bowl game. Instead, four games into the season, the Jayhawks are already in a hole.
A 2-4 start and an 0-3 mark in Big 12 play have left Kansas searching for answers after a season that began with some promise but has turned into a string of missed chances. The latest setback came Saturday, when Kansas fell 35-24 on the road to Kansas State, another game in which KU had openings but couldn’t take control.
That has the program staring at the possibility of a third straight year without a bowl appearance.
Head coach Lance Leipold made it clear after the loss that he still believes there’s time to turn things around. He also acknowledged the frustration outside the building.
“I can understand people’s feelings - again, I ask that our fan base keeps looking at this team competing and where we’ve been and we have a chance to win,” Leipold told reporters postgame after the K-State loss. “I still believe we can win every game on our schedule.
Now, as I told our team, with the margin of error, every game is winnable. That’s the way this Big 12 Conference has been set up for the most part.
There’s a few maybe that end up pulling away, but again, there’s winnable games.
"I think our guys have played and responded back to these situations and its challenges. It’s something we challenge them.
We’ll see when they show up tomorrow and how we prepare for this. We’ve got to keep chopping away at this thing and find a way to make it happen.”
Kansas wide receiver Nik McMillan, who caught a touchdown pass against Kansas State, said Leipold’s message afterward was about unity. McMillan said there will be people trying to split the group up, including those on social media who point fingers, but the Jayhawks can’t let that get to them.
The issues are plain enough. Defensively, Kansas has to clean up the problems that let Kansas State move the ball so freely.
On offense, the Jayhawks still need more consistency in the bigger games. Special teams also came up short against the Wildcats, and the punting unit’s performance was a problem.
Add in the penalties, and Kansas has too many self-inflicted mistakes to survive when the margin is this thin.
Leipold said he remains confident in the group, but he also knows the standard now is simple: play clean, especially away from home, and avoid giving opponents easy chances. Fixing those issues, he said, comes through coaching and through the team continuing to grind away at the details.
He also stressed that he was not pointing the finger at the players. For Leipold, this is about the program as a whole committing to the work needed to recover from the 2-4 start. He believes there is leadership in the locker room that can help carry that message.
McMillan and quarterback Isaiah Marshall see it the same way. They believe the locker room is still together, and Marshall said the focus has to stay on the small details before Kansas hosts Baylor on Saturday at 12 p.m. (CT).
“Yeah, we tight,” McMillan said. “I don’t think we’re going to split. No, just like I said, you own what we put on film, and want to get better from it.”
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What stands out now is how much of that roster exists under court-ordered eligibility, with Trey Kaufman-Renn joining Tre White and Melvin Council Jr. in that category. Each case carries its own legal wrinkle, and together they underscore how Kansas is operating in a reality that would have seemed hard to imagine even a few seasons ago. The talent is there, but so is the uncertainty, and the Jayhawks are finding themselves deeper into that mix as the season begins. [Read more 🡒]