I spent the better part of the summer trying to nail down a prediction for the upcoming Kansas football season, which starts tonight at 7 p.m., when Long Island visits Lawrence to take on Lance Leipold’s sixth KU team at David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium.
For much of the summer, I hovered around the 3-, 4- and 5-win marks, trying, like many of you, to decipher just what this team has and what it is capable of doing.
ICYMI: Pregame reading from the past couple of weeks...
• Rank the Room - Breaking down KU's roster position by position
• Jayhawks name Zeke their starter - QB job goes to Isaiah Marshall
• Preseason primer - Defense - Names to know
• Preseason primer - Offense - A few more names to know
• KU's 2-deep for 2026 - The first depth chart of the season
• A tour of The Booth's east side - Stadium progress in images & information
The schedule starts out tough but isn’t impossible to navigate. And there is real talent on this team at some key positions.
Still, as much as I tried to dial it in, I had a hard time coming off of 4-8 or 5-7 on most days.
But then two things happened that changed the way I viewed things, one involving the Jayhawks and another on the outside.
First, just last week, KU named Zeke Marshall as its starting quarterback. Instantly, my mind began to picture an offense that is capable of big things. That’s not a knock on Cole Ballard. He’s terrific. And so solid and steady. But I’m not sure Ballard, if he had been tabbed as QB1, would have won this team any games on his arm or legs.
I think Marshall can.
We still have to see it, of course. And there are questions with him, too. But Marshall is a dynamic athlete, a natural playmaker and a guy capable of rising to any challenge in the biggest moments.
Give him a little confidence and a big opportunity, and I think the sky’s the limit for what he and offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki can do with the pieces around him.
Add to that key component the fact that Week 2 opponent and Border War rival Missouri is a little banged up at some key spots — right tackle and running back, while starting a new quarterback, as well — and I’m all of a sudden not seeing that game as unwinnable.
KU will have to click quickly and play at an extremely high level just two weeks into a season that features a roster with a lot of new faces. But I think they can and I’d probably rather face Mizzou in Week 2 than a little later in the season.
This intro probably gave you enough intel to see where this is headed. So, let’s dive in for my official prediction for the 2026 Kansas football season.
Week 1 - vs. Long Island – It’s not every year — or decade — that you can find a Kansas football team favored by 40 points and feel like they should cover. But that’s what we’ve got tonight and these Jayhawks should be way too much for the Sharks in a nice tone-setter for the season. 1-0.
Week 2 - vs. Missouri – I picked Kansas in this game last year and it was in Columbia and the Tigers were better. They may be better again this year, but this time the game’s in Lawrence. That’s not nothing. I’ve heard some guys who cover Mizzou say that this is probably a 7-5 MU team. They’ll be favored. And they may have a better overall roster. But KU can win. 2-0.
Week 3 - vs. Arizona State (in London) – Riding high after a Border War victory, the trip to London to face a darn good and very disciplined ASU team proves to be too much and the Jayhawks come home from their overseas journey with their first loss of the season. 2-1.
Week 4 - BYE
Week 5 - vs. Middle Tennessee – After their first and only bye of the 2026 season, the Jayhawks return to The Booth and roll over a better-than-you-might-think Middle Tennessee team to get to halfway to bowl eligibility with about as good of a start as you could ask for. The energy is up, the buzz is palpable and people are paying attention. 3-1.
Week 6 - at Utah – The first of two really tough road games to kick off a stretch of nine straight weeks of action. KU battles for a half but ultimately is worn down by the Utes. 3-2.
Week 7 - at Kansas State – A couple of weeks before this game in Manhattan, the talk, once again, was about how this could finally be the year that KU snaps the losing streak to Kansas State. It isn’t. KU competes and plays well but can’t quite close the deal. 3-3.
Week 8 - vs. Baylor – Back home after a tough two-game road stretch, the Jayhawks are thrilled to be back in front of the home fans on a beautiful fall day during homecoming weekend. And they play like it, picking up one of their most complete wins of the season to date. 4-3.
Week 9 - at TCU – This one will hurt. In a low-scoring slugfest full of chances for both teams, the Jayhawks will come up just short in a game they’ll feel like they could’ve and maybe even should’ve won. 4-4.
Week 10 - vs. UCF – Back home against one of the Big 12’s lower-tier teams, the Jayhawks bounce back in a big way, with one of their best offensive performances of the season in a convincing win to put them on the brink of bowl eligibility. 5-4.
Week 11 - at West Virginia – We’ve seen this movie before. Plenty of times, in fact. A KU team battling to become bowl eligible takes things all the way down to the wire and needs a win in the regular season finale to get there. This team isn’t interested in writing another sequel, though, and they head to Morgantown with their best business-trip mindset and use that approach to bring home win No. 6 in a hard-fought, grind-it-out thriller. Not only does it seal KU’s postseason plans, but it’s also the Jayhawks’ first win away from home all season. 6-4.
Week 12 - vs. BYU – The Cougars have big time goals and College Football Playoff aspirations. They’re also very, very good. Kansas has a decent history against BYU, but this year the matchup leans the road team's way, especially with it coming on the heels of the Jayhawks celebrating that sixth win just one week earlier. 6-5.
Week 13 - at Oklahoma State – The Cowboys were a mess last season. They’re better this year. Possibly a lot better. New coach, new quarterback, fresh start and new focus. By this point in the season, they’ll have it all together in a big way and will be a much tougher foe than it might’ve looked when the 2026 schedule came out. KU gives ‘em a good fight but falls short in its bid to improve its bowl standing. 6-6.
Let’s see what happens!
— For tickets to all KU athletic events, visit kuathletics.com
