Kansas Leads Big 12 Standings—in Football

Its pretty much a given that the Kansas Jayhawks will be at or near the top of the Big 12 standings in college basketball, but not so in football. But with the first month of the college football season complete, that’s not the case.

The Kansas Jayhawks last had a winning football season back in 2008, when they finished 8-5. The season before that, they were 12-1 with a victory over Virginia Tech in the Orange Bowl. The Jayhawks finished at #7 in both the Coaches’ Poll and the AP Poll. Things went downhill rapidly after that, including winless seasons in 2015 and 2020.

In 2021, Kansas hired Lance Leipold as its new head coach. Leipold was coming off a six year run at Buffalo of the Mid American Conference, where he had a 37-33 record and three bowl appearances. Before he was at Buffalo, Leipold was head coach at Division III Wisconsin- Whitewater for eight seasons from 2007-14. Leipold’s Warhawks were 109-6 in those eight seasons, with six Division III national championships.

As is often the case when a new coach takes over a moribund program, the results in the first season weren’t noticeable in the standings. The Jayhawks were just 2-10 in 2021, but there was some improvement along the way. The Jayhawks beat Texas in Austin 57-56 in overtime in November, and followed that with close losses at TCU and at home against West Virginia.

This season, the Jayhawks opened with a 56-10 victory over Tennessee Tech, followed by a 55-42 win at West Virginia and a 48-30 win at Houston. They beat a surprisingly good Duke team 35-27 and then in a low scoring game, edged Iowa State 14-11 on October 1st. Kansas is 5-0 overall, 2-0 in conference games (the victories over West Virginia and Iowa State) and tied for the top spot in the Big 12 standings with 2-0 Kansas State. (Oklahoma State and TCU are 1-0 in conference play and 4-0 overall). The Jayhawks also are ranked in the AP Top 25 for the first time since 2009, at #19.

The schedule will get tougher starting this week when the Jayhawks host #17 TCU. They will host #7 Oklahoma State on November 7th, and are at #20 Kansas State on November 26th. They are just one win away from being bowl eligible for the first time 14 years, so the post season is well within reach.

Highlights of the Iowa State game: