The Jayhawks are unable to finish another game and will have to wait a long time before they have the next chance to do so

AP Photo/Charlie Riedel

Kansas wide receiver Luke Grimm (11) gets past Kansas State cornerback Keenan Garber and scores a touchdown during the first half of an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024, in Manhattan, Kansas.

Manhattan – Kansas wide receiver Luke Grimm has been in the program long enough – he saw a 55-14 loss to Kansas State in his first year – to understand what a win in the Sunflower Showdown could have done for the Jayhawks.

He and his teammates were each just a good drive away from experiencing one for the first time on Saturday evening.

After all the chaos and confusion of the first three quarters at Bill Snyder Family Stadium, KU had the ball and the lead with 3:54 left – then the ball and the chance to score a game-winning field goal with two timeouts and a pleasant time of 1:42.

“You're right there and you can taste it and it's a different feeling than a normal win,” Grimm said. “We’re in their spot, they’re 16th, that would be huge for us and just tear them apart.”

“And to be that close and not be able to finish and execute what we need to do is just not in good taste.”

Head coach Lance Leipold has often spoken about not wanting to put all his eggs in one basket – that is, if he were to place too much importance on a single game, “if there's more to come, I just don't know if that's the case.” How to approach it,” he said before the K-State game.

And now that the emotional 29-27 loss has devolved into such a way that the Jayhawks once again failed to get the deal done, Grimm, Leipold and the rest of the locker room are being asked to move on quickly and completely if they want to prove that point they can be a successful team.

“There are always moments where we wish we could come back,” defensive tackle Caleb Taylor said after the game, “and the sad part is we can’t.”

However, they will have to put the result behind them without preparing for a game as they enter a second bye week just a few weeks after the first.

“We will be excited to face our next opponent, whether we play them this week, next week or whenever,” Taylor said.

But for Grimm — who referenced similar comments he made after KU's first bye week, which the Jayhawks celebrated with a win over Houston — the longer they wait for their next game, the longer it will take Riding the world of what he said believes the team's perception is wrong.

“None of us would say in the last five minutes of the game that this is Kansas football,” Grimm said. “College football and all of the media have 14 days in which they think this is how they view Kansas football. And we know that's not the case. And that’s why it bothers us, like I said, that we can’t go out in seven days and prove it wrong.”

Grimm explained what he thinks Kansas football can be and what he thinks it will be after the bye week: a team that finishes games, something the Jayhawks have failed to do six times this year, including five, in which they took fourth place.

“However we have to do it, we will do it,” Grimm said. “We're going to scratch, claw, bite, chew, whatever it is, we're going to finish plays.” Like this game: You can make a play, we're going to make a play that's just as big, if not bigger bigger, and that’s what we want to be, and that’s what we’re going to be.”

It's not what they used to be. As head coach Lance Leipold put it, “We're a 2-6 football team right now and that's not very good, but this team still has a lot of talent and played hard and came up short.”

A miraculous run to a bowl game at this point would require knocking out two currently undefeated players in KU's next two games.

For quarterback Jalon Daniels, closing games requires continued focus on “the little things, the little plays that we’re missing.”

“I've said it before when we lose close games: We're used to being able to make decisions in close games, making those plays when we need to, and today we didn't get it done,” he said.

“For anyone who was in there and took it too personally, you can let it hurt for one night and then wash it all off tomorrow and we have games coming up,” Grimm added. “We have people and teams that we need to prepare for. The biggest thing for us is that we definitely have to stay positive and when things are bad, it's okay to be depressed for a while, but as soon as the next day comes you have to put it out of the world.”

AP Photo/Charlie Riedel

Kansas quarterback Jalon Daniels (6) fumbles the ball after being hit by Kansas State linebacker Austin Romaine (45) during the second half of an NCAA college football game on Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024, in Manhattan, Kansas. was attacked. Kansas State won 29-27.

AP Photo/Charlie Riedel

Kansas State head coach Chris Klieman speaks with Kansas quarterback Jalon Daniels (6) after their NCAA college football game on Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024, in Manhattan, Kansas. Kansas State won 29-27.

AP Photo/Charlie Riedel

Kansas head coach Lance Leipold speaks with an official during the first half of an NCAA college football game against Kansas State on Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024, in Manhattan, Kan.

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Written by Henry Greenstein

Henry is a sports editor at the Lawrence Journal-World and KUsports.com and serves as a KU beat writer while managing daily sports coverage. He previously worked as a sports reporter at The Bakersfield Californian and is a graduate of Washington University in St. Louis (BA, Linguistics) and Arizona State University (MA, Sports Journalism). Despite being from Los Angeles, he's often been told that he doesn't give off “California vibes,” whatever that means.

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