By Jacob Seliga
Lead Writer
If before the season someone told you that one team would have one loss and the other would have four entering the Week 6 matchup between Arizona State and Kansas, the majority of people would’ve taken the odds that the Sun Devils would be the latter team instead of the former.
However, the preseason roles of these two teams have done a drastic 180-degree turn as the Sun Devils enter this game playing with confidence knowing everything they want to play for is still in front of them heading into the annual “Maroon Monsoon” showdown.
Kansas Offense
To say that the Kansas Jayhawks' offense has been a disappointment would be the ultimate understatement.
The Jayhawks returned the 2023 preseason conference player of the year, Jalon Daniels, running back Devin Neal and receivers Luke Grimm and Lawrence Arnold. In 2023, Kansas had a top 20 scoring offense in college football and was one of the most prolific units in the country last year.
The architect of the Jayhawks offensive attack was offensive coordinator Andrew Kotelnicki, who left the program in the offseason to take the offensive coordinator position at Penn State. His replacement, Jeff Grimes, has been dreadful and his track record of futility has followed him to Kansas. Grimes is one week away from hitting exactly two years since a Grimes-led offense has beaten an FBS opponent. Throughout his time as the leader for Baylor, the Bears offense continued to regress after their Sugar Bowl run until his firing after last season.
What also hasn’t helped, has been how turnover prone Daniels and the offense has been. Through five games, the Jayhawks have turned the ball over 11 times, including eight interceptions by Daniels. The biggest cause for that has been Daniels wanting to force passes as the pressure gets through a rebuilding offensive line that has struggled mightily this year. This is massive, as the Sun Devils look to get back on the positive side of the turnover battle after dominating that category against Mississippi State and Wyoming but were in the negative against Texas Tech.
Kansas Defense
Although it hasn’t been reflected in the win column yet, the bright spot of Kansas’ season so far has been its defense yet the unit hasn’t exactly been great either.
Against their four FBS opponents so far, the Jayhawks have given up 29 points and 372 yards per game, which has been inflated by back-to-back abysmal performances against conference members West Virginia and TCU. The most alarming issue for the Jayhawks has been the play of the secondary, which appeared to be one of the most talented units in the conference led by NFL prospects Mello Dotson and Cobee Bryant.
Kansas’ vulnerability in the secondary has been coupled with its lack of a pass rush on both sides of the line. Jereme Robinson has been the most consistent pass rusher off the edge for Kansas, but Dean Miller on the other side has shown flashes of getting into the backfield. The go-to pass rusher in the rotation off the bench has been true freshman Deshawn Warner, who is returning to his hometown after playing at Desert Edge High School in the West Valley. The key to the Jayhawks success will be whether or not Tommy Dunn can stuff the running game at the line and create positive positions for the secondary to capitalize with.
Prediction: Arizona State defeats Kansas 38-20
Simply put, coming off a bye where the team is as close to fully healthy as it has been all year with multiple impact players such as Prince Dorbah and Tate Romney potentially available for the first time in 2024, it’s hard to envision a world where the Sun Devils lose this game.
The offensive firepower of the Jayhawks is the toughest unit Arizona State has faced in a game to this point so far. However, facing a talented quarterback such as Jordan McCloud in the Texas State game and running back Tahj Brooks against Texas Tech has prepared the Sun Devils for how to handle an attack like the one Kansas presents.
Defensively, with the pass rush of the Sun Devils appearing to be healthy fully for the first time this year, this is the perfect time for Arizona State to hit the ground running with its defensive unit and create havoc.
Offensively, the health of the offensive line just as it has been all year so far will continue to be the “X-Factor” unit and against an inconsistent Kansas defensive line, it’s perfect for Cam Skattebo to run the ball and Sam Leavitt to pick apart the Jayhawk defense.
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