Kansas Jayhawks Football: A (Semi) Statistical Recap of Coastal Carolina

I thought David Beaty was gone.

Apparently Kansas needs to call Ghostbusters, because the ghost of David Beaty haunted this team all night long in a rather embarrassing loss to Coastal Carolina.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

There were two timeouts prior to one play, three if you count Coastal’s timeout. There were illegal substitution penalties. Illegal formations. Failure to adjust on defense until halftime. Predictable playcalls on fourth downs. Stubborn playcalling all around. No trust in the kicker or the quarterback - although at least the QB still played the whole game.

And yes, the loss was embarrassing. One week ago, Coastal lost at home to Eastern Michigan. Now, EMU is no longer a slouch, and would likely be favored if they were to match up against our Jayhawks. However, consider:

• The EMU quarterback completed 20/22 passes
• EMU picked off 4 Coastal passes
• Coastal averaged less than 2.5 yards per rush against EMU
• Coastal’s longest rush was 7 yards

Saturday night, Kansas averaged 4.7 yards per rush and 5.0 yards per play on just 56 plays. Coastal was equally inept on offense (even though it didn’t seem like it), averaging 3.5 yards per rush and 4.6 yards per play on 63 plays.

The (statistical) difference was in turnovers. Two ill-advised Carter Stanley passes ended up in the hands of Coastal’s Chandler Kryst. Both occurred in plus territory for Kansas (Coastal’s side midfield), meaning that if Kansas could have even taken field goals on those possessions, but complexion of the game changes drastically.

Coastal was just 1-9 on third downs, but converted their only fourth down attempt. Meanwhile, Kansas was nearly as bad, going just 4-10 on third downs. However, KU turned the ball over THREE TIMES on downs. Even though the stat sheet says KU was minus 2 in turnover margin, in reality you could say the ‘Hawks were minus 5.

The Good

KU’s run game was actually pretty serviceable, despite seeing 7, 8, and 9-man defensive fronts all night. Pooka and Herbert combined to average just over 6 yards per carry.

The Bad

This can be interchangeable with The Ugly depending on your feelings on the matter. Carter Stanley was bad. He made at least two really bad decisions. He overthrew(!) guys. He struggled against a bad pass defense, and that’s definitely not an encouraging sign.

The Ugly

What was that offensive gameplan? Kansas got back one of the most electric players in the entire Big 12 and they try to use him in a ground-and-pound rushing attack? NO! Spread it out. Get him the ball in space. And for heaven’s sake, let your QB audible out when he can see there aren’t enough blockers when a blitz is coming.

The Stats

Carter Stanley had maybe his worst game in a KU uniform. He was 13-19 for just 107 yards and 2 INTs.

Pooka Williams led the Jayhawks on the ground with 99 yards on 22 carries. He was pretty well contained, as his longest rush was just 15 yards. Pooka also caught two passes but for just 10 yards.

Khalil Herbert put up 82 yards on just 8 carries, but 41 of those came on a neat scamper for a touchdown early in the game with Pooka acting as a decoy.

Dom Williams had just two touches for 4 yards.

Stephon Robinson led the Jayhawks in receiving, with 4 grabs for 45 yards.

James Sosinski had 3 receptions for 36 yards, all in the first half, as I’m pretty sure he didn’t play at all in the second half due to an as-of-yet undisclosed injury.

Andrew Parchment had 3 receptions, but for only 14 yards.

Dru Prox led all tacklers with 11 stops.

Bryce Torneden added 8 stops, including a TFL.

Nine KU defenders combined for 3 sacks and 9 TFLs on the night.

Jacob Borcila missed his only attempt, a 40-yard field goal right at the end of the first half.

Kyle Thompson smashed two punts for an average distance of 55 yards.