Kansas Football: Jayhawks Stalls UCF Offense to Win 27-20

In what was a far closer contest than anyone could have anticipated, the Kansas Jayhawks defeated the UCF Knights on the road in Week 6 of the college football season, 27-20. The Jayhawks defense held firm, while the offense did what they needed to win. With that in mind, let’s dive into this Kansas vs. UCF 2025 game recap.

Kansas vs. UCF 2025 Game Recap

The Kansas Jayhawks defense is the main reason they entered this week’s college football game with a 3-2 record, rather than a 4-1 or even 5-0 record. In the loss to Missouri, they gave up 595 yards and 42 points. In the loss to Cincinnati last week, they gave up 603 yards and 37 points. During the first half of the game against UCF, it was looking like more of the same from that side of the ball.

The Knights had four first-half possessions. They gained 248 yards and scored 20 points on those possessions. The offense was able to keep them in the game, however, trailing by just six at halftime. In the second half, the defense played arguably the best it has all season when it was needed the most.

Defense Blanks UCF in Second Half

There were only three drives in the first half that didn’t result in points, and one of those was a kneel down by the Jayhawks to end the half. In the second half, there were 11 possessions that ended without points. Seven of them were by UCF, and one was another Kansas kneel down to end the game. The Knights didn’t score a single point in the second half, which allowed the Jayhawks to earn a come from behind win.

The Kansas defense had a mix of dominant play and nail-biting “bend but don’t break: drives. In the third quarter, the Knights had four drives that resulted in four yards and four three-and-outs. In that time, the Jayhawks put 13 points on the board to give Kansas a seven point lead going into the fourth quarter. That’s where things got a little dicey.

It was the Jayhawks’ turn to have the short drives, with their first three of the quarter resulting in three-and-outs. The Knights, on the other hand, had drives of seven, eight, and 14 plays. Thanks to the Kansas defense, none of those resulted in points. Their best chance at scoring started about midway through the quarter. They got the ball with 7:28 remaining and drove all the way down to the Jayhawk one-yard line. UCF had three shots to pick up a single yard, but the Kansas defense wouldn’t allow it to happen, forcing a turnover on downs with just 1:47 to play.

With no room to work with, the Jayhawks ran the ball three times, forcing the Knights to use all of their timeouts but taking just 16 seconds off the clock. UCF got the ball back at midfield, needing to find the endzone to extend the game. They got it down to the Kansas 22-yard line, but that’s as close as they would get. Four straight incompletions gave the ball back to the Jayhawks, and the game was over after a Jalon Daniels kneel down. It may not have been the best 60-minute performance by the defense, but they came through big time on back-to-back drives to seal the win.

Offense Finds Balance

It certainly wasn’t the most dominant the Kansas offense has looked this season. In fact, it was their worst statistical game so far on that side of the ball. However, what they did do well was spread the ball around and show some effectiveness in multiple aspects of the offense.

Quarterback Jalon Daniels completed nearly 70-percent of his passes and totaled 260 yards. Leshon Williams averaged nearly five yards per carry and found the endzone three times. Six different players had multiple receptions, with Cam Pickett and Emmanuel Henderson both collecting five. Laith Marjan continued his perfect season, making both of his field goals and all three extra points. The entire unit also had just 20 penalty yards. When you have a handful of players that can threaten a defense, it makes life much easier for everyone because the defense can’t focus on just one or two players. The Jayhawks have now shown on numerous occasions that they are able to exploit just about any aspect of a defense if they find a weakness.

Next Up: Texas Tech

The Red Raiders will likely be one of the biggest tests of the season for the Jayhawks. They come into this game 5-0 and ranked inside the top-10 of the latest AP Poll. Their closest game so far is a 24-point road win over then-16th ranked Utah. Behren Morton leads the Tech offense, passing for 282 yards per game. Keep in mind that he has sat out 5.5 quarters after they pulled their starters in three of their wins. In other words, that number would be a good bit higher if he had played five full games instead of essentially missing a full game and a half of playing time.

This will be a massive test for the Jayhawks, especially on the road. A win would be a huge boost for the entire program and would move them even closer to the top of the Big 12 standings.