A week after facing West Virginia’s dynamic offense, TCU football’s defense is expecting another test when the Horned Frogs host Kansas at Amon G. Carter Stadium at 2:30 p.m. Saturday on FS1.
Ranked the top-scoring defense in the Big 12 and sixth nationally, the Horned Frogs (3-4, 1-3) are coming off another strong performance despite the 24-20 loss to the Mountaineers.
TCU held West Virginia to its lowest scoring output of the season and just 265 total yards, well below the Mountaineers’ season average of 468.1. As they have all season, the defense did more than enough to give TCU an opportunity to win the game before it was undermined by a three- turnover performance by the offense.
But as the unit prepares for the Jayhawks (3-4, 1-3) they’re not pointing fingers at the offense. They’re focusing more on cleaning up their own mistakes.
“(West Virginia) played 58 plays and in 51 of them they had a little over 100 yards. That’s pretty remarkable,” defensive coordinator Andy Avalos said Wednesday. “It really comes down to like every game, those seven plays. We’ve got to eliminate those penalties and that’s what we’re here to do this week. Work on it and apply it to the new challenge this week.”
The Jayhawks aren’t quite as dynamic as West Virginia, but there are similarities with the personnel and the objective of the offense.
Like Michael Hawkins Jr., sophomore Kansas quarterback Isaiah Marshall is a player who can make an impact on the game with his arms and legs. He’s thrown for 1,506 yards, rushed for 403 and accounted for 13 total touchdowns in his first season as a starter.
Kansas State transfer running back Dylan Edwards, who also helped Colorado upset TCU in 2023, leads the rushing attack with 531 yards while averaging 5.1 yards per carry. The pairing isn’t quite as explosive as Hawkins and Cam Cook were for West Virginia, but both players can change the trajectories of games with their speed.
Similar to the Mountaineers, Kansas designs much of its passing game off a play action and its go-to receiver. Buffalo transfer receiver Nik McMillan leads the Jayhawks with 466 yards and five touchdowns. The Jayhawks don’t have another receiver with more than 260 yards.
McMillan ranks in the top 25 nationally in yards per reception at 18.6.
“I like their team,” TCU head coach Sonny Dykes said Tuesday. “Their quarterback is athletic, I think the running back is one of the better running backs in the league. They’ve got really good skill at wide receiver. I think they’re solid up front on the offensive line.
“They’re an explosive offensive team, they’re going to show you a lot of different looks to try and confuse you a little bit and create really good matchups. They do a great job scheming the run game, then the quarterback can make plays.”
Despite losing star quarterback Jalon Daniels to the NFL, the Jayhawks are on pace to average the most points since 2023 due in large part to the return of offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki.
Kotelnicki served as offensive coordinator for the Jayhawks from 2021-23, producing two of the program’s best offensive seasons in 2022 and 2023 before spending two years at Penn State.
Kotelnicki’s offenses thrive on using misdirection and different motions to throw off alignments and create wide-open throwing lanes for his quarterbacks. TCU got a taste of Kotelnicki’s offense in 2022 when the Jayhawks pushed TCU to the brink in the Horned Frogs’ 38-31 win in Lawrence.
Kansas will test the communication and eye discipline of TCU on Saturday.
“You’ve got a great O-line, a good backfield, their capabilities of being explosive are multiple,” Avalos said. “It’s the play action that comes off the plus-one run game whether it’s to the tight ends or the wide receivers. The thing we have to do a good job of is making sure that we are with our communication. Keep things simple, see our keys, attack those keys and play fast.
“They’re certainly going to give teams a lot of formations, and then you have to deal with the speed of their offense.”
While Kansas has talent, the matchup should favor TCU as the Jayhawks are averaging just 22.2 points per game against Power Four conference opponents.
Keeping the Jayhawks under 20 points is a doable task, but with the way TCU’s offense has performed, keeping Kansas under 17 points might be needed for the Horned Frogs to avoid another defeat.