I go back and forth on this one since Sunday. The toughest thing for me is trying to figure out what the Houston game really means.
It somewhat felt like the breakout game on Saturday and Sunday and the coming out for Daniels and the offense. But if you break things down and look back the offense has been showing signs of life the last four games. They are averaging 415 yards a game and 32 points. If you go back to 2023 in Big 12 games the offense averaged 32.2 points a game and 412 yards a game.
The question is, how good is Houston, how much did the poor offensive play from Houston contribute to more points for the offense. Let's face it Houston's offense was abysmal last week.
But take that out, and the fact is the KU offense is showing a lot more life than he we saw earlier in the season.
I have Stan Weber on the podcast this week and no matter what you think of him, he's really good at studying football and puts in the time. He went back and watched the Illinois game and said KU in his opinion is the better team. He and Bret Bielema are close so that was one of the games he watched. I thought that was interesting. I talked to someone this week who spoke privately with a coach on KSU's staff and they said KU's offense looks good on film.
I believe KU has KSU's attention. Remember KSU is coming off two road games to Boulder and Morgantown. Both were night games. Even Klieman said on Monday it is going to take some time to get adjusted to getting home late. But we all know a night game in Manhattan and the crowd and their team will be ready.
The thing I want to see is what KSU will do defensively. They play a 3-3-5 and change their looks up out of it. They can play 5-6 DBs and they can also go with a bigger lineup. One thing Weber said is they have about 20-24 players on defense they will play every game to keep players fresh. He said if a team goes on a long drive it isn't unusual to see line changes with 3-4 players at a time coming in. They will play a lot of guys on defense.
I think early on, KSU is going to do whatever they can to take away Devin Neal and the run game. They are going to make Daniels throw. And if he starts hitting on some passes they will adjust. KSU is the #1 team in Big 12 against the run. They are going to try and slow down what they couldn't last year when KU ran for 234 yards. But they did it creatively out of multiple sets. This is a game where they could really use Hishaw but his status is up in the air. The KU OL has been pretty good of late. I know KSU's defense is good, but I think KU presents some challenges for them.
Last week Garrett Greene had 90 yards rushing against KSU.
If Daniels is on throwing it, then get ready for a fun game. I watched every play of the KSU-CU game and Shedeur Sanders carved up the KSU secondary.
Defensively for KU I would have said you load up and stop the running game with Giddens, Edwards and Avery. But now that they are throwing the ball better you have to respect the passing game. Johnson didn't have a rushing attempt the second half of the CU game or the entire game against West Virginia.
I don't think KU's defense is good enough to play straight up and stop KSU's running game. But West Virginia did. They hit Giddens and hit him hard. He only had 57 yards on 19 carries, but WV gave up the passing yards.
I find it hard to believe we don't see Avery Johnson do some type of running. If he doesn't run it that is a bad sign because that means they are able to line up and run and pass it without needing his legs.
Damon Greaves just needs to direct kick or get it of bounds. No need to give Edwards good chances to return a punt.
It somewhat felt like the breakout game on Saturday and Sunday and the coming out for Daniels and the offense. But if you break things down and look back the offense has been showing signs of life the last four games. They are averaging 415 yards a game and 32 points. If you go back to 2023 in Big 12 games the offense averaged 32.2 points a game and 412 yards a game.
The question is, how good is Houston, how much did the poor offensive play from Houston contribute to more points for the offense. Let's face it Houston's offense was abysmal last week.
But take that out, and the fact is the KU offense is showing a lot more life than he we saw earlier in the season.
I have Stan Weber on the podcast this week and no matter what you think of him, he's really good at studying football and puts in the time. He went back and watched the Illinois game and said KU in his opinion is the better team. He and Bret Bielema are close so that was one of the games he watched. I thought that was interesting. I talked to someone this week who spoke privately with a coach on KSU's staff and they said KU's offense looks good on film.
I believe KU has KSU's attention. Remember KSU is coming off two road games to Boulder and Morgantown. Both were night games. Even Klieman said on Monday it is going to take some time to get adjusted to getting home late. But we all know a night game in Manhattan and the crowd and their team will be ready.
The thing I want to see is what KSU will do defensively. They play a 3-3-5 and change their looks up out of it. They can play 5-6 DBs and they can also go with a bigger lineup. One thing Weber said is they have about 20-24 players on defense they will play every game to keep players fresh. He said if a team goes on a long drive it isn't unusual to see line changes with 3-4 players at a time coming in. They will play a lot of guys on defense.
I think early on, KSU is going to do whatever they can to take away Devin Neal and the run game. They are going to make Daniels throw. And if he starts hitting on some passes they will adjust. KSU is the #1 team in Big 12 against the run. They are going to try and slow down what they couldn't last year when KU ran for 234 yards. But they did it creatively out of multiple sets. This is a game where they could really use Hishaw but his status is up in the air. The KU OL has been pretty good of late. I know KSU's defense is good, but I think KU presents some challenges for them.
Last week Garrett Greene had 90 yards rushing against KSU.
If Daniels is on throwing it, then get ready for a fun game. I watched every play of the KSU-CU game and Shedeur Sanders carved up the KSU secondary.
Defensively for KU I would have said you load up and stop the running game with Giddens, Edwards and Avery. But now that they are throwing the ball better you have to respect the passing game. Johnson didn't have a rushing attempt the second half of the CU game or the entire game against West Virginia.
I don't think KU's defense is good enough to play straight up and stop KSU's running game. But West Virginia did. They hit Giddens and hit him hard. He only had 57 yards on 19 carries, but WV gave up the passing yards.
I find it hard to believe we don't see Avery Johnson do some type of running. If he doesn't run it that is a bad sign because that means they are able to line up and run and pass it without needing his legs.
Damon Greaves just needs to direct kick or get it of bounds. No need to give Edwards good chances to return a punt.
