Check out grades from the Kansas Jayhawks’ win at Houston (then, we look ahead to Duke)

Here are our letter grades for all three Kansas units, plus our play of the game, from Saturday’s 48-30 victory at Houston and a look ahead to next weekend’s game against Duke.

Play of the game

Daniel Hishaw’s 8-yard touchdown run with 1:06 left in the first quarter brought KU all the way back from a 14-0 deficit and tied the score, 14-14.

The TD dash of the 5-foot-10, 215-pound sophomore came on a simple handoff from quarterback Jalon Daniels. However, what happened after the exchange was a thing of beauty. There was supurb blocking on the play that allowed Hishaw to dart untouched into the end zone on a first and goal call from the 8.

First center Mike Novitsky (6-5 ,300 Sr.) muscled Houston defensive lineman Sedrick Williams (6-1 280 Jr.) out of the way. Then tight end Jared Casey (6-0, 255 Soph.) took care of linebacker Mannie Nunnery (6-2, 225 Soph.) in creating a path for Hishaw. The Moore, Oklahoma native followed Casey’s lead into the end zone. KU’s blocking has been sensational this season and was on that play.

Grades

Offense: A

Kansas, which gained 502 yards in its season opener against Tennessee Tech at Booth Memorial Stadium and 419 yards in Week 2 at West Virginia, totaled 438 yards to the Cougars’ 446.

Daniels will remain on early-season Heisman Trophy lists after rushing for 123 yards on 12 carries and scoring two rushing touchdowns. He completed 14 of 23 passes for 158 yards and three TDs. Daniels converted seven of 12 third down situations, good for 58.3% success rate. The Jayhawks entered the game leading NCAA FBS with a 73.9% conversion rate on third downs. KU is now 24 of 35 (68.6%) overall.

Coordinator Andy Kotelnicki’s offense continues to share the wealth. Daniels completed passes to nine receivers the first half and 11 for the game.

Luke Grimm, Torry Locklin and Casey each pulled in touchdown passes, while Lawrence Arnold led the way with three catches for 24 yards.

The Jayhawks rushed for 280 yards and three touchdowns against Houston, marking the third-straight game with 200+ rushing yards. The three-game streak of 200+ rushing yards is the first by a Jayhawk team since 2012. KU has 13 rushing touchdowns through three games. Leading rusher Saturday was Daniels, followed by Devin Neal (54 yards, 14 carries) and Hishaw (51 yards, 11 carries). Sevion Morrison and Quentin Skinner each had one carry for 30 and 18 yards respectively.

With 48 points on Saturday, the Jayhawks have now scored 159 points through the first three games. That offensive output equals the school record for most points through the first three games of a season, matching the mark of the 2007 Orange Bowl team.

Defense: B.

KU allowed 14 points the first 7 1/2 minutes, 16 the rest of the game. Senior QB Clayton Tune had decent stats, completing 22 of 31 passes for 272 yards, yet he was sacked four times by KU’s aggressive defenders. Linebacker Rich Miller led the team in tackles for the second straight game with nine. Linebacker Craig Young had seven tackles. End Lonnie Phelps and safety Kenny Logan each had five tackles. Logan passed the 200 mark in tackles in his career.

Logan picked off a Tune pass in the fourth quarter and returned the pick 26 yards to set up Hishaw’s TD run. Senior lineman Caleb Sampson had a second-quarter sack which resulted in a loss of 8. He has 2.5 tackles for a loss this season and 10 in his career. Sampson also had a pass deflection. Lineman Jereme Robinson had a third-quarter sack. He also forced and recovered a fumble on the same play.

Special teams: B-plus

Junior kicker Jacob Borcila was 2-for-2 on field goals in the fourth quarter, connecting from 22 yards before hitting a 33-yard attempt on KU’s final drive. Borcila is now 2-for-3 on field goal attempts and 17-for-28 for his career. He was 6-for-6 on extra points. Punter Reis Vernon punted twice in the first half and averaged 43.0 yards per punt, including a season-long 53-yarder. Tabor Allen had nine kickoffs, five touchbacks.

Next up

KU will play Duke at 11 a.m. Saturday at Booth Memorial Stadium. The game will be shown on FS1. Duke defeated North Carolina A&T, 49-20, on Saturday in Durham, North Carolina. The Blue Devils beat Temple 30-0 on Sept. 2 in Durham, then won at Northwestern, 31-23 o,n Sept. 10. Mike Elko is in his first year as the Blue Devils’ coach.

This story was originally published September 18, 2022 at 12:54 PM.

Gary Bedore

The Kansas City Star

816-234-4068

Gary Bedore covers KU basketball for The Kansas City Star. He has written about the Jayhawks since 1978 — during the Ted Owens, Larry Brown, Roy Williams and Bill Self eras. He has won the Kansas Sportswriter of the Year award and KPA writing awards.