Kansas football loses a heartbreaker to Cincinnati. Here are three takeaways
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- Kansas squandered late lead as Cincinnati stormed back for a 37-34 win.
- Jalon Daniels threw for 419 yards, 4 TDs but costly fumble shifted momentum.
- KU defense surrendered 603 yards, failed to contain Cincinnati quarterback.
Jalon Daniels gave Kansas a chance.
His touchdown strike to wide receiver Levi Wentz put the Jayhawks up four over Cincinnati with 1:45 left in a shootout.
Like much of Saturday, though, KU’s defense disappointed. After an illegal touching penalty brought back a huge Bearcats gain, Kansas didn’t make use of the gift. A few plays later, Cincinnati converted a fouth-and-10 when wide receiver Noah Jennings snagged the ball with one hand.
Moments later, the Bearcats scored to take a 37-34 lead — the eventual final score — with a walk-in rushing touchdown.
The Jayhawks, who had just used two timeouts on defense, only had one remaining. They were unable to get into field-goal range with just 29 seconds left. KU’s final play ended on a fumble.
Despite a performance for the ages by Daniels, Cincinnati won the back-and-forth Big 12 clash. Kansas (3-2, 1-1 Big 12) had plenty of chances to win but walked away the loser.
Notable moments from KU-Cincinnati
It didn’t take long for the Jayhawks to get on the scoreboard. On KU’s first play from scrimmage, Daniels connected with receiver Emmanuel Henderson for a 93-yard touchdown.
From there, the game went back and forth. Cincinnati went into half leading 20-13, and there were plenty of points yet to come. In fact, both teams scored on their first two drives out of halftime. There were 24 points scored in the third quarter.
The game hung in the balance with the Jayhawks trailing 30-27 and closing in on a score. Daniels fumbled at the 1-yard line, but KU’s defense forced a punt. The Jayhawks took the lead after getting the ball back.
Daniels finished 18-of-27 passing for 419 yards and four touchdowns. He added 55 yards on the ground. Henderson had five catches for 214 yards and two touchdowns.
Running back Leshon Williams finished with 64 rushing yards on 10 carries. Starting running back Daniel Hishaw missed the game due to injury.
Up next: KU travels to Orlando to play UCF on Oct. 4.
Until then, here are three takeaways from Saturday’s game…
Jalon Daniels starred, but one mistake proved costly
After a subpar game vs. West Virginia last week, Daniels excelled vs. the Bearcats.
Aside from the 93-yard passing touchdown to Henderson, Daniels threw plenty of dimes. He had multiple highlight-worthy throws and had perfect ball placement in spots where only his receivers could catch the ball.
Daniels entered halftime 6-for-10 passing for 194 yards — nearly 20 yards per attempt — with one touchdown.
He also had 21 rushing yards on seven carries, most of which came on a 17-yard pickup where Daniels evaded multiple defenders and turned a likely sack into a first-down conversion.
He kept up his stellar play in the second half ... mostly. He led KU to two touchdowns on the first two possessions, but on KU’s third possession, he fumbled the ball at the 1-yard line.
Luckily for Daniels, KU’s defense forced a punt. Still, even three points would have helped KU, as things turned out.
“Just can’t happen in those situations,” Daniels said about the fumble. “That’s a situation where if you score, you put your team in a good position to be able to win the game.”
The Jayhawks are 1-6 in one-score games dating back to the start of 2024.
Cincinnati QB Brendan Sorsby torched the KU defense
All week, KU players and coaches emphasized that limiting the dual-threat ability of Brendan Sorsby was the key to Saturday’s game.
In fact, Kansas even used freshman quarterback David McComb to replicate Sorsby’s play style in practice.
That didn’t seem to help. Sorsby moved the ball at will against KU’s defense. He completed third and fourth downs with a mix of his legs and arms.
Cincinnati went 7-for-16 on third down.
KU’s secondary struggled to keep up with the Bearcats receivers, but on top of that, the Cincinnati offensive line did an excellent job of protecting Sorsby. The Bearcats only allowed one sack.
Sorsby finished 29-of-43 passing for 388 yards and two touchdowns. He added 52 yards on the ground. Cincinnati totaled 603 yards of total offense. The Bearcats were also a perfect 6-for-6 in the red zone (four touchdowns, two field goals).
“I don’t know if we played real confidently in coverage all day, to be honest,” Kansas coach Lance Leipold said. “We started to create some pressure. That’s a good quarterback. He took shots, he put the ball where it needed to (be), he spread it around. They had a good game plan on attacking us, and they executed.
“Now, you want to be better, you want to tackle better, you want to make consistent things, but we just didn’t do enough.”
Emmanuel Henderson Jr. has officially broken out
Alabama transfer wide receiver Emmanuel Henderson just wanted an opportunity to play wide receiver — it’s why he transferred to Kansas.
Well, he’s certainly made the most of it. Henderson’s play on Saturday was electric.
There’s a clear level of trust between Daniels and Henderson, and that was repaid as Henderson turned two different catches into long touchdowns.
The second one was worthy of SportsCenter’s Top 10. He caught a simple slant route, juked his defender and took it to the house.
Henderson’s 214 receiving yards made him the first Jayhawk since Steven Sims (233 vs. Kansas State in 2017) with over 200 yards in a game.
It was the best outing by a KU receiver in years.
This story was originally published September 27, 2025 at 3:05 PM.
