Memphis 55, Kansas 23
This week I predicted K.U. would be blown out, and sadly, we all saw it coming. It will happen every week. Memphis beat Kansas at its own uptempo game, moving quickly with ease, finding little resistance, and letting Kansas self-destruct. Memphis ended with 654 yards of offense.
It's difficult to find futility records for college football, but the Kansas defense will certainly challenge for the most yards and points surrendered over the course of the season. The Jayhawks will give up more than 500 yards and more than 50 points almost every week, which would put them around 6,000-6,500 yards and 600-650 points. I would be surprised if that's not record territory.
On a team with few legitimate Division I football players, Ke'Aun Kinner continues to impress. He's grinding for yards and showing nice open-field moves, even without a quarterback that can complete a pass on a regular basis.
Even after just two games, the major problem is not whether Kansas can be competitive. They can't. The big question is whether the players can stay interested. Kansas has struggled with attrition, both forced and unforced. No one wants to work hard in practice and get kicked in the head repeatedly on game day. How does Beaty keep kids interested? Building a program requires players to, you know, stay in the program. Charlie Weis famously kicked 29 players off the team in his first year. Almost all of his junior college transfers flamed out in one way or another. Two seniors transferred before the 2015 season, simply tired of losing. Again, how does Beaty keep kids interested in playing football, staying with the program year after year and developing? If Beaty can't do that, then his tenure will be over before it ever began.