The Kansas football team dropped its fourth straight game on Saturday, falling 38-27 to TCU at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri.
The loss dropped the Jayhawks to 1-4 overall and 0-2 in Big 12 play and while it featured a defense that gave up 500 yards of offense to the Horned Frogs and the KU offense failing to fully capitalize on the turnovers the KU D created, there were a handful of players who stood out even with the disappointing outcome.
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 Luke Grimm – It’s been a terrific first five games of the season for Grimm, who leads the Jayhawks in catches (30), receiving yards (317), receiving touchdowns (4) and with his leadership and by-example approach to each game. Grimm got this one started with a highlight catch along the sideline in the end zone to give KU a 7-0 lead. At the time, it looked like it might be a great day for the KU offense, which marched down the field for the easy touchdown. The offense eventually stalled at key moments, but Grimm was there throughout, finishing with 85 yards on 6 catches with 7 targets. The three other KU receivers who caught balls on Saturday combined to not even match those marks, catching 6 balls for 56 yards on more than twice as many targets. Grimm worked his butt off in the offseason to be ready for a monster senior season and he’s done his part to deliver so far.
A full bowl
• Senior running backs Devin Neal & junior running back Daniel Hishaw Jr. – The two were monsters yet again, combining for 155 yards on 27 carries, with a touchdown apiece. The question now is how much more KU can lean on these two to try to find a way to get this offense going. They’ve been out there a little together, but you have to wonder if the KU coaching staff is thinking about putting them out there together a whole lot more just to make it hard on the defense and get the Jayhawks’ best/most productive/most efficient players on the field as much as possible.
• Senior linebacker Taiwan Berryhill Jr. – The fifth-year senior not only finished tied for second on the team with 7 tackles on Saturday (6 solo and 1 for loss), but he also did it on next to no sleep and after a crazy travel day just to get back to KC for the game after attending his mom’s wedding on Friday night in New Orleans. Pretty good numbers considering that, all while playing the middle linebacker spot for the injured Cornell Wheeler. If you haven’t read about Berryhill’s travel day yet, be sure to check it out.
Nighttime snack
• Senior kicker Tabor Allen — You can say all you want about the decision to kick the field goal down four in the fourth quarter — we don’t really think it was that bad of a decision — but you can’t question the job KU’s kicker did of executing. And it wasn’t a gimme either. Allen knocked it through from 41 yards to cut TCU’s lead to one (28-27) with 12:07 to play. Plenty of time for the defense to get a stop or two and plenty of time for the KU offense to move into field goal range for a potential game winner if the defense could get the stops. It didn’t happen, of course, but Allen did his job. He’s made the KU coaching staff look pretty good for handing him the place kicking duties after a preseason camp battle. Allen is now 5-for-5 on the season, with 2 of the 5 makes coming from the 40- to 49-yard range.
• D-Lineman Dylan Wudke – His line won’t impress you — 1 tackle (solo) and 1 tackle for loss on the day — but his play and potential big moments should. The transfer played big in big moments on Saturday, recovering a fumble early on and later knocking the ball out of TCU QB Josh Hoover’s hand for what appeared to be another KU takeaway. The play was overturned by replay, but that didn’t change the effort that was involved in making it happen and nearly creating a big moment for his team. Wudke’s tackle-for-loss late was also in an important moment. He’ll play more and more as the year moves along. No doubt about it.
Drink the milk
• Senior cornerback Cobee Bryant – Teams aren’t really attacking Bryant these days. And while that limits his opportunities for interceptions, he’s finding ways to make plays elsewhere. He created a fumble that Wudke recovered on the first TCU drive of the game and added a pass break-up, a tackle for loss and a team-high 10 tackles in this one. It’s hard to give too much credit to the KU defense after this one, but Bryant wasn’t too bad.
— For tickets to all KU athletic events, visit kuathletics.com
