Kansas Jayhawks Football: Report Card VS Texas Longhorns

Mandatory Credit: John Rieger-USA TODAY Sports

DEFENSE: THE LONE BRIGHT SPOT

How frustrated do you think the Jayhawks defense must have been on Saturday? The Longhorns scored three touchdowns on the day and one field goal. Those drives started at the KU 18, 13, 29 and 27 yard lines.

The first UT possession ended on downs while the next was stopped by a fumble on the KU 2.  The Jayhawks even blocked a field goal in the second quarter.  The other six drives that started where they should (i.e. Texas’ side of the field) all ended in punts. How much more do you want them to do?

There’s a reason Heeney gets a lot of love – the guy is a freaking beast. The senior linebacker again did everything he could and more to keep the Jayhawks in the game. He recovered the fumble on the KU 2-yard line to stop the Longhorns’ second drive of the game. He was consistently at the point of attack and never stopped flowing to every play. Don’t get me wrong, the defense in general played very well, but Heeney is the anchor that pulls everyone together. If KU wins another game this season, you can bet Heeney and his comrades will be a big reason why.

Sure he’s a punter which is technically special teams, but it’s my article and I want to give Pardula defensive props. Why, do you ask? Well he’s a big reason why the Longhorns were feast or famine offensively on Saturday. When they weren’t gifted amazing field position thanks to the turnover machine that is Cozart, they were consistently pinned inside their own twenty. For a team that struggles to move the ball, the field position game is going to be a big deal every week. As silly as it may sound, KU has a heck of a weapon in that regard with Pardula.

Obviously the defensive performance is the only thing keeping this from being an F. Regardless of the complete failure in developing any sort of offensive scheme that makes sense, newly appointed interim Head Coach Clint Bown clearly had the defense ready to play. That’s not to say they were perfect – I’m not ignoring the fact that Texas did score 23 points – but they performed admirably considering the holes they were put in to.

As I noted before, though, my biggest concern with the Jayhawks moving forward is the fact that Weis had already given up the play calling duties to Offensive Coordinator John Reagan. Now, it’s easy to say he wasn’t calling the plays during the game, but you can’t believe he was completely hands off during the mid-week preparations. Will Bowen do a better job of reining Reagan in and putting together a game plan that makes sense for the Jayhawks’ personnel? For the sake of the rest of the season, I hope so.