Kansas Football: 2018 season did have some positives
Another season, the same results for Kansas football, as the Jayhawks failed to make it to a bowl game for the tenth straight season. Despite another losing season, KU appears to be improving.
The Kansas Jayhawks‘ 24-17 loss to Texas on Friday signified the end of the regular season for KU. It also marked the end of David Beaty’s tenure as head coach for the Jayhawks.
Kansas went 3-9 this year and despite the poor record, the 2018 season wasn’t all bad. In years past, the team was getting blown out each week, but the Jayhawks were actually competitive in a few games.
One of their more impressive losses (that sounds weird, but it’s true) was how the Jayhawks hung around with some of the big boys in the Big 12. In their game against West Virginia, Kansas wound up losing by 16 points, but the Mountaineers didn’t pull away until late.
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It was the same story against Oklahoma too with the first half being pretty close. Kansas was able to put up points against the Sooners too, but down the stretch, that OU offense was just too much.
Even in their season finale against Texas, Kansas didn’t make it easy on the Longhorns. They picked off Sam Ehlinger twice and were making plays defensively throughout most of the game. KU only lost by one score.
The defense looked sharp at times this year and in the Big 12, that’s saying something. Kansas’ defense really played well against in-state rival Kansas State a few weeks ago and made that game a lot closer than K-State fans were hoping for.
Another big thing for fans to be excited about is running back Pooka Williams, who is a superstar in the making. He had over 200 yards rushing and was like a cheat code each week against opposing defenses.
Beaty is on his way out as the head coach of the Jayhawks and soon the Les Miles era will begin in Lawrence. It’s an exciting time for KU football fans, as the program hasn’t been competitive in a decade now.
Miles brings a winning pedigree to the program, having won a National Championship with LSU in 2007. He never posted a losing season during his time in Baton Rouge and if he can replicate even just that last part with Kansas, the fans will gladly take that.
It’ll be tough to turn things around instantly, but at least we saw some improvements from this team in 2018. If the Jayhawks can get a solid quarterback moving forward, this could be a program that fans could really get on board with in the coming years.