Kansas Football: Beating TCU could have saved David Beaty’s job
Kansas football won their first conference game since 2016 and it came against TCU in a 27-26 final in Lawrence. This victory might be enough for the Jayhawks to keep David Beaty around.
There hasn’t been much for Kansas football fans to celebrate over the last decade or so, but they got a win over the weekend, and a conference win at that. The Jayhawks took down TCU (a team that was ranked to start the year) and moved to 3-5 on the season and 1-4 in conference play.
With the victory, head coach David Beaty might not be shown the door, like many fans probably expected to happen at season’s end. It didn’t look good for Beaty early in the season after the Jayhawks lost in overtime to Nicholls State in their season opener, but KU responded by beating Central Michigan and Rutgers handily to move to 2-1 on the year.
Beaty has led the Jayhawks to three wins this year, which is the most in his coaching tenure at Kansas. He went winless in year one in 2015, won two games in 2016, and then regressed and won just one game in 2017. This is his most successful season in Lawrence so far and that could be enough for Jeff Long to merit keeping Beaty around.
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It’s definitely a safe bet that should the Jayhawks win another game, Beaty will absolutely remain as the head coach. KU should have won their season opener and had they done that, they’d have four wins on the season and Beaty would for sure be the head coach moving forward.
Improvements are showing for the Jayhawks. Quarterback Peyton Bender had arguably the best game of his career, going 19 of 29 for 249 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions. The quarterback position has been a liability in Lawrence over the years, but Bender showed he’s improving under center.
Pooka Williams is also an electric player and has, for the most part, been the star of the show for Kansas. If he hadn’t been suspended in the season opener, KU has four wins right now instead of three.
Defensively, Kansas has shown improvements as well. Joe Dineen is the star defensively, racking up 78 tackles, two sacks, and an interception this year, but KU’s defense hasn’t allowed as many blowouts this season.
Even though a 3-5 record isn’t great, it’s actually an acceptable record for most KU fans. While fans might not be the biggest supporters of Beaty, improvements are showing and after knocking off a TCU team that was ranked to begin the season, the KU head coach might be staying in Lawrence for at least another year.
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Kansas has four games remaining on the season and two of those games are “winnable” for the Jayhawks. They have Iowa State in Lawrence next week and the following week travel to Manhattan for a date with the Kansas State Wildcats. If there’s a year where KU could defeat K-State, it’s this year.
Kansas’ final two games probably aren’t winnable ones for the Jayhawks and might be the deciding factor when it comes to Beaty’s fate in Lawrence. They travel to Norman to face Oklahoma and then host the Texas Longhorns to close out the regular season.
Texas is the team KU upset two years ago to get their only conference victory that year, but the Longhorns have come a long way since then. They were ranked sixth in the nation prior to Sunday and will likely still be a top 25 unit when the Jayhawks get to play them.
Should Kansas win either against Iowa State or Kansas State (or beat both of them… that’d be something), David Beaty probably won’t lose his job. If, however, the Jayhawks drop both of those games and then get blown out to Oklahoma and Texas, Jeff Long will have a tougher decision to make.
Does he keep David Beaty around after posting three wins or does he let Beaty have a fifth year at the helm?