8/14/2019 football Edit

Preview & Prediction: Kansas

Kansas running back Pooka Williams will miss the season opener for suspension but be available the rest of the season. (USA Today)

Matt Hall • EMAWOnline

Managing Editor

LAST YEAR

Kansas won three games last year under David Beaty after winning zero, two and one games in Beaty's first three seasons. It was just the third time KU had won three games in the last nine seasons (yes, they won less than three the other six). So, while the Jayhawks were still clearly bad, they had certainly shown at least minor improvement.

KU was even competitive in many losses. Sure, you don't want to brag about a 26-23 season-opening loss to FCS member Nicholls, but the Jayhawks took K-State to the wire (21-17) and lost to No. 11 Texas 24-17 in two of the last three games of the season. Sandwiched in between those was a shockingly competitive 55-40 loss at Oklahoma, in which Kansas was only out-gained 566-524 by Kyler Murray and the Sooners.

At the end of the day, though, Kansas is like anybody else - it is what its record says it is. Kansas was bad, again, and Beaty paid the price with his job.

WHO ARE THEY?

We don't know, yet.

Les Miles, the former coach at Oklahoma State and LSU, had been out of the business since losing his job with the Tigers after a 2-2 start in 2016. He now runs the Kansas program and will be looking to do what Beaty, Charlie Weis and Tuner Gill could not - get the Jayhawks to the point of respectability within the Big 12.

Kansas' results on the field - three winning seasons, total, since Big 12 play began in 1996 and zero in the last decade - suggest Miles has inherited a program which lacks talent and depth. A look at the roster would suggest the same, and Miles hopes to work similar magic to what he did at Oklahoma State back in 2001.

The situation wasn't as dire in Stillwater, but Miles improved the Cowboys from 4-7 his first year to eight, nine and finally seven wins before moving on to LSU.

WHO TO WATCH?

It all starts with running back Pooka Williams, who is suspended for the season opener but will be available to play the remainder of the season.

Williams is unquestionably one of the best offensive weapons in the Big 12 after rushing for 1,125 yards and seven touchdowns a freshman last season. In the previously mentioned OU game the 5-foot-10, 170-pound Williams exploded, rushing for 252 yards and two scores on just 15 carries.

That's an average of 16.8 yards a rush, and Williams' longest run was "only" 44 yards against the Sooners. That gives you an idea of how consistently Williams was ripping off chunk plays against the Sooners.

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K-STATE WINS BECAUSE...

At this point in their respective coaching careers I think Chris Klieman has an edge on Les Miles, and I think that may simply be the biggest difference between the two programs this season.

K-State has dominated this series forever, but the competitiveness of last year's game (even the last two, really) show how much the talent gap has narrowed for these two programs.

I think the Wildcats, however, have a better sense of identity, a better option at quarterback and a more engaged, involved head coach running the day-to-day operations of his program.

K-STATE LOSES BECAUSE...

Again, this was a very, very close game a year ago, and now it shifts to Lawrence. K-State does not have a player on its roster as proven or explosive offensively as Williams, and this absolutely shouldn't be a game where you just assume K-State beats KU. The talent levels will be similar, and Kansas will be playing at home. It's not wild to take the team picked to finish 10th in the league at home over the team picked to finish ninth.

PRESEASON PREDICTION: K-State 30, Kansas 18

I expect the Wildcats to have their overall best performance under Klieman to this point. I imagine both teams will be locked in and have this contest circled on their respective calendars, but I like K-State to be further along in its growth as a program than Kansas by this point in the season. I think it will show on the field, too.