The Kansas football team set an impressive program record today, tallying a single-game best 706 yards of total offense to steamroll Middle Tennessee State 55-0. However, KU’s scoring output may not have been the most impressive part of the victory.
You can call it a fluke, but the Jayhawks’ defense was on another level today. It held MTSU quarterback Roman Gagliano to 9-for-26 passing for 81 yards and surrendered just 3.4 yards per carry on the ground. The Blue Raiders were forced to punt nine times and didn’t convert a third down after their opening drive. Kansas’ defense, not the offense, has been the bright spot through four weeks. Today wasn’t the only example of that, either. The offense’s struggles against Arizona State in the Union Jack Classic made it easy to forget that D.K. McDonald’s group held Cutter Boley to fewer than 100 passing yards while allowing the Jayhawks to outgain ASU by nearly 200 yards.
Defense doing their big one pic.twitter.com/Eyeih5r7Tw
— Kansas Football (@KU_Football) October 3, 2026
In his first year as KU’s defensive coordinator, McDonald and Co. finished in the bottom half of the Big 12 in both rushing and pass defense. If things continue trending in the right direction, his unit could find itself in the top half of the conference in 2026.Albeit versus an inferior opponent, Kansas ended the afternoon with its first shutout since September 2008 under Mark Mangino. There is a level of excellence required to maintain 60 minutes of scoreless football against an FBS opponent, regardless of who is lining up across from you.
Kansas Football’s Defense is an Unexpected Strength
Between Isaiah Marshall’s inconsistent passing and questionable offensive play-calling, it has been easy to bury the success of the defense behind the more glaring issues with this squad. However, there have been very few criticisms of McDonald this year after many fans called for his job a season ago…