Moments That Popped: Illinois 23, No. 19 Kansas 17

There’s no denying that the outcome of Saturday’s road game at Illinois — a 23-17 loss by No. 19 Kansas in front of a sold-out stadium in Champaign, Illinois — was the only thing that mattered and one heck of a disappointment for the Jayhawks.

But what made it all the more disappointing was the fact that, for much of this game, it was Kansas (1-1) that had more big moments, big plays and clutch performances.

Some costly turnovers, a case of curious play calling and even a little bad luck put Illinois (2-0) in position to take the game and the Illini did just that.

If there’s one thing we know about a Lance Leipold-coached team it’s that they’ll flush this one and only look forward. It’s the way they’ve always done it, in good times and bad, and a huge part of the culture that they’ve established that has helped turn the KU program around.

But for a fan base that had huge hopes for a magical season, this one will likely sting for a while, even if that magical season can still become a reality.

The bottom line is this: In college football, winning on the road is difficult. It’s even more difficult when you’re facing a hungry Big Ten team and you walk into their house favored to win the game.

Kansas found that out the hard way on Saturday night, and now it’ll be back to business for the Jayhawks, who will look to respond with a Week 3 home game against 2-0 UNLV.

More on that next week. For now, here are a few of the highs and lows from a tough Saturday night in Champaign.

LIKES

• KU matched Illinois’ physicality – It didn’t end up leading to a win like it looked like it would or even should, but boy did it play a huge part in this one. After taking a drive or so to feel it out and adjust, the Jayhawks quickly matched the physicality of a big, strong Illinois football squad. So much so that they actually dominated elements of the game that are measured in physicality. The play in the trenches. Third-down conversions. KU was better in all of those areas throughout the night, until the final Illinois offensive drive that led to three more points for the home team and put KU down six with a minute to play. Give credit to Kansas’ D-Linemen inside for being big and nasty all night long, both as tacklers and in taking up space. And give credit to KU’s O-Line for carving out all kinds of space for Devin Neal and Daniel Hishaw Jr. to run through. So often, it’s the more physical team that wins these games. On Saturday night, the turnovers and untimely KU mistakes, left the more physical team on the losing side.

• Luke Grimm TD – After having one called back on a questionable offensive pass interference call, KU wideout Luke Grimm made a much tougher catch for the first touchdown of the game and then went nuts on the sideline in celebrating the TD and showing all kinds of competitiveness and toughness while doing it. Overall, it was another good night for Grimm, who led the Jayhawks with 9 receptions on 13 targets. All three of KU’s top receiving options finished the game in the 40s in terms of yardage. And this was a night where the Jayhawks needed one of them to go just a little higher. Illinois had pretty tight coverage on the KU wideouts all night long, though, and even when they didn’t, the three interceptions thrown by QB Jalon Daniels hurt the visitors.

• Strong start to 2nd half – After giving away both momentum and the lead with a couple of miscues late in the first half, the Jayhawks quickly got both back in the third quarter to reclaim control of the game. Illinois started on offense in the third quarter, but the KU defense forced a three-and-out to give the ball back to the Jayhawks. That was the first step in reclaiming the momentum. The next was a 14-play, 81-yard scoring drive that took more than 8 minutes off the clock and put Kansas back in front. At that point, it looked like KU’s game for the taking. And it continued to look that way for a while. But as the game wore on, a couple more Kansas miscues went the Illini’s way, and Illinois gained confidence from being in position to salt the game away by playing to its strengths.

DISLIKES

• Tough night for JD6 – Jalon Daniels will be the first to tell you that he didn’t play well enough for his team to win on Saturday night, and he’s never been one to run away from blame. He struggled to throw the ball, tossing three interceptions, and also fumbled on the game’s final play, when KU was trying to execute a desperation-type Hail Mary to steal the win. While Daniels no doubt will go back to work as both a leader and a quarterback to make sure he and the Jayhawks learn from this and get better as a result of it, the fact that he’s now thrown four picks in two games, with five turnovers total in that time span, is at least a little cause for concern. You can chalk some of it up to rust. It’s been a while since he played football. And he had his share of good moments, too. Both as a runner and a passer. But for a team and fan base that entered the season believing the advantage at QB would always be on KU’s side against any opponent, seeing these early-season struggles is at best disappointing and confusing and at worst worrisome.

• Devin Neal limited to 14 carries – KU coach Lance Leipold said after the game that it’s easy to second-guess some of the play-calling when things don’t go right and even easier to forget how easy it is to praise everyone on the offense when things do. So, it’s worth remembering that when talking about some of the tougher moments of the night for the Kansas offense. The big concern, however, was the fact that too many of KU’s miscues came in moments when it seemingly would’ve been so much easier to just hand the rock to No. 4 and let him do what he does. Neal was great again on Saturday night, gaining 101 yards on the ground and averaging 7.2 yards per carry. You can’t help but walk away from this one wondering what the final score might’ve read if Neal finished with 20 or 25 carries. Even if you don’t want to put that kind of load on the senior tailback’s shoulders, Daniel Hishaw Jr., showed he was up for the challenge, too, carrying 7 times for 39 yards and a 5.6 yards-per-carry average.

• Another oops moment for Quentin Skinner – After fumbling in the opener and dropping another ball he should’ve caught along the sideline, Skinner suffered another mishap in this one when he fumbled the ball on a reverse attempt in the first half. He easily recovered the ball and kept the gaffe from being a total disaster. But it’s been a bit of a shaky start for the veteran wideout in terms of ball security. He did make a couple of positive plays in the passing game, catching three balls for 42 yards in the loss, so it may just be a matter of him finding his footing much in the same way that Daniels is in search of his.

WHAT THE?

• Muffed punt by Illinois favors Illinois? – One of the toughest breaks in Saturday’s loss came when the Jayhawks punted the ball away with a 3-point lead and watched the Illini muff the reception deep in their own end. As the ball rolled backwards toward the goal line, with players from both teams giving chase, an Illinois player fell on it in the end zone, saving the day for the Illini. Instead of being Illinois’ ball inside their own 5 or 10-yard line, the recovery in the end zone led to a touchback, giving the home team the ball in a spot even better than where the punt was muffed in the first place. What’s more, had the ball bounced just a foot or two to the left instead of the way it did, the Jayhawks would’ve recovered and quickly gone up by 10 in the second half with all the momentum in the world on their side. It’s not a stretch to say that would’ve sealed the game for Kansas. But it was not to be and Illinois got both the lead and the game back into the type of contest they were more comfortable playing, grinding things out on the ground while milking the clock with the lead.

— For tickets to all KU athletic events, visit kuathletics.com