Jalon Daniels Has Made Kansas Relevant Again

The Kansas Jayhawks continued their remarkable winning streak this weekend, defeating the Duke Blue Devils by a score of 35-27.

This is their fourth straight victory, giving them a record of 4-0 on the season. The fact that Kansas is undefeated right now is unbelievable, considering their projected win total for the 2022 season was just 2.5.

It's safe to say that the Jayhawks are a lot better than we expected. Here's why they've had so much success this year and why they might be a contender for the Big 12 title.

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The reason why Kansas has exceeded expectations is because their offense is elite. I'm not exaggerating at all; the Jayhawks have one of the best offenses in the nation.

Right now, the Jayhawks rank second in points per play, just behind the Michigan Wolverines. This stat measures how efficient teams are at scoring points, and it's a really good metric because it adjusts for pace (how many plays teams run). This is important because teams who run a lot of plays (i.e., Texas Tech) tend to score more points than teams who run very few plays (i.e., Army).

If you aren't familiar with advanced stats, that's just fine because Kansas ranks fourth in points scored per game. This stat isn't as good of a measure of offensive output as points per play, but that's still very impressive.

If you're a stat nerd like me, you might be wondering how good the Jayhawks' offense looks when you adjust their production for their strength of schedule. Spoiler alert, it looks pretty freaking good.

Through four games, Kansas ranks fifth in points per game adjusted for opponent strength. No matter how you look at it, Kansas has a top-tier offensive unit.

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Honestly, there's only one player who deserves credit for Kansas' offensive explosion, their star quarterback Jalon Daniels.

As a sophomore in 2021, Daniels was solid, throwing for seven touchdowns and three interceptions in six games. However, he has taken it to another level this year as he is playing like one of the best quarterbacks in college football.

Through four games, Daniels has thrown for 890 yards, 11 touchdowns, and one interception while completing 71% of his passes. He's also added 320 yards and four touchdowns on the ground. His counting stats are good, but they aren't quite elite, and that's because he's only averaging around 23 pass attempts per game.

What is elite is his efficiency, as he ranks seventh in passer rating and first in QBR.

It's not abnormal for low-volume passers to be ultra-efficient on a per-play basis. For example, Hendon Hooker averaged just 23 pass attempts per game in 2021, but he had the third-highest passer rating and the 16th-highest QBR in the country.

However, Daniels has reached a whole new level in terms of quarterback efficiency.

Daniel's QBR of 98 this season is freaking ridiculous. If you don't know what QBR is, it's a metric based on EPA or expected points added which looks at passing, rushing, sacks, and penalties to measure quarterbacks' efficiency on a scale of 0-100.

According to this stat, Daniels has been the most efficient quarterback in college football.

This makes sense, as he has yet to have a poor performance this year. When you look at his game logs on ESPN, you'll notice that he has yet to have a QBR under 96 in a single game this season.

His passing has been pretty good, but I've been extremely impressed by his rushing productivity. He has been one of the best rushing quarterbacks in college football this year, as he ranks third among all QBs in rushing yards.

As you can see, Daniels has been a dominant dual-threat quarterback this season, and his elite play as a passer and rusher has played a significant role in Kansas being undefeated.

The fact that he has played so well is incredible because he doesn't have any star-level teammates. He leads Kansas in rushing yards, and his most productive wide receiver ranks just 185th in receiving yards.

He also doesn't get much help from his defense, as Kansas ranks just 86th in points allowed per play. I don't think it's a stretch to say that Jalon Daniels is carrying the Kansas Jayhawks on his shoulders.

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Kansas is set to play the Iowa State Cyclones this weekend with the chance to go 5-0 to start the year and have their best start to a season since 2008.

I'm not gonna lie; this Kansas team is a lot of fun, and the Jayhawks are giving me 2007 Kansas vibes. Their defense may not be good enough for them to be national championship contenders like they were back in the mid-2000s, but they are having an excellent season so far.

I love their offense, I love their quarterback, and I can't wait to see how they finish the season.