Kansas-Georgia Tech: Three Things We Learned About KU Football

Saturday the Kansas Jayhawks took a haymaker to the chin and never saw it coming. The road test against Georgia Tech went from an opportunity to prove something to an embarrassing testament as to what still needs to be done.  Offensively it wasn't all bad, but defensively it was offensive.  There's no other way to put it, Kansas got destroyed. 

Are there any takeaways from this one for the positive?  Yes, but we probably learned more on the negative side of things as Kansas heads to a bye week and then what looks like a tough road ahead in conference play.

Jordan Webb Is Leading A Balanced Kansas Offense.

We'll start with the good.  Jordan Webb and the Kansas offense played a solid ball game for 30 minutes and it really wasn't until the deficit was out of hand and Kansas had to become fairly one dimensional that the game got away from them on this side of the ball.

It starts with the running game and the Kansas offensive line and running backs are getting it done.  The dropoff in the passing game is minimal as Webb looks like a much better quarterback.  Webb is hitting hit shots downfield, he's efficient and as a whole Webb and the Kansas offense are converting third downs, moving the chains and executing the game plan.  But it's only one phase of the game and that's the problem.

Defense?

I don't even know what to say about the defense.  I'm not sure we learned anything because they were essentially non-existent.  The performance was one of the more embarrassing performances by a division one defense in recent memory and that point was driven home on ESPN all day long. 

The Kansas offense allowed 12.1 yards per run to Georgia Tech, they gave up nearly 800 yards of total offense and it's clear as day that Turner Gill and Kansas won't be able to turn any sort of a corner in Lawrence until they can address this side of the ball.  Improved or not, the Kansas offense isn't going to score 70 in a game so the defense has to stop someone on occasion if Kansas is going to win.

Winning a Game on the Big 12 Schedule is Going to be a Challenge.

After weeks one and two it looked like there might be a few winnable games on the schedule.   Not something you'd count on, but games where Kansas might have a chance. A few 50/50's if you will.  Not sure that's the case anymore based on the play by the Jayhawks on Saturday. 

Kansas State isn't great offensively, but they are very stout defensively and you have to give them the edge at this point. Texas Tech is scoring points as usual and Kansas will be the worst defense they have faced to date.  Iowa State struggled in week one, but now they sit 3-0 and are playing classic Paul Rhoads football.  Those are probably the three teams that Kansas could have ever hoped to beat in conference play, that road looks a lot less promising based on the Jayhawks defensive effort on Saturday.