Kansas Football: Jayhawks Lose Shootout to Cincinnati, 37-34

The Kansas Jayhawks were virtually unstoppable on the offensive side of the ball in their Week 5 college football matchup against the Cincinnati Bearcats. The offense put up 34 points with 597 yards. They had just four drives that didn’t end in points. Yet unfortunately, the defense struggled just a little more than the offense thrived. And that cost them a loss against the Bearcats, losing 37-34.

Kansas Football: Jayhawks vs. Cincinnati Bearcats 2025 Game Recap

Jalon Daniels found Levi Wentz in the back of the endzone with 1:45 left in the game, giving Kansas its first lead since the score was 7-0. Cincinnati needed a touchdown, and they got just that. Brendan Sorsby led a surgical drive, going 75 yards on 10 plays in just over a minute (1:16). The Jayhawks couldn’t get anything going on the final drive, and their last-ditch laterals fell short.

Jalon Daniels’ Video Game Numbers Not Enough

If you had said prior to the game that Jalon Daniels would have 500 total yards and four touchdowns, everyone would have guessed the Jayhawks would win by double digits. And, maybe, even consider the game may have been a blowout like last week. If you had told me the offense would have 16 plays of 15-plus yards, many would have guessed that Cincinnati wouldn’t have been able to keep up. Yet while both of those things happened for Kansas’ offense, the results did not.

Daniels completed 68-percent of his passes, averaged 16 yards per attempt, and added 55 yards on the ground. All of those are significantly higher than his career averages in those categories. It wasn’t enough, in part due to one crucial mistake.

Trailing by a field goal just a few minutes into the fourth quarter, the Jayhawks had first and goal from the seven-yard line. Daniels took a keeper down to the one-yard line, but was stripped as he was going to the ground. The Bearcats recovered and the turnover completely shifted the momentum.

The Jayhawks would get a stop and score on their next possession. However, the four-point lead could have been 11 or, at worst, seven with a field goal instead of a turnover. Still, Daniels was the reason the Jayhawks were in the position they were. He just needed to make one more play.

Defense Struggles Mightily

The Jayhawk defense was coming off a dominant performance last week against West Virginia. After allowing just 10 points to the Mountaineers, they laid a complete egg against Cincinnati. They only forced three punts and yielded little resistance nearly the entire game.

The Bearcats tallied 603 total yards and were effective through the air and on the ground. As expected, quarterback Brendan Sorsby was a huge dual threat, collecting 388 passing yards (with two touchdowns) and 52 rushing yards. Their two running backs combined for 163 yards and the trio averaged over six yards per carry, if you exclude sack yardage. Their two leading receivers totaled 219 yards and a pair of scores, while five other players had at least 20 yards.

Even when they had a chance to get off the field, they didn’t more often than not. Cincinnati was 7-16 on third down and 3-3 on fourth down, meaning the defense gave up a first down 63-percent of the time a set of downs got to at least third down. Even with all of those struggles, they had a chance to win the game.

On the game winning drive, Sorsby threw a pass as he was being hit. The ball floated into the air, bounced off the hands of a Jayhawk defender, and fell harmlessly to the ground about a foot away from a different defender. The Bearcats took advantage of their game-changing opportunity on defense. The Jayhawks didn’t.

Next Up: UCF

The UCF Knight are coming off a loss of their own, to Jayhawks’ in-state rival Kansas State. After starting the season 3-0, UCF dropped their Big 12 opener to the Wildcats 34-20. They’re a tough team to predict this early in the season. They only beat Jacksonville State by seven, but also beat North Carolina by 25.

UCF also have a myriad of offensive contributors. Three different players have at least 100 rushing yards, while four different players have at least 100 receiving yards. However, the biggest thing to look out for may just be the injury report. The Knights starting quarterback, Tayven Jackson, left the game and returned to the sideline with his arm in a sling, but later came back in and finished the game.

Either way, the Jayhawks will look to bounce-back and stay above .500 on the season.