Day: August 29, 2024

College football is finally here!  With it comes what is the most anticipated and also oddest season for the Kansas Jayhawks in my life.

Anticipated because a program that won nine games last year enters week one with 20 of 22 starters who are either seniors or redshirt juniors, a level of experience this program has probably never had before.

Biggest of all is the return of quarterback Jalon Daniels. When he’s been healthy at KU he’s been amazing. The only problem is he gets hurt every year. Sometimes badly. This year there is no Jason Bean backing him up.[1] Cole Ballard might be able to step in for a series or two, but it is difficult to see him doing what Bean did the last two years when Daniels was hurt. The single biggest factor in KU living up to this year’s hype is keeping JD6 on the field. If he plays 10+ games, the Jayhawks have the talent and schedule to win 10 games. If he gets hurt? 😱

I say oddest because KU will be playing two home games at Sporting KC’s Children’s Mercy Park, and the rest at Arrowhead because of the reconstruction of the stadium in Lawrence. It’s kind of classic KU football that this project hits in a rare year when the Jayhawks enter the season with legit expectations. How much of a home-field advantage will they have in those Big 12 games in Kansas City? Especially the Iowa State game? I know KU has made some moves to protect tickets for that game, but Clone fans live for coming to KC and taking over. If that game is a close loss and the crowd is mostly ISU fans, there’s going to be grumbling about timing and whatnot.

You know what, though? I don’t think it’s going to matter. I think this team will be really good. The defense still has holes, but will be opportunistic. While people were freaking out about OC Andy Kotelnicki leaving for Penn State, I think new OC Jeff Grimes might fit KU’s talent better. Kotelnicki was great. He was imaginative and made KU’s offense one that routinely got national praise. But maybe he got a little too cute at times? I’m not sure that’s fair criticism, but I also don’t think that Grimes getting dinged for his last year at Baylor is fair when he did amazing things at BYU before that.

Again, if Daniels is healthy, this team can cook. Devin Neal and Daniel Hishaw are as good of a running back combo as any in the country. None of the top three wide receivers seem like NFL talent, thus their returns. But they are all super solid, super experienced, and better than most people think.

The new Big 12 should be entertaining, at least. Utah is very good. Arizona looks legit as well. We get to see Coach Prime’s antics up close while welcoming old friends Colorado back.

My favorite thing about the new Big 12 is that it feels like a conference of equals. There is no Texas or Oklahoma that has way more money than everyone else and stadiums twice as big as the rest of the conference. Aside from TCU and Baylor, it’s a bunch of schools that are mostly similarly sized, with similar athletic budgets, and similar facilities.[2] No one is going to be signing a top ten recruiting class; most will be in the 20–50 range each year. There will be egos and rivalries based on stupid things like there always are in sports. It feels, at least for now though, like we’re starting with more programs on similar footing.

Which will last until the conference adds UConn and ACC schools to be determined, or the Big Ten decides they want to grab a couple Big 12 schools. Realignment never ends!

What’s important is that football is back and unlike so many years in my life, the Kansas Jayhawks are probably pretty good.

Rock Chalk, bitches!