Grades from the Kansas Jayhawks’ 38-31 loss to TCU and looking ahead to Oklahoma game
Here are our letter grades for all three Kansas units, plus our play of the game, from Saturday’s 38-31 loss to TCU at Booth Memorial Stadium and a look ahead to next weekend’s game at Oklahoma.
Play of the game
Kansas junior quarterback Jalon Daniels completed a 48-yard pass to senior tight end Mason Fairchild with eight minutes left in the first half and KU trailing the Horned Frogs 3-0.
On a second-and-10 call from the KU 25, Daniels caught the shotgun snap from center, faked a hand-off to a receiver coming by on a reverse, then backpedaled two steps and fired a pass 15 yards up the middle to Fairchild.
While running his pattern, Fairchild, a 6-foot-5, 260-pound tight end from Andale, Kansas, first looked right, then as the ball was headed his way spun left to catch the pass and race for a long gain.
Only TCU safety Namdi Obiazor prevented Fairchild from running all the way for a touchdown..
“I turned and saw the ball was kind of behind me. So I turned the other way and kind of corralled it in. I kind of swooped’ the ball into my arms,” Fairchild said after the game. “I’m not going to say lucky, but it definitely had a bit of spice of luck in there,” Fairchild added.
Fairchild noted that shifting one’s body on a play takes “a split-second decision. I think either way I was going to put myself in position to catch the ball. It worked out perfectly the way it was.”
Fairchild’s effective spin move prompted one reporter to ask the tight end if his background throwing the shot put in track in high school helped him on that play.
“I didn’t think about that, but now that you said it, it does make sense,” said Fairchild, who had three catches Saturday for 80 yards and the one score. “It very well could have,” he added laughing.
Grades
Offense: A-
Kansas gained 540 yards, which means the Jayhawks had an outstanding day moving the football.
Senior quarterback Jason Bean, in subbing for the injured Daniels the second half, completed 16 of 24 passes for 262 yards and four touchdowns (two connections to Quentin Skinner, one to Fairchild and one to Luke Grimm).
Bean also rushed for 34 yards on seven carries, which is a 4.9 average per carry.
Daniels before he was injured completed 5 of 10 passes for 89 yards and rushed for 6 yards on seven carries. Daniels had one fumble that was costly. KU turned it over on the bobble at the TCU 1.
Bean had a costly interception that led to a short, five-play, 25-yard scoring drive that gave the Horned Frogs a 24-17 lead with 3 minutes, 59 seconds to play in the third quarter.
Former Nebraska running back Sevion Morrison made a case for more touches, racing for 40 yards on his one carry. Ky Thomas, who returned from an injury, had 19 yards on six carries.
Wide receiver Grimm had six catches for 73 yards and his one TD. Skinner had four catches for 98 yards and two TDs on perfect strikes from Bean.
Defense: B-minus.
TCU, which gained 452 yards total, had some significant scoring drives.
The Max Duggan-led offense went 99 yards in six plays; 61 yards in four plays; 50 yards in five plays and 68 yards in six plays, all ending in TDs.
Duggan completed 23 of 33 passes for 308 yards and three TDs. He ran for 55 yards on nine carries and a touchdown.
Defensive lineman Lonnie Phelps had KU’s only sack on the day. Safety Kenny Logan led the team in tackles with 12, while linebacker Rich Miller, who leads the team in tackles this season, had nine stops. Phelps, linebacker Craig Young and defensive back O.J. Burroughs had five tackles each.
Kansas head coach Lance Leipold had no complaints about KU’s physical defense.
“That’s two nice performances. Don’t get fooled by the scores,” Leipold said of last week’s 14-11 win over Iowa State and Saturday’s loss to TCU.
“There were more short fields, things like that. We are doing some good things there. We got a fourth-down stop early. Their plan was to jump on us early like they did last week (in 55-24 rout of Oklahoma in which TCU led 41-17 at halftime). We continued to do some good things.”
Special teams: C
Kicker Jacob Borcila converted a 40-yard field goal in the second quarter for KU’s only first-half points. The Jayhawks trailed 10-3 at the break.
He missed a 31-yarder in the fourth quarter with the score 31-24 TCU.
Reis Vernon punted three times for a 41.7 average with a long boot of 47 yards.
Steven McBride had a nice kickoff return of 31 yards. The Jayhawks’ Tabor Allen did not boot the ball out of the end zone on any of his six kickoffs while TCU had four kickoffs for touchbacks. Allen had two kickoffs sail out of bounds.
Next
KU will meet Oklahoma at 11 a.m.. this Saturday, at Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in Norman.
The Sooners, who are led by first-year coach Brent Venables, fell to 3-3 overall and 0-3 in the Big 12 following a shocking 49-0 loss to Texas on Saturday in Dallas.
OU opened with a 45-13 home win over UTEP, a 33-3 home win over Kent State and 49-14 win at Nebraska. The Sooners then lost to Kansas State 41-34 in Norman and 55-24 at TCU prior to the Texas game.
