A nearly 7-touchdown favorite in their second game of the season, the Kansas football team made oddsmakers look pretty smart for setting the line where they did in a 46-7 rout of Wagner on Friday night at David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium.
Both the opponent and the buzz surrounding the game were a little lighter than a week ago when the Jayhawks unveiled the brand-new Booth against Fresno State after more than a year of construction and renovations.
More from Friday's win...
• Jalon Daniels Still Stewing Over 2nd-Quarter INT
But the stadium still filled in rather nicely and stayed full into halftime. Friday’s announced attendance was 39,129.
The Jayhawks (2-0) jumped all over Wagner in the first quarter and never looked back or surrendered control.
That allowed the Jayhawks to play a number of reserves all over the field. Along both lines, in the secondary, at several skill positions and even on special teams. Two of the most notable such reserves were 2nd-string QB Cole Ballard and 3rd-string QB Isaiah Marshall, who both played in the second half.
All three quarterbacks led scoring drives in Friday's win.
The game went about how people expected it, and it sets up the Jayhawks pretty well heading into a Week 2, Game 3 showdown at Border War rival Missouri next week.
Kickoff for that one, in Columbia, is slated for 2:30 p.m.
Here’s a look back at some of Friday’s action.
LIKES
• ‘Hawks took care of business – There wasn’t much cute about this one, just the better team doing what it had to do to win the game. It wasn’t perfect. There were mistakes. But the Jayhawks made very few of them and did enough to be able to take a big lead into the locker room and then turn the game over to the second and third string for most of the second half.
• That first defensive series – After Wagner won the coin toss and elected to receive the opening kick, the KU defense did exactly what you would expect the defense of a team that is favored by 46.5 points to do. Forcing a three-and-out was only part of the equation. They physically overpowered Wagner’s offense at every spot, on every play and in convincing fashion.
• Welcome back! – KU legends Chris Harris Jr. and Devin Neal were here for this one, honored on the field during the first half to a huge ovation from the KU crowd. Neal, of course, is just eight months removed from capping off a historic career as the Jayhawks’ all-time leading rusher. The joy on his face for his first roar as an alum was pretty cool to see. For what it’s worth, I also bumped into former KU tight end Jared Casey at halftime. Casey was watching the game from the stands and when I asked him how come he wasn’t out there with Neal for a big ovation, he laughed and said, “I’m not nearly that cool.”
• Henderson’s hands & speed – We’ve all known about the speed possessed by KU receiver Emmanuel Henderson Jr. And he was able to show that on a couple of occasions in this one. One thing that stood out about it is how quickly he gets up to top speed. Just a few steps and he’s there. In addition to the wheels, though, Henderson showed his strong hands on his first career touchdown late in the first quarter. It was a 9-yard slant that put the Jayhawks up 14-0 and Henderson beat his man on inside leverage and simply snatched the ball out of the air with both hands, not even bringing it down below his shoulders until well after the play.
• Jalon’s follow-up to Week 0 – After an almost flawless game in the opener, KU QB Jalon Daniels was solid and efficient again in this one, finishing with 280 yards on a 72% completion percentage with 4 touchdowns. He did throw his first pick of the season, and it didn’t come in a great spot. But it also didn’t hurt things in any way in terms of control of the game or the final outcome. Jalon was a little less precise with his footwork and accuracy in this one than he was in the opening week. But he still showed great command and control of the game and threw a bunch of good balls, few prettier than the deep ball to Henderson on the opening drive of the third quarter that put KU up 36-7 and turned out to be JD6’s final pass of the night.
• Dean Miller’s back – After missing the opener, KU defensive end Dean Miller was back in uniform on Friday night and he made his presence felt quickly, throwing his body in on as many tackles as possible in the early going, even if he didn’t get credit for them. A second-team all-Big 12 pick last season, Miller entered the season hungry to improve upon that standing and looked to have all kinds of juice and energy by simply being back on the field.
DISLIKES
• Jon Jon ejected – KU linebacker Jon Jon Kamara was disqualified from the final three quarters of the game after being called for targeting late in the first quarter after flying to the ball to make a tackle with the help of several of his teammates. The reason this landed on the dislikes lists is twofold. For one, you hate to see a guy miss any time, but especially on a night when Kamara would’ve gotten a ton of snaps and had a chance to make a big statement. For two, the targeting call in general is tough to read. It certainly didn’t look like anything dirty. Just a guy trying to make a hard hit. But there are rules. They are pretty clear. And we know by now that officials throughout college football are looking for that on the regular.
• No Bangally Kamara – The transfer linebacker who broke out in a big way last week did not play on Friday night. KU coach Lance Leipold said after the game that Kamara suffered a non-contact injury at Wednesday's practice and that his status would be unknown for a while, a scary prospect for a key player on the Kansas defense. In addition to that, his absence and the other Kamara’s disqualification gave reserves like Logan Brantley, Ezra Vedral and others extended time on the field. It’s also worth noting that running back Leshon Williams Jr. did not play in this one. Williams exited last week’s win with some kind of injury and was dubbed questionable-to-doubtful by KU coach Lance Leipold during the week. Leipold said he hoped to have Williams back for the Missouri game next week.
• Tate Nagy on punt returns – He’s sure-handed and electric with the potential to explode on every play. But he also danced around a little too much on his six tries on Friday night. The coaching staff told him as much as he came off the field after each one, gesturing to hit it upfield quicker. He knows that. He also made a hell of a high school career at Blue Valley West out of doing just that, juking defenders, starting and stopping often and out-wiggling defenders all over the field. Putting this one down is nitpicking a little. But it’s something to watch and certainly isn’t a habit KU wants the true freshman to develop.
WHAT THE?
• 2nd Quarter 2-point conversion? – After the Jayhawks' third touchdown of the night — a 20-yard pass from Daniels to Week 0 hero Cam Pickett — KU curiously called for a direct snap to tight end Carson Brunh and went for two instead of kicking the extra point. Brunh easily plunged into the end zone to push the Kansas lead from 20-0 to 22-0. But that call, by a heavy favorite, is still not something you see every week. It worked. And the Jayhawks got a chance to run the play live. So, there was a lot of good to come from it. But it was, at the very least, a head-scratching moment.
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