Kansas football grades: Analysis of KU Jayhawks’ blowout win vs. Cincinnati Bearcats
The Kansas Jayhawks ended the regular season with a dominant win on Saturday.
The Jayhawks (8-4, 5-4 Big 12) blew out Cincinnati 49-16 at Nippert Stadium. KU finished with eight wins for the first time since 2008.
It was an impressive season for Kansas, which also finished with a winning Big 12 record for the first time since the 2007 season. Still, Kansas QB Jason Bean wasn’t exactly surprised by the success.
He wanted even more.
“I kind of envisioned a little more for us. We had some pretty high goals for this team this year, and we kind of fell short of those goals,” Bean said. “But we still accomplished a lot and we still have more to accomplish.”
Here are grades for all three KU units against Cincinnati, plus our Kansas player of the game.
Kansas football offense: A
Boy, KU’s offense had itself a day.
The Jayhawks’ offense totaled 562 yards. KU’s rushing attack had 312 yards, led by star running back Devin Neal, who had 106 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 10 carries.
Meanwhile, Jason Bean nearly had a perfect game. He was a spotless 10-for-10 passing for 190 yards and two touchdowns in the first half.
For the day, he completed 13 of 17 pass attempts for 250 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions. He added another 90 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns.
It was utter dominance all around by KU’s offense.
Kansas football defense: B+
For the most part, Kansas’ defense was excellent.
The Jayhawks limited the Bearcats to 16 points on 342 yards. Despite using two different QBs, Cincinnati only finished with 111 passing yards.
And who can forget Kansas cornerback Cobee Bryant’s spectacular one-handed interception?
If there was any negative for KU’s defense, it was against the Bearcats’ run game.
Cincinnati’s attack totaled 231 yards on the ground and seemed to be able to run at will against the Kansas defense. That said — it didn’t matter too much.
Kansas special teams: B
KU’s special teams unit wasn’t spectacular, but it did its job on Saturday.
The most important part? The unit didn’t make any costly mistakes, something it did multiple times last week against Kansas State.
KU kicker Seth Keller didn’t attempt any field goals but made all his extra-point attempts.
Meanwhile, punter Damon Greaves punted the ball thrice for an average of 33.7 yards with a long of 38 yards.
Player of the game: Jason Bean
Bean delivered a performance for the ages in his first game back from his head injury. After a perfect first half, he iced the game for Kansas with two long touchdown runs.
On top of that, he didn’t make any costly mistakes or blunders. All in all, it was an exceptional day for Bean.
