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What's funny about this season to me.

Are the posts about the new stadium being built like it's a bad thing. Do people really miss that shithole? I've taken multiple fans from other schools to games and all them gave a dig about what a crap stadium we have. It's like some fans equate Memorial Stadium to Allen Fieldhouse. The new stadium is the least of our concerns.

Catch me up…

I schedule a hike in the Andes to Machu Picchu and just regained service while waiting in a line. I did this thinking ASU was a gimme months ago.

What in the actual f*** is wrong with this program and leadership? I’m not sifting through all of those, so give me your input. I turn my phone back on and have friends texting that they don’t want to go to the remainder of the home games.

Football Thoughts Thoughts on the ASU game and where the program is

Just got done re-watching the game.

First of all really down on the front seven. Listen, Skattebo is a nice back, okay. But its not like this guy is a Heisman candidate. Against Texas State they held him to 70 yards on 24 carries. Against Texas Tech he had 62 yards on 18 carries. Last night 182 yards on 25 carries. Not acceptable. Other defenses found a way to limit him.

They needed to turn Leavitt into a passer but they let the ASU ground game and Leavitt using his feet take over the game. Leavitt was 14-of-24. He's not a high percentage guy. Leavitt was clean for the most of the night. On 19 of his 24 attempts he had a clean pocket and was comfortable most of the game. The official numbers show zero hurries and he wasn't sacked. I don't know if they were afraid of his running but on the four blitzes the defense brought he was one-of-four passing.

Watching the game again it really highlighted some of the speed and athleticism issues on the defense. Leavitt ran past DE and LB several times and just looked faster than everyone.

The first TD was a well thrown ball over Mello and the coverage was pretty good.

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One the biggest sequences in the game came at the 2:54 mark until half and the first five minutes of the second half. On fourth down ASU pulled off the fake punt. They had all the momentum after that because KU was up 14-7 and was about to get the ball back. But the defense comes up with a big stop stripping Tyson of the ball and getting it back with 1:50 to go near the 40-yard line.

KU starts with an incomplete pass followed by a five yard run and a one yard run on third down. ASU uses their TO to stop the clock and gets the ball back with 1:18. Greaves had a 52 yard punt but Stovall returned it 39 yards. This can't happen! Now ASU has the ball at the 42 yard line and goes 58 yards to tie it up. The TE went on a drag route and Berryhill just lost him.

The sequence continues to start the half. KU takes the opening drive and goes down to the ASU four yard line first and goal. But have to settle for a field goal. From that ending of the first half to the first drive of the second half the game changed so much where the Jayhawks could have taken control of the game.
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A back-breaker play came late in the third when ASU had 3rd and 18 after a Dean Miller TFL and completed an 18-yard pass right in front of McGhee. They ended up scoring a TD a few plays later.

The throw to Skinner to take the lead was as good as it gets. The ball was in a spot only one person could get it, and Skinner made a great catch. I remember thinking at this point if you make Leavitt a pocket passer in the last two minutes you can win this game. What I didn't think would happen is the defense become a revolving door letting ASU run the ball at will. With 2:00 left I thought Leavitt would have to beat them through the air.

So disappointing to see Skattebo go for 39 yards on a terrible defended play deep into KU territory. Then Leavitt had a few rushes for another 21 yards.

Not sure I have seen a team win the TO battle (+2) in two straight games and lose the game.

16 missed tackles has to be cleaned up. But missed tackles is starting to become a theme so I don't know how they reverse that trend. I liked getting Neal involved in the pass game, not sure where that's been.

ASU played the last quarter without their best two defensive players and KU took advantage putting up 137 yards in the fourth quarter.

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Now the issue becomes keeping everything together. It is human nature for players to start hanging their heads. I heard last week was the best week of practice they had. That was a positive sign for me because when losses keep piling up you wonder how long they can keep that going.

With a bye week I will be interested to see if any changes are made. I think this might go more along the lines of personnel. They have to get Wheeler back. Maybe they start finding a way to get other players in the games and look at who isn't performing.

The whole narrative for now of "Fire Grimes" needs to fade. That comes from people who just follow internet trends and get caught up in catch phrases and don't watch the games. The last two games aren't on Grimes. They've had 850 yards of offense and scoring points. The offense is starting to look better. Jalon Daniels is starting to look better.

The challenge now is to keep everyone engaged and playing with effort.

Giving up 313 yards rushing isn't acceptable. That's for coaches and players.

Recruiting vs Coaching

I read JKs take on the game, we have guys that don't look athletic enough to keep up with ASUs QB, guys lost in coverage, completely ineffective schemes on defense, giving up big punt returns to flip the field, the list goes on.

However, a coach should be able to recruit top tier talent to offset coaching deficiencies or coach average talent to excellence to offset recruiting deficiencies. If a coach is not coaching at a high level or recruiting at a high level, then we need a new coach at that spot. I get that we need some veteran coaches, but there needs to be balance. We need some guys that can flat out recruit, even if they may not have a great deal of fundamental coaching experience. We need experienced coaches on both sides of the ball that can put players in the right spots to have success.

In game adjustments have been bad, game management has been bad. While punting and kicking has improved, coverage is still an issue at times. This stuff in coaching more than talent. But, high end talent can definitely cover up some mistakes.

Looking at HCLL's career, he has had many of the same assistant coaches with him for long periods of time. Is he willing to make the tough calls and shuffle the staff when needed? We will see at the end of this season. He is not being paid $7M/year to hang out with his buddies. It is not unrealistic for KU and the fanbase to expect better football than what we are seeing currently, and it is not unrealistic to expect critical changes if it continues the rest of the season.

Semi positive take

Borland has not been good since he arrived. OCAK regularly bailed him out. On top of being a bad DC, he appears to deliver absolutely nothing as a recruiter.

Looking at the history of disastrous football seasons, pro or college, if the HC stays (highly likely), there are often major staff changes.

There is a chance HCLL is forced to reevaluate the make up of his staff. We need to get younger, more recruiting focused, and more creative. We go 7-5, beat a G5 team in a bowl and Borland, Grimes, etc. likely limp into another KU paycheck. If this season continues on the current path, surely we see some new blood on this staff.

So much lost

This has really turned out to be a pivotal season for the program…all in a negative way.

Loss of momentum from the last two years.

Wasting Devin’s senior campaign and 30+ seniors

JD6 not being JD6 (he was better last nite)

How do we fund the stadium and NIL going forward? BMDs can’t be happy.

Animosity toward LL and his wife.

Mis-managed hire of OC.

People questioning LL now when a year ago he was the toast of CFB.

What a perfect storm of suck.

GRADE CARD PFF Defensive Grades: Arizona State game


Other notable numbers:

Jayson Gilliom- (9)- 64.5
Damarius McGhee- (10)- 61.5
Caleb Taylor- (33)- 53.0
Cobee Bryant- (57)- 51.6
Bai Jobe- (9)- 49.2
Kenean Caldwell- (12)- 48.2
Marvin Grant- (54)- 40.3
Taiwan Berryhill - (72)- 34.9

Players who got in for minimal snaps:
Cole Petrus, Alex Raich, Jameel Croft, Kaleb Purdy

LL and post game press conference

LL is the CEO of this football team. How many CEO’s doing a press conference, no matter how bad their company was struggling would look down at their lap most of the conference? This is concerning for me, he needs to be showing strength and confidence in the eyes of this adversity. He needs to lift his head up when addressing the media and say, “we are going to get this fixed no matter what it takes, even if it means some difficult decisions need to be made”! Instead we hear that we are so close and just need to get a few things cleaned up.
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