Sixteen seconds from a win, Kansas Jayhawks lose fifth straight game at Arizona State

Kansas defensive coordinator Brian Borland publicly stated his players still believe in themselves ahead of Saturday’s matchup against Arizona State, with the Jayhawks reeling from four straight losses.

“There’s nobody jumping off the ship here,” Borland said. “I think we’re a pretty motivated group and I feel confident that we’re going to play our best on Saturday.”

Confident or not — Kansas had yet another heart-breaker in the fourth quarter in an all-too familiar result. Arizona State scored the winning touchdown with 16 seconds left, as the Jayhawks head into their bye week with five straight losses and an 0-3 Big 12 mark.

Final score at Mountain America Stadium: Arizona State 35, Kansas 31.

The Jayhawks now have their longest losing streak since 2021, Lance Leipold’s first season.

KU had one last chance, trailing 35-31 with five seconds left. Quarterback Jalon Daniels threw a Hail Mary pass that was batted away in the end zone.

The build-up to that final sequence was intense.

Kansas allowed the game-winning score with 16 seconds left as Arizona’s Sam Leavitt found wide receiver Jordyn Tyson for a 3-yard passing touchdown.

That marked the fifth lead change in the fourth quarter alone.

ASU went up 21-17 early in the fourth quarter. Kansas retook the lead after Devin Neal ran for a 31-yard touchdown. ASU answered with a passing touchdown from Leavitt to Tyson to go up 28-24.

On KU’s ensuing drive, Daniels was lit up by ASU’s Clayton Smith. Leipold was irate and ran onto the field to yell for a flag and possible ejection. After a review, Smith was ejected for targeting.

Daniels then found Skinner for a 34-yard touchdown to put KU up 31-28.

Daniels finished 18-of-30 passing for 260 yards with two passing touchdowns. He also ran for a score. Devin Neal had 71 rushing yards on 14 carries and the Jayhawks’ other touchdown.

KU had issues closing out the first half like the previous four weeks. The Jayhawks surrendered a touchdown with 26 seconds left in the first half to go into halftime tied 14-all.

Up next: Kansas enters its off week. KU will play Houston at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium on Saturday, Oct. 19.

Here are three takeaways from Saturday’s game…

The return of Jalon Daniels?

After weeks of subpar play, especially by his previous standards, Daniels put together his best half of the season against Arizona State.

Daniels finished the first half 10-of-14 passing for 150 yards with one passing touchdown and a rushing score.

Daniels looked as comfortable as he’s been all season. The Kansas QB did an excellent job of going through his progressions, didn’t rush throws and had a couple of absolute darts to KU wide receivers.

He even got wide receiver Quentin Skinner back on track. Skinner came into Saturday’s game with just eight catches for 105 receiving yards on the season.

Skinner had four catches for 79 receiving yards … in the first half alone.

Daniels later found Skinner for a 34-yard passing touchdown to put KU up late, but it wasn’t enough. Skinner finished with six catches for 130 receiving yards.

Another bad first-half ending

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before.

KU struggled to stop a team from scoring at the end of the first half.

It was the same story on Saturday.

With 1:33 left in the first half, KU ran with Neal on a third-and-5 and ASU stopped him. It was a conservative play call, and Kansas had to punt. ASU return man Melquan Stovall returned the punt for 36 yards.

A couple of plays later (spurred by two penalties by corner Cobee Bryant), Arizona State scored when Leavitt found wide receiver Chamon Metayer for a 20-yard passing touchdown.

Kansas has allowed 38 points in the last 90 seconds of its first halves vs. FBS opponents. And it’s made a difference in the final margin.

The Jayhawks notably have lost by six points or fewer in four of their last five games.

Missed opportunities for Kansas

The Jayhawks had plenty of opportunities to put the game away on Saturday.

Still, Kansas didn’t take advantage of those opportunities — a common theme this season.

Kansas blocked a field goal, forced a fumble and even had an interception. Yet none of these chances turned into points for the Jayhawks.

It was yet another close loss, but it would likely have been a comfortable win for Kansas if the Jayhawks had capitalized. Instead, they enter the bye week on the brink of being eliminated from bowl eligibility.