Kansas Football: Winnable games for Jayhawks in 2019

Kansas football is beginning the Les Miles era in 2019. Which games on their schedule are ones that the Jayhawks can win?

You know things are bleak for the Kansas football program when I’m writing a post about winnable games for the Jayhawks, but only winning six games over the last three years doesn’t give KU a whole lot of credibility.

Kansas won three games last year, the most they’d won since 2014 when Charlie Weis was still at the helm in Lawrence. Winning three games felt like a victory for the program, but they (wisely) decided to move on from David Beaty and bring in Les Miles as their next head coach.

Miles is a decorated college football coach, having won a National Championship at LSU in 2007. He never had a losing season in Baton Rouge, so KU fans had to like this hire. It was a good one by a program that has been irrelevant for well over a decade now.

So, with all of that said, which games can the Jayhawks be expected to win in 2019?

INDIANA STATE (AUGUST 31ST)

In their season opener, the Kansas Jayhawks will welcome in the Indiana State Sycamores, and this should be a game that KU wins handily. Now, it is worth bringing up that the Jayhawks lost to Nicholls State last year in their home opener, so anything is possible, especially with this program.

More than likely, however, Kansas should be able to defeat the Missouri Valley Conference squad. It just might not be a blowout like it would be for most Power-5 schools.

COASTAL CAROLINA (SEPTEMBER 7TH)

The following week, KU hosts Coastal Carolina of the Sun Belt Conference, who has some surprisingly scrappy teams. Coastal is most known for their interesting mascot (the Chanticleer) and while they’ve had some nice years, they’ve had two losing seasons in a row. Kansas should be able to win this game and move to 2-0 on the year.

TCU (SEPTEMBER 28TH)

The one “surprising” win for the Jayhawks last year was when they upset the TCU Horned Frogs in Lawrence with a final score of 27-26. It was an unexpected win for Kansas, but it still happened and that wasn’t a good look for TCU at all.

I’m including the Horned Frogs on here because they’ve been prone to play close games against the Jayhawks over the years, so clearly KU is in their heads. Can Kansas make it two in a row against TCU?

KANSAS STATE (NOVEMBER 2ND)

Last, but not least, we have the in-state rival, Kansas State.

It’s been obvious for awhile now that when it comes to basketball, it’s the Jayhawks’ world, but in football, it’s the Wildcats’ world. That might not be the case anymore.

You see, long-time K-State head coach Bill Snyder retired this offseason, so the Wildcats are now in the same boat as their in-state foes. Chris Klieman, previously of North Dakota State, took over the head coach duties in Manhattan and while he could turn out to be a solid coach, Les Miles is the better coach between the two (though both have their fair share of hardware).

KU hasn’t beaten K-State in football since November 1st, 2008, marking ten straight losses to their Sunflower Showdown opponent. Kansas has a chance to break that ugly streak and it should help that the game is in Lawrence this year.

CONCLUSION

It’ll be interesting to see how Kansas football performs this season. On the one hand, it’s still virtually the same program from the recent lackluster years, so expecting them to be much better could be a pipe dream.

On the other hand, Les Miles is an experienced coach and sometimes all it takes to make a difference is to have a good coach leading the charge.

With all of that said, Kansas should be able to lock down three or four wins in 2019, which would be a decent season for Miles in year one at the helm. Which games do you think Kansas can come away with W’s in?