After an early bye week, Kansas opens its big Big 12 schedule against West Virginia on Saturday in Lawrence, Kan.
Instead of a week off, West Virginia (2-1) had to work overtime last weekend to secure a 31-24 victory against Pitt in their Backyard Brawl rivalry. The Mountaineers tied the game with 11 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter and followed it up by forcing an incomplete pass in OT to come away with the victory.
Tye Edwards led the Mountaineers with 141 rushing yards and scored three of WVU’s four touchdowns on the day.
West Virginia anticipates another tough test against Kansas (2-1) and its unpredictable defense.
“Some teams, you’ll see certain base defense mostly first and second down. Third down you’ll see the exotic stuff. You’ll see a lot from these guys on every down,” said Mountaineers coach Rich Rodriguez. “With the two weeks, they’re going to probably do some things we haven’t seen that we have to be prepared for. The only good part for us is that our defense does a lot of that, too.”
Kansas struggled to run the ball and stop the run in its 42-31 loss at Missouri on Sept. 6. The Jayhawks allowed 261 rushing yards against the SEC opponent and only mustered 31 yards on the ground.
“I still think our defensive front for the most part has been active and physical and doing things,” said KU coach Lance Leipold. “But offensively, we’ve got to be consistent up front in doing those things to give us the true balance that we need to be to be the type of offense we’d like to be.”
The anemic run game put a lot of pressure on sixth-year Kansas quarterback Jalon Daniels, who threw for 223 yards and two touchdowns in the loss.
Now the Jayhawks return home to their newly renovated stadium where they are undefeated after two games this season.
The Mountaineers hold an 11-2 lead in the all-time series against the Jayhawks. Saturday night will mark first time the two teams have played in Lawrence since 2021, when West Virginia earned a 34-28 victory.
