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  • No. 13 Utah looking for better run defense at Kansas

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    (Photo credit: Rob Gray-Imagn Images)

    Utah’s path to the College Football Playoff narrowed on Tuesday night when the Utes dropped from 12th to 13th after rallying last week for a 51-47 home win over Kansas State.

    To earn a spot in the Big 12 Conference title game and a potential berth in the CFP, Utah will have to win Friday at Kansas and then get help from three other Big 12 teams.

    Even if the Utes (9-2, 6-2) take care of business in Lawrence against the Jayhawks (5-6, 3-5), they’ll require an Arizona victory at No. 20 Arizona State on Friday night, a West Virginia upset of No. 5 Texas Tech on Saturday in Morgantown, and a UCF stunner at No. 11 BYU that same day.

    Those are some long odds but at least Utah still has a chance, thanks to Devon Dampier’s 1-yard touchdown run with 56 seconds left last week that salvaged a win on a day when it allowed a whopping 472 rushing yards.

    ‘There’s no real easy explanation to it,’ Utes coach Kyle Whittingham said about his defense’s poor performance. ‘We just did not play the run game in any way, shape or form with any consistency. It just wasn’t good. Everything we could do wrong, we did.’

    Fortunately for Utah, its offense picked up the defense by amassing 32 first downs and 551 total yards. Dampier passed for 259 yards and ran for 94 to continue another banner season. He has thrown for 1,927 yards and rushed for 637 while accounting for 26 touchdowns (19 passing).

    His performance has helped the Utes go from being one of the weakest attacks in FBS to one of strongest. They rank in the top 10 nationally in four categories — points per game (42.0), yards per game (484.5), rushing (279.6) and third-down conversions (53.1).

    ‘Outstanding,’ Whittingham said of Dampier’s latest effort. ‘Settled in and really played an excellent game.’

    While Utah tries to maintain its slim chances of a CFP berth, Kansas needs the win to become bowl-eligible. The Jayhawks missed on a chance to do that last week with a 38-14 loss at Iowa State.

    Kansas trimmed a 17-0 halftime deficit to get within 24-14 but wasn’t able to get a stop when it really needed one, which has been an issue most of the season. Its defense has allowed at least 37 points in five of the six losses.

    Jayhawks coach Lance Leipold is stressing the need for his players not to try to do too much with bowl hopes on the line.

    ‘It really goes for everyone in the building,’ he said when asked if he had to deliver that message to specific players. ‘As coaches, that’s our responsibility to help our players. There’s times when a guy tries to go make a play that’s out of his responsibility. We want to make sure we play our best football.’

    Kansas will need a big game from quarterback Jalon Daniels, who has thrown for 2,344 yards and 21 touchdowns with just four interceptions. The absence of Utes pass rusher John Henry Daley, whose 11 1/2 sacks are tied for second in FBS, should help Daniels. Daley is out for the season with a leg injury.

    The teams are tied at 2-2 in their all-time series but this is their first meeting since 1996.

    –Field Level Media

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  • Jalon Daniels, Kansas try to solve UCF’s pass defense

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    (Photo credit: Evert Nelson/The Capital-Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)

    Most coaches will tell their teams something along the lines of, ‘Don’t let one opponent beat you twice,’ meaning the players should learn from the mistakes in a loss but not dwell on them to the point where they aren’t focused on the next opponent.

    Both Kansas and UCF have a chance to put that into effect on Saturday as the Jayhawks travel to Orlando.

    Kansas (3-2, 1-1 Big 12) let a late lead slip away against Cincinnati last week, watching the visiting Bearcats score with 29 seconds left to emerge with a 37-34 victory. What made it worse was that the Jayhawks grabbed the lead with 1:45 left in the fourth quarter.

    ‘Misalignments and missed assignments, really from the outset,’ coach Lance Leipold said Monday about the Jayhawks’ defensive shortcomings against Cincinnati. ‘We need to get better. I think we got tentative and got soft in some areas. We all have to own that, from the head coach on down.

    ‘(UCF coach) Scott Frost has an excellent offensive mind. He’s had some successful offenses at UCF in the past. It will be a huge challenge.’

    The Jayhawks will be trying to build on another outstanding effort from quarterback Jalon Daniels, who went 19 of 28 for 445 yards and four touchdowns vs. the Bearcats.

    Kansas has five receivers with at least 10 catches apiece this season, while running backs Leshon Williams (245 rushing yards) and Daniel Hishaw Jr. (178 rushing yards) are sharing the ground game with Daniels (214 rushing yards).

    ‘We felt we had the potential to be explosive,’ Leipold said, ‘but the thing I’m most pleased with is the amount of guys who have been contributing.’

    UCF (3-1, 0-1) took its first loss of the season on the road last week at Kansas State, falling 34-20.

    ‘We have a lot of room to get better,’ Frost said Monday. ‘And we have to keep doing it, because the games are going to get more challenging.

    ‘We have a team that can play, hopefully, with anyone on our schedule, but we have to execute well. We’ve got to have a good week of practice to make that happen.’

    UCF leads the Big 12 in pass defense (129.8 yards per game allowed) and is ranked in the upper half of the conference in scoring defense and total defense. Kansas is in the bottom half in all major defensive categories.

    Both the Jayhawks and the Knights rate among the top half of the Big 12 in scoring offense, total offense, passing offense and rushing offense.

    –Field Level Media

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