Stat of the Game: No Big 12 Winning Streak for KU

Kansas lost another Big 12 game in ugly fashion on Saturday against Iowa State, ensuring no momentum was gained from the win against TCU. And, it ended up being the game that led to David Beaty’s dismissal. The Jayhawks fell 27-3, which isn’t good, but still better than the performance against the Cyclones last year when it suffered a 45-0 beat down.

But that’s not saying much.

There’s plenty of negatives to dissect from this particular game. But there’s also a bigger-picture aspect to focus on. Because it’s also the latest in a long-running trend for Kansas football.

Stat of the Game

Kansas has not won back-to-back conference games since the 2008-2009 seasons.

The Breakdown

The latest occurrence came in two different seasons. The 2008 Jayhawks won the final Big 12 game of the year against Missouri (40-37), and then won the first conference game of the 2009 season against Iowa State (41-36). If you want to just stick to true back-to-back wins in consecutive weeks, that also happened in 2008 against Iowa State and Colorado.

It’s worth noting that it’s not like Kansas has had a ton of opportunities to break this streak in the past decade. But there have been chances, and the Jayhawks have yet to capitalize. Here’s the result of every game following a Big 12 win since 2009.

2018: Iowa State, 27-3

2016: Kansas State, 34-19

2014: TCU, 34-30

2013: Iowa State, 34-0

2010: Nebraska, 20-3

2009: Colorado, 34-30

That’s six games where Kansas has fail to build on a win, and in all but two of those games, it wasn’t even that close. It certainly makes those wins feel more like a fluke than progress, especially since each of those seasons ended with just one Big 12 win.

For reference, from 2005-2007, KU had Big 12 winning streaks of two, three, and seven games. But it’s been three coaches and a decade since Kansas has reached that small milestone.

It’s difficult to make progress when every time the team takes a step forward, it then takes a step back and then doesn’t recover. The Jayhawks were upset regarding the crowd turnout after the game, but these stats also show how little there’s been and how long it’s been since fans could come to the stadium and think the Jayhawks could go on a run.

It’s unlikely the Jayhawks can build a winning streak this season with K-State, Oklahoma, and Texas remaining on the schedule. With Beaty being let go and a new coach coming in next year, it will be interesting to see if/how quickly that coach can string together a winning streak in the Big 12 and draw some excitement of progress from the fan base.