Kansas @ Houston preview
TDECU Stadium
The Kansas football program is approaching historic territory.
Should the Jayhawks win Saturday in Houston, Texas against the Cougars, Kansas will start the season 3-0 for the first time since former head coach Mark Mangino won his first five games in 2009. A victory for Kansas would give the program back-to-back road wins for the first time since 2007.
Kansas is 2-0 to start a season for the first time since 2011. The Jayhawks will try to keep this run of success going at TDECU Stadium against Houston (1-1), which fell out of the Associated Press Top 25 Poll this week after losing 33-30 in double-overtime at Texas Tech.
The Jayhawks are 3-0 all-time against the Cougars, but the two sides will see each other much more often when Houston joins the Big 12 next season. This will be their first meeting since 2005.
Kansas is achieving success this season with offense. The Jayhawks are averaging 55.5 points per game -- which ranks first nationally among FBS schools -- after victories over Tennessee Tech and West Virginia.
Quarterback Jalon Daniels was sharp on the road against West Virginia last weekend, helping the Jayhawks overcome three different 14-point deficits. Kansas outscored the Mountaineers 35-13 to lead by 11 early in the fourth quarter. After WVU tied the game in the final minute, Daniels hit Quentin Skinner for a touchdown in KU's first overtime possession. Then Cobee Bryant capped the victory with a pick-six.
"It's a big win and I'm so proud of our guys," Kansas coach Lance Leipold said. "We got off to a slow start. Penalties hurt us early and hurt us late... I'm so proud of their resilience and how they have gone about it. This is a good win to build off of."
Houston may not be the team to slow down Kansas. The Cougars are tied for 106th nationally in in scoring defense at 34 points per game, though some of that may come from the fact that they have played five overtimes in the first two games.
"We did a lot of stupid stuff," a frustrated Houston coach Dana Holgorsen said after the loss to Texas Tech. "Stupid, stupid, stupid stuff. I don't feel like we deserved to win.
"With that said, I was very proud of how we kept fighting. We just let it slip away at the end."
--Field Level Media