Kansas brought Les Miles to Lawrence to help change the trajectory of what’s been a historically abysmal football program. Thus far, the Mad Hatter’s addition is paying immediate dividends.
Entering Week 3 as a three-touchdown underdog, Kansas looked every bit the part early on as they trailed Boston College 17-7 at the end of the first quarter. Over the next three quarters of play, however, the Jayhawks looked every bit the part of the better team (!) as the visitors cruised to a 48-24 win.
The win, fueled in equal parts by 325 yards on the ground and three touchdowns through the air by starting quarterback Carter Stanley, marked Kansas’ first road win over a Power Five opponent since beating Iowa State in Ames way back in 2008. As we noted last night, it ended a stunning streak of 48 straight such losses.
Exiting Week 3, KU is now 2-1 on the season after they previously beat an FCS team by seven at home in the opener and lost to Coastal Carolina (FBS member since 2017) in Week 2 at home. That being said, Miles is the first Jayhawks head coach to get to 2-1 or better in his first season in Lawrence since Terry Allen went 3-0 back in 1997. Miles and Allen are also the only two to have hit that 2-1 mark or better since Bob Valesente (!) in 1986.
This is also the second straight year that the Jayhawks began a season 2-1 as they did the same in David Beaty‘s fourth and final season at KU in 2018. Thus, it’s the first time the football program has gone 2-1 in back-to-back seasons since 2013-14, which were Years 2 and 3 of the Charlie Weis era.
Moving ahead to Week 4, Kansas will play host to West Virginia in its Big 12 opener for the 2019 season. For those who need a refresher course: KU is 5-76 -- 5-76 -- in conference play since 2010, with those five wins coming against TCU (2018), Texas (2016) (I still giggle like a schoolgirl over that one), Iowa State (2014), West Virginia (2013) and Colorado (2010).