Grades from Kansas Jayhawks’ 14-11 win over Iowa State and looking ahead to TCU

Here are our letter grades for all three Kansas football units, plus our play of the game, from Saturday’s 14-11 victory over Iowa State at Booth Memorial Stadium.

Plus, a look ahead to next weekend’s game against TCU.

Play(s) of the game

Little things mean a lot in a low-scoring game, and three missed field goals by Iowa State freshman Jace Gilbert proved the difference.

The 5-foot-11 Gilbert’s 38-yard field-goal attempt — the game was scoreless at the time — hit the uprights and fell harmlessly to the turf with 29 seconds left in the first quarter. He also missed a 45-yarder off the uprights with KU leading 14-11 and 11:26 remaining.

Finally, he missed a possible overtime-inducing 37-yard try that sailed wide with just 27 seconds showing on the clock and KU still up, 14-11.

Gilbert did make one field goal, a 35-yarder, cutting Iowa State’s deficit to three points (at 14-11) with 5:27 left in the third quarter.

Iowa State, it should be noted, scored a 2-point conversion because of a high snap on an attempted extra-point conversion kick that came after the Cyclones had cut a 14-0 deficit to 14-6 with 2:51 left before halftime. Holder Blake Clark caught a high snap from the KU center and, after determining he couldn’t put the ball down safely, raced around the end for the score.

Grades

Offense: C

It wasn’t a great day for KU’s offense, which gained just 213 yards against Iowa State’s defense. The Cyclones, however, did enter the game as the Big 12’s top defensive unit through the first four games of the season.

KU ran just 46 plays on offense to ISU’s 78. KU had the ball 25 minutes to Iowa State’s 35.

KU didn’t come close to the 502 yards gained in its season opener against Tennessee Tech, 419 at West Virginia, 438 against Houston or 528 vs. Duke.

KU’s leading rusher Saturday was Devin Neal with 75 yards on 12 carries. QB Jalon Daniels, KU’s leading rusher entering the game, had 9 yards on eight carries and one TD off a 2-yard run.

Luke Grimm had four catches for 46 yards.

“I’d say it was their adjustments,” Neal said of KU not scoring at all in the final half after tallying 14 points in the first half. “They adjusted. They’ve got a good defense. They came to play both halves.”

Noted KU coach Lance Leipold: “We only had 46 plays. That’s not very many. They had 78. In the college football world, that’s not an offensive clinic, I guess, this time around. There’s plenty to work on.

“We had a lot of third-and-longs today. It’s a credit to them. Fourth and 5 and 6, I don’t know if I was ready to pull the trigger on that (and try for first downs instead of punting) today. That’s on me.”

Defense: A.

The Jayhawks once again played physical football. Cornerback Ra’Mello Dotson and linebacker Rich Miller led the way with seven tackles apiece.

Corner Cobee Bryant had six tackles and an interception. Linebacker Craig Young had five tackles.

Really, Iowa State’s only effective offense was the combination of quarterback Hunter Dekkers to receiver Xavier Hutchinson. Hutchinson caught 13 passes for 101 yards. Dekkers was 30 of 48 for 287 yards, one TD and one interception. He was sacked five times.

“You see flashes at times,” Leipold said of KU’s ability to play stellar defense. “I think there were times you saw people at all three levels of our defense making plays today. That’s really encouraging, exciting. You can build on that, get confidence. We had some rotational guys out there quite a bit as well. It was encouraging.”

Said Miller: “We are prepared to face adversity. We are prepared to bend but not break. We don’t want to bend, but if we do, we are not going to break.”

Special teams: B-plus

Junior Reis Vernon punted six times for a 39.8-yard average. At one point he pinned Iowa State at the 1-yard line. He’s had three punts inside the 20 this season.

Sevion Morrison returned a kickoff for 37 yards in the third quarter, KU’s second-longest kick return of the season. Torry Locklin recovered a muffed punt in the fourth quarter, his second recovered fumble of the season.

Next up

KU will meet TCU at 11 a.m. Saturday, at Booth Memorial Stadium. The game will be shown on FS1. TCU (4-0, 1-0) defeated Oklahoma 55-24 Saturday in Fort Worth.

ESPN’s GameDay will be in town for the Big 12 battle. The Horned Frogs opened with 38-13 win at Colorado, followed by a 59-17 win over Tarleton State in Fort Worth and a 42-34 win over SMU in Dallas. TCU is led by first-year coach Sonny Dykes.