Most coaches will tell their teams something along the lines of, “Don’t let one opponent beat you twice,” meaning the players should learn from the mistakes in a loss but not dwell on them to the point where they aren’t focused on the next opponent.
Both Kansas and UCF have a chance to put that into effect on Saturday as the Jayhawks travel to Orlando.
Kansas (3-2, 1-1 Big 12) let a late lead slip away against Cincinnati last week, watching the visiting Bearcats score with 29 seconds left to emerge with a 37-34 victory. What made it worse was that the Jayhawks grabbed the lead with 1:45 left in the fourth quarter.
“Misalignments and missed assignments, really from the outset,” coach Lance Leipold said Monday about the Jayhawks’ defensive shortcomings against Cincinnati. “We need to get better. I think we got tentative and got soft in some areas. We all have to own that, from the head coach on down.
“(UCF coach) Scott Frost has an excellent offensive mind. He’s had some successful offenses at UCF in the past. It will be a huge challenge.”
The Jayhawks will be trying to build on another outstanding effort from quarterback Jalon Daniels, who went 19 of 28 for 445 yards and four touchdowns vs. the Bearcats.
Kansas has five receivers with at least 10 catches apiece this season, while running backs Leshon Williams (245 rushing yards) and Daniel Hishaw Jr. (178 rushing yards) are sharing the ground game with Daniels (214 rushing yards).
“We felt we had the potential to be explosive,” Leipold said, “but the thing I’m most pleased with is the amount of guys who have been contributing.”
UCF (3-1, 0-1) took its first loss of the season on the road last week at Kansas State, falling 34-20.
“We have a lot of room to get better,” Frost said Monday. “And we have to keep doing it, because the games are going to get more challenging.
“We have a team that can play, hopefully, with anyone on our schedule, but we have to execute well. We’ve got to have a good week of practice to make that happen.”
UCF leads the Big 12 in pass defense (129.8 yards per game allowed) and is ranked in the upper half of the conference in scoring defense and total defense. Kansas is in the bottom half in all major defensive categories.
Both the Jayhawks and the Knights rate among the top half of the Big 12 in scoring offense, total offense, passing offense and rushing offense.
