It was another one of those classic 2024 Kansas football nights on Saturday in Manhattan, where the Jayhawks played well enough to win but found a way to lose, 29-27 to rival K-State.
Despite the outcome, KU (2-6 overall, 1-4 Big 12) controlled several aspects of the game and had the Wildcats down one with 2 minutes to go. You don’t do that, against a team like K-State, without having some pretty good efforts from your guys.
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
• Senior wide receiver Trevor Wilson – KU coach Lance Leipold said after the game that Saturday night’s effort was probably Wilson’s best game as a Jayhawk. And it wasn’t just the numbers that dictated that. Wilson came up with a bunch of big catches on his 6 targets — 5 to be exact — and was constantly in the exact spot that KU QB Jalon Daniels needed him to be in throughout the game. Not only did that bring the ball Wilson’s way, but it also led to him making some great grabs and becoming a key part of KU’s offense against the Wildcats. Even Daniels’ interception in the end zone was intended for Wilson, though he never had a shot at it because of the safety help over the top that Daniels said he saw. His experience, speed and toughness allowed him to show up big in a big game, and it should be interesting to see if Daniels looks his way more and more during the final four games of the season.
A full bowl
• Senior wide receiver Luke Grimm – Grimm’s touchdown reception was a thing of beauty — the throw, the catch and the dive to the pilon — and after a relatively quiet day in KU’s blowout of Houston last week, Grimm was back in the thick of everything KU did offensively in this one, finishing with 4 catches for 66 yards on 7 targets, including a long of 42 yards that set up a KU score. Add to that the fact that the senior from Raymore, Missouri picked his head up and talked openly and honestly with the media about the current state of this team after the loss and you’re looking at another classic Luke Grimm kind of night — all class and max effort, on the field and off of it.
• Senior D-Lineman Caleb Taylor – The veteran workhorse had a couple of huge tackles for loss and played a solid game in the trenches all night long. He even had a pass break-up on a batted ball, which we haven’t seen much of at the line of scrimmage this season. The Jayhawks did surrender 226 yards on the ground to the Wildcats on Saturday night, but when you consider that nearly half of that (112 yards) came on three carries, it paints a slightly more impressive picture of what the Jayhawks’ defense did in the run game on the other 32 K-State rush attempts.
• Senior running back Devin Neal – It wasn’t his best night statistically speaking — though he did manage to go over 100 total yards and found the end zone — but he still averaged around 5 yards a carry and did most of his work after getting dinged up early in the game. That’s just what kind of dude Devin Neal is, and you know his shoulder or arm or leg or head would have to fall off to keep him from playing his final game against the Wildcats. Neal finished with 66 yards on 13 carries, with an impressive 24-yard TD run which ended with him dragging a K-State D-back across the goal line with him. That leaves him 7 yards shy of the KU rushing record, which would’ve been cool for him to get but also would be cooler in a winning effort. So maybe now, in two weeks, Neal and the Jayhawks can find a way to beat Iowa State at Arrowhead when Neal gets the record.
• Junior running back Sevion Morrison – Handled the load when Neal was in the locker room and with Daniel Hishaw Jr. not suited up and did a more-than-admirable job, rushing for a 38-yard touchdown in the first quarter to give Kansas an early lead and quiet down Bill Snyder Family Stadium temporarily. He finished with just two other carries and 45 yards total, but that’s a big spot he stepped into and for him to deliver despite not getting many touches most of the season shows a lot about Morrison’s character and make-up.
Nighttime snack
• Senior linebacker Cornell Wheeler – Wheeler was all over the field again in this one, playing for just the second time in the past five weeks but doing so without limitation or worry about the injury that kept him out of two games. He looked faster and fresher this week than he did a week ago in the win over Houston and finished with 6 total tackles, 4 solo tackles and all kinds of moments of being in the right spot at the right time to either make the play or help clean it up.
• Junior linebacker Jayson Gilliom – Another dude who has spent some time on the injury list, Gilliom played one of his best games to date on Saturday, too, finishing with 5 tackles, 3 solo stops and a key pass break-up late in the game. Just his presence out there — along with Wheeler’s — helps allow the Jayhawks to feel a little more solid and steady in what they’re doing defensively. Gilliom doesn’t catch your eye on every play, but he’s a grinder and he’s usually in the right spot ready to make the play when it comes his way.
Drink the milk
• Junior QB Jalon Daniels – The fumble near midfield on 2nd-and-13 with KU looking to run out the clock will be what’s remembered, and that’s a shame because Daniels had a great night in a lot of ways. He ran for 66 yards, surviving an onslaught of K-State blitzes and successfully executing a well-called QB run game for much of the night. He also threw some absolute dimes in the passing game, hitting guys right where they needed it to catch it, even if that didn’t always work out. The arm strength was all the way back. The accuracy was damn good. And the way he ran the offense was impressive, too. The fumble made it all for nothing, though.
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