Kansas Jayhawks Football: 20 Things VS Baylor Bears

Coming off bye weeks, the Kansas Jayhawks football team and the Baylor Bears are both looking to bounce back from disappointing losses. Kansas needs to break a road losing streak from the Eisenhower administration and win 4 of its next 5 games to be bowl eligible.

Hey, that’s not a joke, that’s technically accurate. Alright, let’s be honest, most Jayhawk fans would be happy with one more win this season and ecstatic with two.

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The Bears, on the other hand, can still possibly backdoor themselves into the College Football Playoff if they run the table, convincingly, and have a few other teams stumble along the way.

Neither scenario is particularly likely, and since the outcome of this one is all but predetermined, let’s look at a few quick fun facts during our brief lull between baseball ending and basketball beginning.

Kansas Jayhawks (2-5) @ #13 Baylor Bears (6-1) (-36)

Waco, TX – 4:00 EST (FOX Sport 1)

1. I suppose the game time and preview type information is pretty important…
2. The Bears lost two weeks ago to West Virginia 41-27. They didn’t turn the ball over, but were flagged 18 times to the tune of 215 yards. Probably a good reason why they lost.
3. Baylor had its lowest scoring output of the year with 27 points against WVU. Which is still more than all of the Jayhawk games except the season opener against SE Missouri State.
4. Even after a loss, the Bears still have both the Big 12’s #1 offense and defense in terms of total yards.
5. However, Baylor has given up 99 points in their last two games.
6. The Bears are also currently last in the Big 12 in Red Zone defense.
7. Meanwhile, the Jayhawks are 2^nd in the Big 12 in Red Zone defense.
8. The KU defense is 7^th in the Big 12, giving up 28 ppg.
9. Somehow this ranking improves to 4^th in only Big 12 games, despite the average going up to 29.2 ppg.
10. Yeah I don’t get that either.
11. Baylor gave up 11 sacks in the last three games.
12. Kansas senior Linebacker Michael Reynolds is 4^th in the Big 12 in sacks (5) and 3^rd in tackles for a loss (10.5).
13. Oh yah, and that Ben Heeney guy is leading the conference in tackles per game (12) and has the highest total for a single game this season (21 against Texas Tech).
14. The only real Kansas offensive leader in terms of Big 12 rankings is freshman RB Corey Avery, sitting at 7^th with 59.5 ypg.
15. Senior WR Nick Harwell does lead the Big 12 in punt returns though, averaging 26.4 yards per return.
16. The tricky part may be forcing Baylor to punt, though.
17. Speaking of, senior punter Trevor Pardula tops the conference with 44.9 yards per punt. So yah, there’s that.
18. If the transitive property of inequalities holds true, and since Baylor beat TCU 61-58, who beat Texas Tech 82-27, who beat KU 34-21, the final score could be something like 92-21 Baylor?
19. Well a little more direct comparison would be that WVU beat Baylor by 14 points and KU by 19 points. So the Jayhawks could be as close as 22-17, right?
20. Ok, in all seriousness, this won’t be close. Baylor is almost as ticked as I am while writing this after watching the Royals lose Game 7. They are hosting an overmatched Jayhawk team and have something to prove. I see this getting away early, with the Bears winning 49-17.  Hey, I still think KU beats the spread. That’s something, right?