Jalon Daniels throws for 280 yards, 4 touchdowns and Kansas defeated Wagner 46-7
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Jalon Daniels threw for 280 yards and four touchdowns despite playing just one drive in the second half and Kansas defeated Wagner 46-7 on Friday night.
But it was one bad pass that bothered him after the game. He threw an interception in the end zone to end a scoring drive late in the first half.
“First of all, I got to give my hat off to (Wagner’s Jayden Brown) for making a play,” he said. “I got a chance to talk to him afterwards. I thought it was going to be a great pass. And he came off of his (man) and made a one-handed interception. That’s definitely a mistake that I can’t afford to make down the line.”
Emmanuel Henderson hauled in six of Daniels’ passes for 130 yards and two touchdowns for Kansas (2-0). Daniel Hishaw rushed for 89 yards and a touchdown, all in the first half.
Kansas outgained Wagner 623-143, including 285-53 on the ground and 346-90 through the air. The Jayhawks had 32 first downs, compared to just six for Wagner.
“I feel like that’s just a stat,” Kansas linebacker Trey Lathan said. “That’s just something that we just went out there and did. We just played our game, and that’s just how it happened.”
But Kansas was not flawless. The Jayhawks had the game’s only two turnovers, and both of those came in the red zone. They were just 4 of 10 on third down.
“I thought offensively, other than two red-zone turnovers that are disappointing, we were able to control the line and be multiple in what we were doing,” Kansas head coach Lance Leipold said. “We gave Jalon the first series coming out of the half to kind of just give him one more after the interception.”
Henderson was glad Daniels got to redeem himself.
“We needed to come back out in the second half and keep the fire going,” he said. ”We didn’t need to come back and let down. I feel like we did a great job coming out and executing.”
Still, Leipold was pleased overall with his team’s effort. He just knows they’ll have to be better for future opponents, like next week’s game at Missouri.
“Overall, I thought we played extremely well,” he said. “I thought we could control the line of scrimmage, and we did. I thought defensively, we played really well, other than the fourth-down play.”
The Kansas defense did its part, limiting Wagner to just one drive of more than 20 yards.
Jack Stevens was 13 of 20 for 90 yards and a touchdown for Wagner (0-1). No Seahawks runner gained more than 25 yards on the ground.
The takeaway
Kansas was clearly better than its over-matched opponent from the FCS, but the Jayhawks left room for improvement. The Jayhawks put plenty on the tape, including a no-huddle offense on their second first-quarter drive, and some long passes from Daniels to his receivers.
Up next
Wagner will face Georgetown on the road on Sept. 6. Kansas will travel to face Missouri in Columbia for the first matchup between the former conference rivals since 2011.
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By DAVID SMALE
Associated Press
