Led by senior working again Devin Neal‘s 287 whole yards and 4 touchdowns, unranked Kansas handed No. 16 Colorado its first loss since Oct. 12. on Saturday.
With the victory, the Jayhawks improved their report to 5-6 this season, and Saturday’s win was the varsity’s third in a row over a ranked opponent.
Kansas is now the primary staff in FBS historical past with a dropping report to get three straight victories in opposition to ranked faculties.
For a Jayhawks squad that obtained off to an abysmal 1-5 begin this yr, they’ve actually regarded extra just like the staff that entered the 2024 season ranked No. 22 within the AP Prime 25 preseason ballot throughout the previous couple of weeks.
Neal and Kansas did not waste any time on Saturday letting everybody know that Colorado was about to have its palms full.
On the Jayhawks’ opening offensive drive of the matchup, the senior working again caught a brief swing move and proceeded to show it right into a 51-yard landing to offer his staff an early 7-0 lead over the Buffaloes.
Then, after a nine-yard landing run by Neal on the staff’s third offensive drive of the competition, the Jayhawks discovered themselves main the No.16 faculty within the nation by a rating of 17-0.
The Buffaloes did handle to stage a comeback and reduce their deficit to only two factors within the third quarter. However after Kansas added 14 extra factors to its whole on the varsity’s subsequent two offensive drives to go up 37-21 within the fourth quarter, Colorado did not have sufficient left within the tank to maintain up.
With the loss, the Buffaloes’ report fell to 8-3, and any hope that they had of taking part in on this season’s 12-team School Soccer Playoff probably went out the window.
There’s nonetheless a path for Colorado to make the School Soccer Playoff, however the faculty is not answerable for its personal future.
To qualify for the Massive 12 title sport, the Buffaloes not solely have to defeat Oklahoma State subsequent Friday, however in addition they want quite a few different situations to play out in an effort to end as one of many prime two groups within the convention.
Something is feasible on the earth of faculty soccer, however a win over the Jayhawks on Saturday would have positively made Colorado’s future a lot simpler to foretell. As an alternative, the Buffaloes will take the sector subsequent week surrounded by uncertainty.
