Big 12 · Lance Leipold, year 6 (28-36) · Memorial Stadium · 47,000 · 31,452 avg in 2026
LastL 21–38 vs Missouri · Fri Sep 11 · Nik McMillan 52 rec yds, 1 TD
Nextvs Arizona State · Sat Sep 19 · 12 pm ET · Wembley Stadium · Arizona State by 5.5 · series 0-1 · Game preview
Updated Tue Sep 15 · through week 2
| Wk | Date | Us | Opp | Line | Opponent | Result | Record | Conf |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sep 5 | #87 | #178 | -44.5✓ | Long Island University | W 51–6 129 | 1-0 | 0-0 |
| 2 | Sep 12 | #85 | #42 | +4✗ | Missouri | L 21–38 138 | 1-1 | 0-0 |
| 3 | Sep 19 | #77 | #46 | +5.5 | Arizona State (N) | |||
| 5 | Oct 3 | Middle Tennessee | ||||||
| 6 | Oct 10 | @Utah | ||||||
| 7 | Oct 17 | @Kansas State | ||||||
| 8 | Oct 24 | Baylor | ||||||
| 9 | Oct 31 | @TCU | ||||||
| 10 | Nov 7 | UCF | ||||||
| 11 | Nov 14 | @West Virginia | ||||||
| 12 | Nov 21 | BYU | ||||||
| 13 | Nov 28 | @Oklahoma State |
| Date | Opp | Result | Yds | TO | TOP | EPA/play | Success% | Explosive% | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 12 | Missouri | L 21–38 | 255 | 3 | 28:39 | +0.134 | 29.9% | 179.1% | |
| Sep 5 | Long Island University | W 51–6 | 613 | 1 | 33:06 | +0.569 | 59.0% | 129.9% | |
| Season average (2 games) | 434 | 2.0 | +0.351 | 44.4% | 154.5% | ||||
Kansas is a basketball cathedral that, for a few Jalon Daniels seasons, made football matter in Lawrence — every win a bonus on top of a banner-filled gym that never needed the gridiron at all.
Fans are tired of being told their school only cares from November to March — that football is a hobby in a basketball town. They point at the Orange Bowl banner and the Leipold revival and ask to be…
The season in chapters
What fans said
W 51–6 vs Long Island University
Real posts from the day of the game, chosen by community score · usernames not shown
What it is like to watch them2025 · 5-7 · last season
✓ measured from 12 games · ranks are among Big 12 teams the same season
Recent form · last 10 games · incl. 2025
Cold. 3-7 over the last 10, and lost the last one.
I’ve seen Jaden practice and I know what it’s looked like. It didn’t really look like that today. I’m sure North Carolina had something to do with that…we just didn’t give ourselves a chance
Next Sep 19
vs Arizona State · neutral site
✓ fact on line · ~ our read on style
Market outlook
Sportsbook consensus · best odds across multiple books · 2026-09-14
the open questionwhere does it go from here?
Kansas enters 2025 at No. 58 in SP+ — the 8-spot drop from 2024 puts Leipold’s progress under the microscope after back-to-back losing records.
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Boden Groen is used almost exclusively underneath -- a low share of his targets are downfield shots.
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Emmanuel Henderson Jr. is a real deep-ball threat -- a high share of his targets come on throws past the sticks.
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Leshon Williams gets LESS work in the fourth quarter with a lead than his overall workload would predict -- not the trusted closer raw carries might suggest.
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Leshon Williams: a garbage time merchant signal screened this season.
our readbackground
Outcome band · Kansas · 2026
Floor, base and ceiling come from the season-path projection, which plays out conference title games and the CFP — so a ceiling can run past 12 games.
Kansas enters 2025 rated No. 58 in SP+ (+4.1), down 8 spots from 2024. SP+ describes what the program HAS done, not what it will do. The season is the field test. Preview coverage is split — believers and skeptics are reading the same data differently.
The 'the projection is underselling us' read -- fans betting the season beats the preview number.
The 'the model has seen the tape' counter -- efficiency ratings reward what a program has actually done, not hope.
This event was in 213 of 1989 board posts (11%) over the last 60 days — engaged but not consumed. Fan text shown verbatim, attributed to the community not the individual poster.
The boards ≠ the fanbase: a vocal, self-selected slice.
Fan mood index · most recent r/cfb data
More in this tab
Kansas is the basketball school whose Lance Leipold rebuild from 1-11 to bowl games + Jalon Daniels Heisman buzz reset what historic-football-disappointment can become.
Melvin Council Jr. sues NCAA for extra year
Council lost two EDGE contributors to the draft and ranks 61st in class — a lawsuit buying one more year at that spot isn't a minor procedural move, it's Leipold's most realistic fix for a position the depth chart can't paper over.
Kansas releases first depth chart
Depth chart drops with two EDGE contributors already gone and a class ranked 61st nationally — Leipold's pressure-spot rebuild gets its first real stress test before LIU even kicks off.
Drinkwitz criticizes KU hype video
Drinkwitz picking a public fight with Kansas over a hype video is the kind of distraction that lands differently when your own program is the one with SP+ concerns and a #61 class trying to replace two drafted EDGEs.
Javon Bardwell decommits from Kansas
Two EDGE contributors already gone and a #61 class behind them — Bardwell walking back his commitment is the last thing Leipold needed at a position already running thin.
Top 3 commits
Recruiting Footprint · 2026
KS leads the 2026 class with 7 commits. National footprint reaching 8 states.
Where they recruit · 2023-2026
67 signees across 15 states, 2023-2026. KS leads the pull.
That is 14.0% of every high-school FBS signee KS produced over those cycles — second only to Kansas State, 11 signees back. The full map →
Miles from home · 2026 roster
The median Kansas player grew up 448 miles from campus.
Half this roster came from closer than that; half came from farther.
Straight-line distance from each player's listed hometown to Memorial Stadium. Hometowns are placed at city-centroid precision, not street address — fine at this scale, but a player's true door-to-door number can differ by a few miles. 111 of 115 listed players have a geocoded hometown. Source: CFBD roster hometowns.
Top community posts · last 12 months · r/cfb
Fan confidence in a typical range for this program right now
41st percentile among FBS programs
60% recovery rate on their own fumbles — well above the ~54% league baseline.
3 of 5 own fumbles recovered themselves; 2 of 5 forced fumbles recovered, 2026 only.
17 penalties committed, 13 drawn on opponents — ceding 33 yards of field position.
149 penalty yards committed vs. 116 drawn on opponents, 2026 season total.
Outcome band · Kansas · 2026
Recruiting Footprint · 2026