Two weeks into the football season and Kansas is 2-0 as expected. What most people didn’t expect is the defense they’ve shown in the opening two contests. Admittedly, Northern Colorado and UTEP aren’t high powered offensive juggernauts, but it’s the way the Jayhawks have gone about their business while incorporating several new faces into the lineup that has been most impressive.
Through two games, Kansas has allowed an average of just 227 yards per contest and if not for a breakdown on one 75 yard pass play in the fourth quarter against UTEP, they wouldn’t have allowed a TD in the first two games.
Going into the season line play on both sides of the ball was expected to be critical to the Jayhawks success, Saturday night in El Paso Kansas recorded six sacks and held the Miners to just seven first downs. Max Onyegbule was named Big 12 co-defensive player of the week after recording a pair of sacks and six tackles in just his second career start. Jake Laptad continued his fine play as defensive coordinator Clint Bowen sometimes mixed it up and moved Laptad and Onyegbule inside to the tackle spots against the Miners.
After Anthony Davis struggled in the opener at cornerback, Chris Harris moved back into the spot from safety and the secondary looked much better for it. The linebacking corps continues to improve with Arist Wright and Drew Dudley performing solidly.
Let’s also not forget the offensive side of the ball. Despite an overall pedestrian performance, Kansas still rolled up 570 yards in total offense and 34 points against UTEP. They’re averaging 291 yards a game on the ground, tops in the Big 12. Credit goes to the inexperienced offensive line who coach Mark Mangino said played an excellent game calling them talented and tough. After sitting out the opener under suspension, Dezmon Briscoe came out with a vengeance with 8 catches for 154 yards.
Saturday morning the Jayhawks play host to a Duke squad that came from behind and defeated Army last week 35-19 on the road. Kansas should expect a two headed quarterback tandem from the Blue Devils with three year starter Thad Lewis and redshirt Freshman Sean Renfree also seeing action. Against Army Renfree came in during the third quarter and went 7 of 8 for 106 yards and 2 TD’s in his first game action.
Game time is 11AM. Be sure and check in to www.lexy.com as I’ll have a halftime audio update and a postgame report.
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