Jalon Daniels on big numbers, turnover against Cincinnati

Kansas quarterback Jalon Daniels delivered one of the most productive games of his career on Saturday night, throwing for 445 yards and four touchdowns. But despite the big numbers through the air, a turnover near the goal line was the focus of the post-game press conference. In the end Cincinnati came back for a 37-34 win.

Daniels didn’t sugarcoat the sting of the loss when asked afterward.

“It hurts, you know, especially when you feel that you didn’t do enough to be able to put your team in the best position to win games,” Daniels said. “That’s not it.”

One of the pivotal moments came when Daniels fumbled at the one-yard line on a goal-to-go play. He was frustrated looking back on turning the ball over at that stage of the game.

“Fumble just can’t happen in those situations,” he admitted. “That’s a situation where if you score, you put your team in a good position to be able to win the game. And you fumble in less than the five-yard line, you can’t have plays like that.”

The offense had a chance with under 30 seconds left to try and get field goal range and Daniels said he did what he could to wipe that play from his mind.

 “At the end of the day, we’re still down,” Daniels said. “You still gotta be able to do what you can to be able to win the game. You can’t let one mistake make you shy away from being able to make more plays.”

The game ultimately came down to red-zone execution. Kansas settled for field goals on multiple trips instead of finishing drives with touchdowns. Daniels acknowledged in these close games you have to get in the end zone.

“At the end of the day, if you get points in the red zone, you’re always doing good to make sure you’re staying in the football game,” he said.

For Daniels, the contest was similar of other one-score battles the Jayhawks have fought in recent seasons. KU is 1-6 in one score games under Leipold. While the result didn’t go their way, he took pride in how his teammates responded through adversity.

“I have to give hats off to my entire team because at the end of the day, we stay resilient,” Daniels said. “No matter when we’re down, no matter when we’re up, we continued to fight every single play. Yeah, it sucks to lose, but I have no doubt in my head this team is going to stay resilient.”

The loss marked Kansas’ first setback in Big 12 play this season. With two consecutive road trips coming, Daniels emphasized the importance of resetting quickly and preparing for what lies ahead.

“We’re gonna go in, look at everything that happened on film and be able to grow from there,” he said. “But at the end of the day, we believe in having a 1-0 mentality. Once these 24 hours are over, this game is gone and now we’re on to UCF.”

Daniels 445 yards were the second-best game of his Kansas career and fitfh-highest in school history.