Greg McElroy: Kansas should not be slept on as a College Football Playoff contender

It wasn’t too long ago when Kansas had a dozen-year streak of three victories or less, including a pair of winless campaigns. However, in 2024, they’ve now become a program that Greg McElroy thinks has a shot at making the College Football Playoff.

McElroy could hardly believe it himself while putting the Big 12 into tiers during a recent episode of ‘Always College Football’. Still, with their turnaround over the past three years, the team’s fourth under Lance Leipold could now end up being his best so far.

“You’re going to scratch your head. You’re going to scratch your head when I tell you this one. I kind of scratched my own head when saying this out loud as well given where this program was just a few years ago – the Kansas Jayhawks are College Football Playoff contenders this year,” stated McElroy. “If you don’t believe me, look at the odds in the Big 12 to win the conference. Kansas is hovering right there at third or fourth. There’s a reason why Vegas believes. It’s because you look at what Lance Leipold has done in the first three years. There’s reason to believe this could be his best group.”

Much of that has to do with what the Jayhawks have been doing offensively. They’ve now had two straight units that finished in the Top-25 nationally at 35.2 ppg. overall. They did have to change offensive coordinators to Jeff Grimes but they still return seven starters from a year ago, including two the best players in the country at their respective positions.

“Now, offensively, they have a chance to be electric. They’ve done a great job on the recruiting trail. If you look at some of the guys that they’ve brought in? These are guys that would not answer the phone from Kansas just a few years ago,” said McElroy. “Here’s part of the problem – they lost Andy Kotelnicki, their offensive coordinator. He goes to Penn State. The good news is, even though you don’t have the offensive staff continuity, you do have Jalon Daniels who, last year, would have been in contention just not as top-tier quarterbacks in the Preseason Big 12 rankings but is a kind of dark horse for the Heisman. This guy is electric, man. The problem is he got hurt after three games and we didn’t see any more of him.”

“They have an incredible backfield tandem though with Jalon Daniels and Devin Neal. Devin Neal has a chance to become one of the best players in the history of Kansas Football, might ultimately be the program’s all-time leading rusher,” McElroy continued. “The receiver trio? All back. The offensive line should be solid.”

With the offense being that good, the question then becomes about the defense. They do return six starters there but lost three of their top-four tacklers. Kansas has been much improved on that end by 15.7 points from 2021 to 2023. They’re just going to have to prove it again, specifically on the interior, to reach what McElroy is talking about here.

“Defense is elite in the secondary in some ways – really, really good. The problem is they lost a bunch of guys up front defensively. That is not an easy place to recruit because everybody wants a portal guy to come in and play at defensive line,” said McElroy. “Going to have to establish themselves in the front seven where they had a ton of turnover. But the backend should be able to keep them in a lot of games because they have some elite players there at corner and at safety.”

“It’s just will they be good enough in the front seven defensively in a league that I imagine gets a little more ground-and-pound.”

Kansas will also have to overcome playing in more than one venue over east in Kansas City rather than in Lawrence. Even so, McElroy thinks they have a decent schedule besides that.

“The setup, I think, is pretty good,” said McElroy. “Now, remember, they play all their home games in Kansas City this year for the most part. They have renovations going on in their home stadium so they’re at Arrowhead, at other places around Kansas City. It’s not like every single game is going to be in the friendly confines of the home field. But I look at their schedule and I think it sets up okay for them.”

“I think the schedule is manageable for Kansas,” McElroy said. “If you look at last year’s performances? Man, they were in the mix in a lot of good games.”

Going from zero wins to being a playoff team over five seasons in the 2020s would be an unbelievable achievement. That is on the table for Kansas, though, with how McElroy views their upcoming season.

“This team has a chance to be very, very solid,” said McElroy.