Kansas hopes improvement on defense continues

The meeting came on Monday, two days after Kansas’ 30-20 loss against Texas Tech. KU coach David Beaty sat down with his leadership council, a group of players who convene regularly to give voice to the roster and guidance to the young players in the program. Beaty addresses many subjects during these meetups, but this week, there was one issue that piqued his curiosity.

His defense.

In the Jayhawks’ first five games, the KU defense had been gashed for 45.4 points per game. Then came last Saturday afternoon, when the Jayhawks bowed up and held an offensive-centric Texas Tech to just 30 points. So what was the difference?

“Ben (Goodman) was kind of the one that stood up,” Beaty recalled, “and said … ‘You know, Coach, we just got tired of it.’”

The answer was the kind of thing Beaty had been waiting to hear. Here was Goodman, a senior captain and defensive end, displaying some resolve during a season of rebuilding and hard losses.

“We’ve been talking about it for a long time now,” Beaty said. About (how) you’re eventually just going to get tired of it, and something is going to change.”

As Kansas, 0-6, has been preparing for its 2:30 p.m. kickoff on Saturday at Oklahoma State, 6-0, the defensive performance against Texas Tech has been serving to reinforce a unit’s shattered confidence. The hope comes at a good time. On Saturday in Stillwater, the Jayhawks will enter Boone Pickens Stadium as five-touchdown underdogs. The Jayhawks have lost 35 straight games away from Lawrence, a streak that hangs on the program like an anchor.

But here’s some reason for optimism: If the defense can duplicate its effort against Texas Tech, perhaps the Jayhawks can hang around in another Big 12 contest.

“It was one performance,” Beaty said Tuesday. “We’ll see what happens this week.”

Yes, it was just one game. But it was so much better than recent weeks. The Jayhawks faced a Red Raiders offense averaging 52.6 points per game. They limited Texas Tech to just 30 points on 576 yards while forcing two turnovers. This week, the challenge continues. Kansas must stop an Oklahoma State offense that is tied for 19th in the country in scoring (37 points per game) and 17th in passing yards (325.5).

On paper, this is a mismatch, favoring Oklahoma State.

But the KU defense has fostered some confidence following its performance against Texas Tech. For the most part, the personnel has remained the same. There have been no magic solutions. But in the days after last Saturday’s loss, Beaty saw a defensive group that was starting to fight back.

“I think we gotta get tired of (losing) in all areas,” Beaty said, “for us to start making the improvement that we need.”

This story was originally published October 23, 2015 at 7:20 PM with the headline "Kansas hopes improvement on defense continues."