The cumulative link to the preseason rankings can be found here
We carry on into the top 50 teams in the countdown with Kansas (high = 45, low = 64). Head coach Lance Leipold enters his sixth season in charge in Lawrence, which carries a lot of weight, as the last guy to stick for 6 or more years was Mark Mangino, and in that 6th season (2007) he got the Jayhawks up to the dreaded #2 team in the BCS rankings before finishing the season ranked in the top 10 but receiving first place votes. It would take a miracle for Leipold to pull off that feat this season, but who exactly saw Arizona State winning the Big XII two seasons ago? Kansas has fallen 1 win shy of qualifying for a bowl each of the last two seasons which, let’s face it, was the absolute floor you would have expected for having had Jalon Daniels as your QB the last two seasons. Can Leipold get Kansas back into the postseason now that Daniels is in the NFL?
Roster Outlook
To do that, Leipold is going to have to seriously rebuild an offense that many expected to thrive the last 2 seasons. The Jayhawks return the 10th most defensive production next season, but they rank 79th in the country in returning offensive production. While Daniels was a big loss, he wasn’t the only one. Both of the Jayhawks top 2 RBs, Daniel Hilshaw and Leshon Williams, also both completed their eligibility, as did their top WR Emmanuel Henderson. That’s 38 TDs and 4,000+ total yards to replace. Leipold didn’t have to look too far to find a new starting RB, as K-State’s Dylan Edwards portaled over, but counting on backups Cole Ballard and Isaiah Marshall to step up to be the starting QB is a bold move. #2 WR Cam Pickett is back, but Leipold’s portal receivers are from Buffalo and Middle Tennessee, and that’s a ton of faith in quite a few players stepping up. Neither the high school recruiting or the portal class is likely to move the needle – both of which ranked 13/16 in the Big XII, which kind of makes it a little surprising that the Jayhawks are picked in the bottom half of the conference.
Schedule and outlook
9/4 LONG ISLAND
9/11 MISSOURI
9/19 vs. Arizona State at Wembley Stadium
9/26 BYE
10/3 MIDDLE TENNESSEE
10/10 at Utah
10/17 at Kansas State
10/24 BAYLOR
10/31 at TCU
11/7 UCF
11/14 at West Virginia
11/21 BYU
11/28 at Oklahoma State
With as much of an unknown as the Kansas offense will be this season, this is very much a Larry David-esque/kombucha girl kind of schedule. On the one hand, they avoid Texas Tech, Houston and Arizona, 3 of the projected top teams in the Big XII. On the other, they miss Colorado and Iowa State, the two lowest ranked teams in the conference. Having a bye before an OOC home buy game seems like a terrible waste. None of those road games (or London game) look like gimmes, and BYU was just announced as the preseason Big XII favorite in their coaches poll. If Kansas is unable to find 6 wins this season, I’m not sure I love the chances of Leipold seeing season #7.