KU cruises past Lindenwood for 48-3 victory in season opener

By Henry Greenstein     Aug 29, 2024

article image Nick Krug
Kansas running back Devin Neal (4) dances into the end zone for a touchdown against Lindenwood during the first quarter on Thursday, Aug. 29, 2024 at Children’s Mercy Park in Kansas City, Kansas.

Kansas City, Kan. — Two early turnovers gave the initial impression of a sluggish start to the season by the Kansas football team, but three touchdowns in three minutes dispelled that perception quite quickly.

KU scored in all its classic ways — a Devin Neal rush, a Mello Dotson pick-6 and, in a welcome return to action for the redshirt junior quarterback, a deep pass from Jalon Daniels to Luke Grimm — and quickly boosted its lead from 7-0 to 27-0.

By the time the clock ran out on the Jayhawks’ first-ever home game at Children’s Mercy Park, which normally plays host to Sporting Kansas City as a soccer stadium, they had routed Lindenwood 48-3.

“For the first game, it’s about what I’d hoped for,” head coach Lance Leipold said.

Neal ran for 112 yards and two touchdowns on just eight carries in the first half to build KU’s lead, and the Jayhawks sat several starters in the second, including on the fourth-quarter drive that provided Lindenwood’s lone score. The Jayhawks held the Lions to 202 total yards and forced six punts.

Daniels went 9-for-15 for 148 yards with a touchdown and a pick in his long-awaited return to action after last playing on Sept. 23.

“I told him, ‘Now, you can’t score 14 points on one play, you can’t try to make up for nine games that you missed,’ and all that other stuff … and he was very good about it, he was locked in, thought he made good decisions,” Leipold said.

After forcing a three-and-out on Lindenwood’s first drive, KU engineered a stop-and-start drive, boosted by a fourth-and-3 conversion from Daniels to Grimm on a crossing route. The Jayhawks cashed in with a 5-yard touchdown run by Neal.

The Lions put together a more functional second series, with quarterback Nate Glantz passing for a pair of first downs, until new starting pass-rush defensive end Dean Miller beat the Lindenwood line for a sack on fourth down to terminate the drive. But KU gave the ball back two plays later when Quentin Skinner fumbled on a jet sweep that was going to get called back due to holding anyway. Leipold said the officials weren’t able to review the call because their replay system was down.

Dylan Downing partially blocked Lindenwood’s next punt, which went just 17 yards, but KU didn’t do much with it before Daniels and Grimm were out of sync and Daniels threw a pick right to Tre Bell. Grimm said postgame he thought it was one coverage and Daniels thought it was the other; Daniels acknowledged that Grimm was right.

“That play was on me,” Daniels said. “I feel like the DB did a great job of being able to make the coverage look like it was something different.”

The Jayhawks got lucky when the Lions’ Jeff Caldwell dropped a third-down screen pass.

KU finally sustained a drive on its ensuing possession, with Neal running for 53 yards to set himself up for a second score. After two runs by the Lions went nowhere, Glantz threw late to the right flat and Dotson jumped the route for an easy defensive touchdown, although kicker Tabor Allen missed the extra point.

“The quarterback was just staring down his receiver and gave him a little sign to run whatever route he ran,” Dotson said, “I guess it was an out route, and I was looking at the quarterback … I knew the ball was coming my way.”

Allen redeemed himself on his next try, which came less than two minutes later when Daniels and Grimm shook off whatever miscommunication had produced the interception and connected for a 58-yard touchdown pass to put KU up 27-0.

Lindenwood showed a sign of life when Glantz lobbed a ball to Abe Haerr for 30 yards and into KU territory on third down, but a false start and a sack by Jereme Robinson necessitated another punt.

Daniel Hishaw Jr. got his turn to score at the conclusion of a successful two-minute drill, boosting the Jayhawks’ lead to five possessions by the break.

Cole Ballard took over KU’s offense in the third quarter with a lineup of mostly first-teamers, except for Sevion Morrison, who carried the ball seven straight times on the way to his first touchdown since the 2023 opener.

Glantz pulled off a savvy play for 23 yards on Lindenwood’s next drive, scrambling to his right and baiting KU defenders down toward the line of scrimmage before tossing the ball to running back Cortezz Jones. But the Lions went two yards backwards in their next three plays and punted for a fifth time.

Ballard found Trevor Wilson downfield, and the wideout held on through a hit by defensive back Eric Gant that turned out to be targeting. KU got itself a goal-to-go situation on a pass-interference call, and on fourth down, Ballard was able to sling the ball to Doug Emilien for a touchdown.

Reserve quarterback Mikey Pauley, a redshirt sophomore from Overland Park, made his collegiate debut in the fourth quarter. Head coach Lance Leipold said the staff wanted to limit Isaiah Marshall’s action so as not to count against his redshirt.

The Jayhawks will travel to Illinois to take on the Illini at 6 p.m. on Sept. 7. KU won last year’s matchup 34-23 in Lawrence.

How they scored

First quarter

9:44 — Devin Neal 5-yard run. Tabor Allen PAT is good. Nine plays, 65 yards, 3:55 TOP. KU 7, Lindenwood 0.

Second quarter

10:11 — Neal 1-yard run. Allen PAT good. Seven plays, 85 yards, 3:23 TOP. KU 14, Lindenwood 0.

8:42 — Mello Dotson 33-yard interception return. Allen PAT missed. KU 20, Lindenwood 0.

7:07 — Luke Grimm 58-yard pass from Jalon Daniels. Three plays, 66 yards, 0:51 TOP. Allen PAT good. KU 27, Lindenwood 0.

0:04 — Daniel Hishaw Jr. 1-yard run. Ten plays, 95 yards, 3:30 TOP. Allen PAT good. KU 34, Lindenwood 0.

Third quarter

8:23 — Sevion Morrison 1-yard run. Eleven plays, 85 yards, 6:32 TOP. Allen PAT good. KU 41, Lindenwood 0.

Fourth quarter

13:22 — Doug Emilien 4-yard pass from Cole Ballard. Eleven plays, 90 yards, 5:39 TOP. Allen PAT good. KU 48, Lindenwood 0.

6:12 — Logan Seibert 34-yard field goal good. Fourteen plays, 75 yards, 7:04 TOP. KU 48, Lindenwood 3.

Box score

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Written By Henry Greenstein

Henry is the sports editor at the Lawrence Journal-World and KUsports.com, and serves as the KU beat writer while managing day-to-day sports coverage. He previously worked as a sports reporter at The Bakersfield Californian and is a graduate of Washington University in St. Louis (B.A., Linguistics) and Arizona State University (M.A., Sports Journalism). Though a native of Los Angeles, he has frequently been told he does not give off "California vibes," whatever that means.