College Gameday heads to Lawrence, Kansas on Saturday when the surprisingly undefeated Kansas Jayhawks take on the similarly unbeaten TCU Horned Frogs in an expect Big 12 clash.
TCU Horned Frogs (4-0) at Kansas Jayhawks (5-0)
@ David Booth Memorial Stadium in Lawrence, KS
How to Watch:
- Date: Saturday, October 8th
- Time: 12:00 p.m. ET
- Channel: Fox Sports 1 (FS1)
Betting Stats
- Spread: TCU -6 (-110)
- Over/Under: 67.5 (-110)
Matchup:
As the Jayhawks head into their first ranked matchup of the season, emotions are high in Lawrence– Kansas has made its first appearance in the AP Poll for the first time since 2009, ESPN’s College GameDay’s coming back to Kansas (for football this time!), and the team is at its best season since 2009 as it heads into week six undefeated, and just one win away from being bowl eligible.
It’s safe to say that this is a new era for the Kansas Jayhawks.
Kansas is coming off of a win against Big 12 Conference foe Iowa State, but the Cyclones didn’t leave Lawrence without a fight. Heading in to the matchup, Kansas was averaging 48.5 points per game, but Iowa State slowed a red-hot Jayhawk offense by limiting them to just 14 on the day.
What comes with slowing down the offense, includes slowing down one of the brightest stars for the Jayhawks in junior quarterback Jalon Daniels. Daniels only tallied 97 passing yards last week, but the defense carried the squad in the win.
On the other side, the Horned Frogs are coming off of a dictionary definition of a blowout against Oklahoma in a 55-24 win against the Sooners. TCU senior quarterback Max Duggan lit up the field for 302 yards and three touchdowns, on top of showing off the wheels to put together an additional 116 yards and two rushing scores.
The Jayhawks kept it competitive against TCU in last year’s matchup in Fort Worth with the final score coming down to a last-minute Horned Frogs field goal, but as Kansas now gets the chance to host in front of a soldout crowd and an atmosphere that Lawrence is only used to during basketball season, the odds could very well be in the Jayhawks’ favor on Saturday.
Players to Know:
Jalon Daniels, Kansas quarterback
Season stats: 983 yards, 11 touchdowns, one interception, 68.2% completion percentage
Saturday’s matchup is almost guaranteed to be a quarterback shootout, and from the Jayhawks side, Daniels can easily be the deciding factor in Saturday’s matchup. Though Daniels was held back due to one of the strongest defenses in college football with the Cyclones, he still has been instrumental in Kansas’s success all season, and could very well be looking to bounce back in a knockout way against the Horned Frogs.
Max Duggan, TCU quarterback
Season stats: 997 yards, 11 touchdowns, zero interceptions, 74.5% completion percentage
After last week’s routing of the Sooners, Duggan’s going to make sure this quarterback battle is one of the better games to watch in week six. Leading the Horned Frogs to victory, Duggan accounted for five scores and 418 total yards as he showed off how versatile of a quarterback he can be in the field.
Kansas defense as a whole
In last week’s win, the Jayhawks defense was, without a doubt, the deciding factor to help keep them undefeated. Kansas knew it was going up against a shining young quarterback in Iowa State’s sophomore Hunter Dekkers, but the defense came up big to put a stop to any massive damage that could have been done, sacking Dekkers five times on the day and an interception from freshman cornerback Cobee Bryant helped the cause. As the Jayhawks get ready to face another tough quarterback, they more than proved last week that they’re up for the challenge.
The defense also tallied up 65 tackles on the day, led by redshirt sophomore cornerback Mello Dotson and senior linebacker Rich Miller accounting for seven each. In addition to his interception, Bryant was also responsible for six of the team’s tackles.
Key injuries:
- Daniel Hishaw, Kansas running back: TBD. Hishaw was carted off of the field and left the stadium in an ambulance on Saturday, but head coach Lance Leipold said in Tuesday’s press conference that he did not have any specifics on the injury, just that Hishaw will be out for an extended period of time.
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