Kansas returns home Saturday for the first time in three weeks, which sounds normal until you remember the Jayhawks spent part of that time traveling roughly 9,000 miles round trip to play a home conference game in London.
Anyway, the Jayhawks had a week off to recover from that adventure, think about how they managed to outgain Arizona State by 186 yards and still lose, and hopefully spend some time practicing the revolutionary concept of not give the ball away to the other team.
The Jayhawks enter
Saturday at 1-2. Middle Tennessee is 2-2. This is one Kansas needs to win — preferably without making us all reconsider our life choices for three hours.
PREGAME
Kansas and Middle Tennessee have never met on the gridiron.
The Blue Raiders come to Lawrence under third-year head coach Derek Mason after consecutive 3-9 seasons. They opened 2026 with a 38-14 win over Murray State, lost 28-26 at Marshall, beat Nevada 27-20, and fell 23-13 at Jacksonville State last week.
We’re not talking about an elite team here, but we are also not talking about an FCS sacrificial lamb. Middle Tennessee has a history of occasionally making Power Four teams regret putting the Blue Raiders on the schedule. MTSU beat Missouri 51-45 in Columbia in 2016, won 30-23 at Syracuse the following season, and went to #25 Miami in 2022 and beat the Hurricanes 45-31.
I would prefer to not add another entry to that list.
Kickoff is scheduled for 11 a.m. at Memorial Stadium. ESPNU has the broadcast.
FIRST DOWN
If Kansas spent the bye week working on one thing, perhaps it could start with this: STOP. GIVING. THE. BALL. AWAY.
The Jayhawks turned it over three times against Arizona State and lost 24-17 despite outgaining the Sun Devils 414-228. KU averaged 5.6 yards per play to ASU’s 3.5, held Arizona State under 100 passing yards, and still managed to lose.
That’s difficult to do. Being minus-3 in turnover margin helps, though. In fact, through the first three games of this season, Kansas is now minus-five in turnover margin.
Middle Tennessee, meanwhile, has turned the ball over just once this season. Quarterback Roman Gagliano has thrown 130 passes and only one of them has gone to the wrong team. The Blue Raiders have yet to lose a fumble.
Against Nevada, MTSU forced three turnovers and committed none in a seven-point victory. Even in last week’s loss to Jacksonville State, the Blue Raiders won the turnover battle 2-0. JSU simply overcame that by producing 517 yards of offense and averaging 7.8 yards per play.
Therein lies the encouraging part for Kansas.
Middle Tennessee can protect the football, but the Blue Raider defense is not exactly an immovable object. If Kansas can simply finish drives without interceptions, fumbles, missed field goals, failed fourth downs, disastrous punts, kickoff-return touchdowns… you know, the normal stuff… there should be yards available.
SECOND DOWN
QB Roman Gagliano is probably the most important player to know on the Middle Tennessee offense.
The sophomore has completed 79-of-130 passes (60.7%) for 832 yards, eight touchdowns, and one interception through four games. He isn’t producing a ton of explosive plays through the air, but he has generally taken care of the football and given his team a chance to stay on schedule. His favorite target is Cam’ron Lacy, who has 29 catches for 310 yards and has caught a touchdown in all four games.
The running game goes through Antonio Martin. Extremely dedicated Kansas fans may recognize that name, as Martin spent last season at K-State before transferring to Middle Tennessee. He had one carry for two yards in the 2025 Sunflower Showdown. He has seen a much bigger role in the MTSU offense, with 345 yards on 64 carries, an average of 5.4 yards per attempt, and has rushed for more than 100 yards in three of Middle Tennessee’s four games. Last week against Jacksonville State, Martin put up 106 yards on 17 carries.
The Blue Raider offensive line has also been pretty good. Gagliano has generally had time to throw, and MTSU has shown enough balance that Kansas can’t simply sell out to stop one thing. That makes this another useful test for a KU defense that has quietly been the most encouraging part of the season.
Kansas held Arizona State to 228 total yards, 95 passing yards, and 3.5 yards per play. The Sun Devils’ offense produced only one sustained drive against Kansas. Through three games, Kansas is allowing just 281 yards per game and 166 through the air.
If that defense shows up again Saturday, Middle Tennessee should have a difficult time sustaining drives.
THIRD DOWN
Third downs also appear to be a favorable matchup for Kansas this week. Middle Tennessee has converted only about 31 percent of its third downs this season, while KU opponents are converting fewer than 30 percent. That sounds promising. Of course, “promising” has done a lot of work around Kansas football lately.
Still, one of the more encouraging developments against Arizona State was that Kansas consistently forced the Sun Devils into uncomfortable situations and then actually got off the field. The problem was that the offense and special teams kept finding creative new ways to give the advantage back to ASU.
Gagliano has been careful with the football, so KU may not get many freebies. That makes winning first and second down more important. Put Middle Tennessee behind schedule, get Gagliano into obvious passing situations, and force him to make throws against a defense that has been pretty good at preventing explosive passing plays.
Kansas shouldn’t need four takeaways to win this game. One or two would be nice, though.
FOURTH DOWN
The offensive side of this game is where Kansas still has considerably more to prove. Isaiah Marshall looked excellent against LIU, struggled badly against Missouri, and was somewhere in between against Arizona State. He completed 17-of-33 passes for 235 yards against the Sun Devils, with a touchdown and an interception. He also ran for 52 yards and helped Kansas generate 414 yards against a good defense.
There were flashes. There were also missed throws, failed drives, and another turnover.
Middle Tennessee should provide an opportunity for Marshall and the rest of the offense to find some rhythm before the schedule becomes considerably less forgiving. After Saturday, Kansas goes to Utah, travels to Kansas State, hosts Baylor, and goes to TCU.
So, uh… Now would be good.
If Kansas needs a scouting report on the Middle Tennessee secondary, Nahzae Cox should probably have one. He spent last season with the Blue Raiders, catching 38 passes for 473 yards before transferring to KU.
Kansas will have to do it without Yasin Willis, who underwent surgery after suffering an injury against Arizona State. That should make Dylan Edwards the clear centerpiece of the backfield. Edwards rushed for 89 yards on 18 carries against ASU and looked much more like the player Kansas expected when he transferred in.
There may also finally be some good news at receiver. Cam Pickett has been dealing with an injury since late in fall camp and has barely played this season, but Lance Leipold sounded more optimistic Monday, saying Pickett was moving better and that he hoped the senior receiver could be available against Middle Tennessee. However, as of this posting Friday morning, Pickett appears to be genuinely day-to-day; call it cautious optimism with no guarantee.
LB Bam Crouch’s situation is more clear. Sunshine and Rainbows dot com reports that Crouch is set to return against Middle Tennessee. He injured his shoulder four snaps into the opener and hasn’t played since, with Quincy Davis taking over on the weak side. Crouch’s return should let Davis slide back into more of his natural middle-linebacker role behind Trey Lathan, which could help KU manage Lathan’s workload during this nine-game stretch without another bye.
Getting either player back would help. Getting both back before Big 12 play resumes would help quite a bit more.
THE PICK
Kansas is roughly a three-touchdown favorite, depending on where you look. That feels about right from a talent standpoint. It doesn’t necessarily feel right if you’ve watched Kansas play football for any significant period of your life.
Middle Tennessee does a few things that should make KU uncomfortable. The Blue Raiders take care of the football. They have an experienced quarterback playing efficiently, a running back picking up 5.4 yards per carry, and a receiver who has caught a touchdown in every game. They are capable of punishing teams that spend the afternoon waiting for them to go away.
But Kansas is at home, coming off a bye, and has the better roster. The Jayhawk defense has played well enough through three games to make me believe Middle Tennessee isn’t going to score a bunch of points unless Kansas helps.
Which, admittedly, has been a problem.
Still, Jacksonville State just produced 517 yards against this defense. Marshall, Edwards, Nik McMillan, Nahzae Cox, and company should be able to move the football. This doesn’t need to be complicated.
Don’t turn it over.
Don’t give up touchdowns on special teams.
Don’t repeatedly fail on fourth down.
Don’t punt the ball 17 yards.
Get points when you get into scoring position.
You know. Football.
Kansas 34, Middle Tennessee 17
EXTRA POINT
Middle Tennessee has played four games against current Big 12 members since moving to FBS in 1999: Arizona and UCF in 1999, and BYU in 2013 and 2014.
The Blue Raiders are 0-4.
Kansas has an opportunity Saturday to preserve a proud Big 12 tradition that absolutely nobody knew existed until five minutes ago.
