Throughout the summer, HornSports will countdown the college football season by projecting season-ending records among Big 12 teams. We begin at number 10 with the university atop Mount Oread in Lawrence, KS – The Kansas Jayhawks.
Why not higher?
The Kansas Jayhawks have not finished better than last place in the conference since 2008. That trend is likely to continue this year and into the future, given the challenges of recruiting to Lawrence, but the Jayhawks have to field a football team and someone has to coach it.
Bright spots
Ryan Willis was decent as a true freshman starter at quarterback, throwing for 1700 yards and 9 touchdowns. His best game was a 330 yard performance against Texas Tech. Like most true freshman quarterbacks, his TD/INT ratio was below 1 with 10 interceptions, but most quarterbacks take a big step between their freshman and sophomore years. I expect the same from Willis this season. A 2,500-yard passing season is a likely accomplishment for the sophmore.
Montrell Cozart likely makes the transition to WR/RB/QB option that puts the ball in his hands to make a play.
Work left to do
Kansas is a basketball school. Everyone, including Jayhawks, will agree with you on that point. Many Jayhawks fans believe they can have a competitive football program. The problem is the other 9 schools in the Big 12 either have a football tradition or end up being competitive in football. This is a tough conference and Kansas is the must-win for all teams, because if you lose to Kansas, you’re likely out of a job.
When you lose this often it can be demoralizing for the players. These are good football players and most would be on scholarship at other schools. However, when you lose this much, and the NFL doesn’t pay attention to your program, you look at your future differently. Every person does this when the situation they are in doesn’t look like it will end well because of self-preservation. So juniors and seniors will just go through the motions, do what is required, and then move on with their degrees and work like everyone else. That doesn’t build a winning program. That’s what Kansas is facing as a program and it is unlikely to change at this point. That’s a lot of work to do just to get to being average.
Overall Record
The Jayhawks will win a game this season and possibly one Big 12 game this season, but it is by no means guaranteed.
Final 2016 record: 1-11 (0-9 Big 12)
