Kansas Jayhawks Football: Missing the Mark in Lawrence
By Mike Norris
The ineptitude has reached nearly unbelievable levels.
You could dig deeper and find more depressing stats, but it’s still nearly a month until basketball season for Jayhawks fans, and that would just be mean.
One ultra-thin silver lining could be the fact Kansas played TCU tough over the weekend, falling just 24-23 to the high-powered Horned Frogs. Despite being 0-5 against Patterson’s club since it joined the Big 12, KU has lost by just an average of seven points each game.
As Sports Radio 810’s Nate Bukaty pointed out following the loss, it is going to take more than that for the Beaty era to be a memorable one for the right reasons:
No doubt. If this is the only effort like that of the year, then it didn't mean anything. Gotta keep showing signs. https://t.co/rjDtkQ16EW
— Nate Bukaty (@nate_bukaty) October 8, 2016
Bukaty is correct.
Nearly every season since Mangino left, the Hawks have found themselves in some games they had no business being in. In addition to the close TCU contests, Kansas lost by just ten points to Texas Tech last season, seven to 16th ranked Oklahoma State in 2014, and took the 22nd ranked Red Raiders to overtime on the road in 2012.
The list goes on. However, it’s usually just one, maybe two, games each season where Kansas Jayhawks football makes noise. In order for fans to feel like improvement is on the horizon, they are going to need to win two or three games this season while playing for a chance to win in another two or three.
Whether that will happen or not remains to be seen with seven more games on the regular-season schedule. Believe or not, there are some statistics from 2016 that show it’s possible.