Kansas relies on run game in win over Oklahoma State
Kansas put the game out of reach with a 10-play drive spanning 39 yards and 6:31. Only three Jayhawks touched the ball during that drive. Bryce Foster snapped to Jalon Daniels, who handed the ball off to Leshon Williams. The Iowa transfer scored after 10 straight carries to give the Jayhawks a 38-14 lead in a game they ultimately won 38-21.
Williams’ 10 straight carries exemplified Kansas’ reliance on the run game, especially in the second half. The Jayhawks ran the ball 24 times in the second half, finishing with 39 total carries. After the game, Lance Leipold said he joked with Jim Zebrowski about not running the ball multiple times in a row in the first half.
“Early in the game, I got on Z a little bit because I never felt like we ran the ball twice in a row. I sarcastically said there’s no rule that says you can’t run it twice in a row,” Leipold said. “As we drove down for that one, that drive you’re talking to, he was like ‘I’m gonna try not to throw it now.’”
Kansas finished with 232 rushing yards, the most since its win over West Virginia. Williams led the team with 77 yards and a touchdown, while Daniel Hishaw added 65 yards and two touchdowns. The duo each had more than 10 carries for the first time in a game this season.
“We’re at the tail end of the season, so to be able to have a performance like that would just allow them to be able to keep on going about things the way that they’ve been going about it,” Daniels said. “And I think it’s just going to be able to show the consistency level that they have.”
The Jayhawks had seven rushing plays of 10 yards or more, but only four of them came from running backs. Daniels had a scramble of 13 yards, and Cam Pickett took a toss play for 16. Isaiah Marshall nearly broke a touchdown on a 43-yard designed run. Hishaw said having multiple threats in the run game opens things up for the running backs.
“I believe that, like if all aspects of your game where the receivers running outside sweeps or throwing the ball downfield and then we run the ball, get some yards, it just opens everything up,” Hishaw said. “So I appreciate everybody for getting them yards today.”
Kansas’ two-headed rushing attack of Hishaw and Williams showed its capability of breaking tackles against Oklahoma State. In Hishaw’s first touchdown run, he bounced off multiple tacklers on a three-yard score.
“I think we got strong headed dudes man, and we got heart,” Hishaw said. “I think a lot of that stuff has to do with your heart and your drive.”
