Why special teams was — and also wasn’t — the story following KU’s loss to K-State

At first blush, the story of Kansas football’s 30-20 loss Saturday will be the special teams, a unit that cost the Jayhawks any chance of snapping an eight-game losing streak against Kansas State.

Coach David Beaty admitted as much in his postgame radio interview, citing the stat that jumped off the box score.

Average field position: K-State its own 46, KU its own 19.

“If you saw that football game, I think you would have a hard time not realizing where our breakdown was,” Beaty said.

The Jayhawks surrendered a return for touchdown for a third straight week, this one from D.J. Reed on a kickoff in the first quarter. There was another K-State 37-yard punt return, an off day for punter Cole Moos and a personal foul penalty on KU for blocking out of bounds while the Jayhawks were attempting a fair catch.

“That’s the difference,” Beaty said of special teams. “That’s how you look up and see that you dominated a bunch of statistical categories but you lose on the scoreboard.”

A bigger-picture view, though, would lead one to this: The special teams were bad, but the Jayhawks showed enough progress everywhere else to still make it a competitive game.

KU’s offense had 482 yards — a remarkable turnaround after posting 21 against TCU last week. The previous output was the worst by an FBS team since at least 1996.

Carter Stanley made his first start of the season and delivered 418 passing yards, the most by a Jayhawk since Todd Reesing in 2009. Steven Sims — he had just one catch in each of the last two weeks — also reemerged as KU’s best playmaker with nine receptions for 233 receiving yards with a touchdown.

All this after KU’s offense had been held scoreless its previous nine quarters. In fact, the Jayhawks’ two straight shutouts marked the first time that had happened since the program’s 1987 season.

“We haven’t put much together the last two weeks,” Stanley said. “We had to put our foot in the ground and really just have belief and trust.”

The defense held its own as well. KU allowed 6.1 yards per play to K-State but often stood strong in the red zone, as the Wildcats’ three touchdowns came on short drives (26 and 18 yards) or special teams. The Jayhawks also adjusted without top player Dorance Armstrong, who was sidelined most of the second half with an apparent leg injury.

It all wasn’t enough to produce a victory, but it still was markedly better than what the Jayhawks showed in previous 45-0 and 43-0 road losses to Iowa State and TCU.

“I know that there’s a lot of things out there in that world that makes it very difficult on young men, particularly if they know or they read or they see (things),” Beaty said. “But our guys, they’ve done a really nice job of blocking some things out that normally would affect some other guys.”

This seemed, going in, like it could be a crossroads in KU’s season.

Earlier in the week, team captain Dorance Armstrong publicly held teammates accountable, saying some players didn’t seem to care as much as others. Fan frustration spilled to the skies before Saturday’s game, as an airplane banner with the words “Fire Zenger” circled the stadium in reference to athletic director Sheahon Zenger.

Beaty said he didn’t see that message, but he became emotional in the postgame press conference when asked what he thought about it.

“That’s asinine,” Beaty said. “I don’t know a man that loves this university as much as he does. I don’t know anybody that thinks about it, cares about it, has done everything that we’ve asked him to do more than Dr. Zenger. That’s crazy. I don’t have any other words for it.

“He’s our leader, and we believe in him,” Beaty continued, his voice slowing a bit. “And we always have, and it’s never been a question. It’s unfortunate, I think maybe is the best thing to say because all of us that are doing the work, we know the real truth.”

If nothing else, Beaty and his coaching staff showed they hadn’t lost the team through the turmoil of the last two weeks.

KU defensive end Daniel Wise credited leaders — like Stanley and receiver Jeremiah Booker — for remaining positive. The strength and conditioning staff also lightened the mood, introducing a construction hat and gold hammer to the team’s sideline on gameday; both safety Michael Lee and running back Taylor Martin were awarded the props and took them with pride following standout plays Saturday.

Stanley also said the coaches’ message remained the same: Keep your head down, and keep grinding.

“It’s not hard to keep guys going forward here,” KU linebacker Joe Dineen said. “We’ve got a good group of people that really wants to be good and wants to go out and win.”

A victory didn’t come Saturday, but at a crossroads in the season, KU showed reasons for optimism with four games to go.

“We’re never going to give up,” Sims said. “That’s not what we do. That’s not the type of team that we are.”

This story was originally published October 28, 2017 at 8:44 PM with the headline "Why special teams was — and also wasn’t — the story following KU’s loss to K-State."