Kansas football: ESPN’s FPI favors Jayhawks in only 1 game in 2021

ESPN’s Football Power Index is expecting 2021 to be rough for Lance Leipold and the Kansas football team.

Well, given the current state of the Kansas football program, something like this shouldn’t be shocking. The Jayhawks haven’t been good for quite some time, so it’s not a surprise that ESPN’s Football Power Index isn’t giving them much of a chance to have a good year in 2021.

Despite the fact that the Kansas football team has a new head coach in Lance Leipold and the fact that Leipold has been a winner everywhere that he’s been up to this point, ESPN’s FPI is only projecting the Jayhawks to be favored in one game this season.

Unfortunately, there’s no sugarcoating this here. ESPN’s FPI isn’t high on Kansas football’s chances this season.

According to ESPN’s FPI, the Jayhawks are the 119th best team in the country going into the 2021 college football season. KU’s projected win-loss record at the end of the year, according to ESPN’s FPI, is 1.8-10.2, which ranks 130th overall nationally.

That would certainly make for a rough year.

Kansas football: Jayhawks favored in just 1 game by ESPN’s FPI

The only game the Kansas football team is favored to win in 2021, according to ESPN’s FPI:

• 9/3/21 vs. South Dakota – 76.6%

That’s it. Just one win, according to ESPN’s FPI. The numbers are expecting Leipold and the Kansas football team to get off to a decent start by beating South Dakota and then lose every remaining game down the stretch.

Here are all the games ESPN’s FPI is projecting the Jayhawks to lose:

• 9/10/21 at Coastal Carolina – 9.9%
• 9/18/21 vs. Baylor – 13.5%
• 9/25/21 vs. Duke – 17%
• 10/2/21 at Iowa State – 2.2%
• 10/16/21 vs. Texas Tech – 14.5%
• 10/23/21 vs. Oklahoma – 1.5%
• 10/30/21 at Oklahoma State – 4%
• 11/6/21 vs. Kansas State – 23.1%
• 11/13/21 at Texas – 1.9%
• 11/20/21 at TCU – 3.6%
• 11/27/21 vs. West Virginia – 12.6%

That’s not great.

It’s been a while since KU has been any good at football, the Jayhawks last winning season came in 2008 when they went 8-5 under Mark Mangino. Kansas has gone through four full time head coaches since then (and one interim head coach as well), most recently Les Miles, who won a grand total of three games in two seasons.

Leipold and company have their work cut out for them. But they knew that when they accepted their current positions.

This year may not be one that’s really enjoyable from a wins and losses perspective, but hopefully this new coaching staff can give Kansas football fans something to be hopeful for.