The Kansas Jayhawks football program enters the 2024 campaign as the No. 22 team in the Associated Press Top 25 poll. While the school is accustomed to being in the AP’s basketball rankings, this year marks just the seventh time KU has cracked the preseason gridiron survey since the wire service first commenced it in 1950 (AP regular season football polls date back to 1936).
Whether the Jayhawks end up in the final AP poll for just the ninth time in school history remains to be seen. Kansas comes off a 9-4 season last year that ended with a 49-36 win over Nevada-Las Vegas in the Guaranteed Rate Bowl and a No. 23 postseason ranking – the first it cracked that list since 2007.
Recent history shows teams coming into the season at No. 22 have a track record of success, but only one of the last three teams with that preseason ranking wound up in the final poll.
Situation | Result |
Average Record | 10-3* |
Average Winning Percentage | .769 * |
Bowl Game Appearance | 3 of 3 |
Final AP Poll Top 25 Appearance | 1 of 3 |
*Rounded to nearest whole number
Last year, the Ole Miss Rebels parlayed their No. 22 preseason ranking into a New Year’s Six bowl game. After beating Penn State 38-25 in the Peach Bowl, the Rebels ended the 2023 season with a No. 9 ranking and an 11-2 record across Kansas betting apps.
Even if Kansas misses out on a postseason AP ranking, it has a strong chance of still making a bowl game. Wake Forest, the No. 22 preseason team in 2022, won the Gasparilla Bowl, and the year before that, Coastal Carolina enjoyed an 11-2 season that culminated with a victory in the Cure Bowl.
KU enters the 2024 season with high expectations. Quarterback Jalon Daniels hopes to stay healthy this year after a back injury sidelined him after just three games last year. In 2022, he threw for 2,014 yards and had an 18-4 touchdown-to-interception ratio in nine games. He also added 425 rushing yards, averaging 5.5 yards a carry, and seven touchdowns on the ground.
Daniels is one of seven returning starters on offense, with running back Devin Neal (1,280 yards, 6.3 average and 16 TDs rushing) hoping to post his third-straight 1,000-yard campaign on the ground.
Last month, Big 12 media members voted the Jayhawks to finish fourth in the conference’s preseason survey. KU received five first-place votes from the 61 voters.
Oddsmakers at DraftKings Kansas Sportsbook give the Jayhawks odds of +950 to win the Big 12. The last time KU won a conference title came in 1968 when John Riggins and Bobby Douglass led the Jayhawks to the Big Eight crown. BetMGM gives Kansas odds of +650 to make the first-ever 12-team College Football Playoff, but its odds to win the whole thing, +15000, are substantially longer.
Stick with BetKansas for our Jayhawks Bowl Projections all season as well.
USA Today photo by Evert Nelson.
Author
Steve is an accomplished, award-winning reporter with more than 20 years of experience covering gaming, sports, politics and business. He has written for the Associated Press, Reuters, The Louisville Courier Journal, The Center Square and numerous other publications. Based in Louisville, Ky., Steve has covered the expansion of sports betting in the U.S. and other gaming matters.
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