Even though they came during the Jayhawks’ fifth consecutive loss, there were a couple of solid performances on the offensive side of the ball during the Jayhawks’ 35-31 loss at Arizona State on Saturday night.
And even though it was largely another rough outing for the KU defense, there were a couple of notable players on that side of the ball, as well.
All of that and more will be pinpointed in this week’s Monday Morning Wheaties.
You’ve seen the tomahawks on the back of the Florida State helmets, the buckeye tree leaves on the Ohio State helmets and the paw prints on the back of the Clemson helmets.
Each Monday, we take one last look back at the week that was and hand out different amounts of the iconic breakfast cereal to the Jayhawks’ top performers.
So, be sure to come get your Monday Morning Wheaties and feel free to hit up the comments section — subscribers only for now — with any players you feel we might’ve missed.
Picture on the box
• Wide receiver Quentin Skinner – It came in a losing effort, but it was still important all the same. After struggling to find a way to get going for much of the season — 105 yards on just 8 catches through the season’s first 5 games — Skinner went for 130 yards and 2 touchdowns on 6 grabs, looking a lot more like the player we know him to be. He stretched the field, helped make explosive plays and laid out for a beauty of a touchdown grab late in the game to give Kansas a lead. It didn’t deliver a much-needed victory, but him turning the corner might bring one soon.
A full bowl
• Quarterback Jalon Daniels – It’s not hard to see that this was by far Daniels’ best game of the season. He completed 18 of 31 passes for 260 yards and 2 TDs while running in another. More importantly, he did not throw an interception and led a KU offense that put up 31 points. Should’ve been enough to win. But it wasn’t. Back to the drawing board during the bye week, but this time with a little more confidence in the QB and one of his top receivers.
• Defensive end Dean Miller – The young D-End who many hoped would have a breakout season hasn’t quite broken out yet. But he was solid in the tackles-for-loss department in this one, picking up two big ones among his four total tackles.
• Running backs Devin Neal & Daniel Hishaw – You know the reason why by now. Even though they weren’t dominant, both were rock solid — Hishaw carrying 10 times for 48 yards and Neal adding 71 yards and a touchdown on 14 carries — in averaging 5 yards a pop combined. It was great to see them out there together a little more often, too.
Nighttime snack
• Safety Devin Dye – Right place right time for one of the Dye brothers, who hauled in his first interception of the season on a deflected pass near the end zone. Dye hasn't carved out a huge role with his new team, but he's been out there enough and it's good to see him find a way to make plays when he is.
• Cornerback Mello Dotson – Five tackles (4 solo), a pass breakup and a forced fumble were the significant stats for Dotson, who continues to find a way to make plays even when he’s not batting 1.000 in the coverage department. Through six games, Dotson is this team’s second-leading tackler (one behind linebacker JB Brown) and he also leads the team in interceptions, with three. The Jayhawks need him to tighten up his coverage and become the lockdown guy he was last season. But as long as he’s making plays in some manner, he’ll remain an important part of this defense.
Drink the milk
• Safety OJ Burroughs – The veteran safety led the Jayhawks with 11 tackles and played a physical brand of football all night. The only issue with Burroughs’ was the fact that he was in coverage on the game-winning TD pass and did not even stay close enough to the ASU wide receiver to pull him down with a pass interference penalty to prevent the touchdown.
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