Baylor's best defense since 1985 visits Lawrence

Baylor's margin, Kansas' missing minutes

Against Power 4 opponents, Baylor is +34 in point margin, 19th nationally and sixth in its conference. Kansas is -52 in the same games, 71st nationally and 14th in the league. The turnover line runs the same way, Baylor at +3 and 13th nationally, Kansas at -4 and 80th.

Baylor gains 412 yards a game, 26th nationally, and allows 372, ranking 32nd. Kansas gains 345 and allows 453, ranking 49th and 72nd, so it gives up far more yards than it produces. The Jayhawks score 21.5 points a game, 51st nationally, and allow 34.5, while Baylor scores 25.0, 39th.

Kansas has the ball 25:40 a game, 83rd nationally, against Baylor's 30:09. The Jayhawks are also penalized 71 yards a game, 76th nationally, to 57 for the Bears.

Where it's decided

The Bears pass for 283 yards a game against Power 4 opponents, 11th nationally and third in the conference, and Kansas allows 214 through the air, 25th nationally. Gavin Freeman leads the Big 12 with 49 catches and leads Baylor in receiving yards with 555, with 2 touchdowns. Louis Brown IV is second on the team with 327 receiving yards and has 3 touchdowns.

The ground is where Kansas has bled, allowing 239 rushing yards a game, 87th nationally, while Baylor runs for 129, 45th. Dawson Pendergrass leads Baylor in rushing yards with 328 on 89 carries, and Caden Knighten has 278 with 2 touchdowns. Kansas end Leroy Harris III is tied for the Big 12 lead with at least 9.5 tackles for loss and leads the Jayhawks with 3 sacks.

Baylor scores on 70.0% of its red zone trips, 73rd nationally, and Kansas allows scores on 81.0%, 37th.

When Kansas has the ball, it runs into the best run defense in the conference. Baylor allows 86 rushing yards a game against Power 4 teams, sixth nationally, and Kansas runs for 122, 48th. Dylan Edwards leads Kansas in rushing yards with 376 and 4 touchdowns, and he adds 155 receiving yards. Quarterback Isaiah Marshall is second with 372 rushing yards and leads the team in passing yards with 1,294, with 9 touchdowns, 5 interceptions and a 52.7 completion percentage.

The air is softer ground. Baylor allows 286 passing yards a game, 72nd nationally and 13th in the conference, and Kansas throws for 223. Nik McMillan leads Kansas in receiving yards with 400 and in catches with 23, with 4 touchdowns, and Nahzae Cox has 208 yards on 7 catches. Kansas converts 29.1% on third down, 70th nationally, against a Baylor defense allowing 37.5%, 24th.

Kansas is still looking for a Power 4 win

Kansas is 0-4 against Power 4 opponents this season. Those opponents have outscored the Jayhawks 41-10 in the fourth quarter.

Lagway's passing game started from scratch

Baylor returns 1% of its 2025 passing yards, 34 of 3,715, after Sawyer Robertson's 3,681 left the program. DJ Lagway, a 4-star transfer from Florida, arrived with 2,264 passing yards from last season. He leads Baylor in passing yards with 1,116, with 8 touchdowns, 3 interceptions and a 50 completion percentage. His targets are new too: Baylor returns 11% of its 2025 receiving yards, and Freeman came in as a transfer with 481.

Kansas rebuilt its offense through the portal

Kansas returns 14% of its 2025 rushing yards and 5% of its passing yards. Its transfers brought in 1,797 rushing yards and 1,962 receiving yards from last season, 975 of those by McMillan. Edwards is one of them, a 3-star transfer from Kansas State.

Kansas' returners against Baylor's coverage

Against Power 4 opponents, Kansas leads the nation in punt return average at 38.5 yards and ranks third in kick returns at 37.0. Baylor allows 1.0 yard per punt return, seventh nationally, and 14.8 per kick return, 13th. The other direction favors the Bears: Kansas allows 39.0 yards per kick return, 82nd, and Baylor averages 14.0 on punt returns, eighth.

Aranda's perfect record and a safety's return

Baylor coach Dave Aranda is 4-0 against Kansas. Kansas coach Lance Leipold is 0-3 against Baylor.

Kansas safety Corey Gordon Jr. played at Baylor in 2022-24, making 64 tackles with 6 pass breakups, and this is his first game against the Bears since he left. He reached Lawrence as a transfer from Louisville and brought 53 tackles from 2025, the most among Kansas' incoming transfers.

Linebacker Trey Lathan leads Kansas with 41 tackles. For Baylor, linebacker Travion Barnes leads with 35 tackles and end Ryan Davis leads with 2.5 sacks.

Baylor's other notable transfers include defensive lineman Hosea Wheeler, a 4-star from Indiana, Ponder from Southern Miss, receiver Dre'lon Miller from Colorado and lineman Nate Kibble from Texas. Kansas added lineman Connor Stroh from Texas, tight end Jailen Butler from Old Dominion and linebacker Daveon Crouch from Boston College.

Each team sent 2 players to the NFL, none in the first two rounds. Baylor lost a defensive tackle and a receiver: Jackie Marshall went in the sixth round to Tennessee, and Josh Cameron went in the sixth to Jacksonville. Kansas lost an offensive tackle and a receiver: Enrique Cruz Jr. went in the fifth round to San Francisco, and Emmanuel Henderson Jr. went in the sixth to Seattle.

Baylor has owned this series since 2007

Baylor leads the series 19-4 since 1971 and has won 14 straight. Kansas last beat Baylor in 2007, when the Jayhawks went 12-1 and Aqib Talib was a unanimous All-American, and the Bears finished 3-9.

Kansas is 4-7 at home against Baylor, and the Bears last won in Lawrence in 2021. That Baylor team went 12-2 with All-American defensive back Jalen Pitre, and Kansas went 2-10.

The last meeting was a 45-17 Baylor win at home in 2024, when Bryson Washington ran for 192 yards. Baylor finished that season 8-5, and Kansas finished 5-7.

Three things to watch

Kansas' running game against Baylor's run defense. Edwards has 376 rushing yards and Marshall has 372, and the Bears allow 86 a game against Power 4 teams.

The Kansas path runs through its return units. Against Power 4 opponents, its punt returns lead the nation at 38.5 yards and its kick returns rank third nationally at 37.0.

The fourth quarter: Kansas has been outscored 41-10 in it by Power 4 opponents, and Aranda has never lost to the Jayhawks.