Kansas Jayhawks Season Predictions

The Kansas Jayhawks are coming off a season in which they were projected as finishing 1st or 2nd in the North and completely underachieved.

The 2010 Jayhawks will be harder to project because of the new coaching staff and all the big offensive playmakers of the 2009 Jayhawks are gone: Todd Reesing, Jake Sharp, Kerry Meier, and Dezmon Briscoe.

2010 Schedule Predictions:

9/4 – North Dakota State – W
I’m confident that Turner Gill will win his opening game as head coach of the Kansas Jayhawks. NDSU may score a few touchdowns but these games are scheduled to be blowouts.
9/11 – Georgia Tech – L
Georgia Tech lost quite a bit of players from last season and they are coming to Memorial Stadium. Despite these obstacles, they should be able to beat KU but I think the Jayhawks will make it a close game.
9/17 – at Southern Miss – W
They did not look good at all against South Carolina on Thursday night. If KU can keep it close against Georgia Tech, they should have the confidence to beat Southern Miss on the road. Mangino was awful on the road, let’s see if KU can start off Gill on the right track away from home.
9/25 – New Mexico State – W
KU will have an extra day to prepare for New Mexico State and they should get the win against a weak WAC team at home. They were picked second to last in the preseason WAC poll.
10/2 – at Baylor – Toss up
I list this as a toss up because it is an away game. Baylor is not going to have a good season but they could certainly beat the Jayhawks at home. We’ll have a better idea of who KU is after NMSU and the Jayhawks could be favored.
10/14 – Kansas State – W
Rivalry game at home gives KU an edge.
10/23 – Texas A&M – L
A&M is KU’s second toughest conference opponent and I don’t expect the Jayhawks to pull this one off.
10/30 – at Iowa State – Toss up
Iowa State is Iowa State and KU has a chance to beat them, even if it is on the road. I’ll hold off until later this season to pick the winner of this game.
11/6 – Colorado – W
Against Colorado at home should be enough for the Jayhawks to get the win.
11/13 – at Nebraska – L
The Cornhuskers are picked to win the Big 12 and they’re playing at home, which is enough said. Nebraska may not rack up a lot of points on KU, but their defense will shutdown the young and inexperienced Jayhawks. Add in the fact that KU can’t win in Lincoln and Turner Gill will have a rough homecoming.
11/20 – Oklahoma State – Toss up
The Cowboys lost a lot of their core players that have done well the past three seasons. KU playing at home should give them the edge but it is late in the season and who knows where KU will be development and injury wise.
11/27 – Missouri – Toss up
The fourth installment of the Border Showdown at Arrowhead Stadium. As always, it will be an entertaining game. These are always too close to call.

So right now we’ve got 5 wins, three toss-ups and four losses. If they were to lose all the toss-ups, they will have the same record as last season. Of course, in college football, you have teams that win and lose games they shouldn’t. A lower-tier bowl game isn’t too crazy of a prediction

This season will be a positive step for Turner Gill as he takes over a program that was full of negativity from late October until December.