Despite their upbeat attitude and never-say-quit demeanor, the members of the Kansas University football team are human. And, positive or not, realistic or otherwise, zero wins in 10 tries this season can take a toll on even the most optimistic man.

However, with two games remaining in head coach David Beaty’s first season in charge of the program — including an 11 a.m. kickoff vs. West Virginia today at Memorial Stadium — the goal for the Jayhawks is to put the zero on the other side of the dash to close the season.

Strength coach Je’Ney Jackson made that announcement earlier this week and it since has become the stated goal of the 100-plus players who suit up each Saturday.

“We’re looking at it as it’s a new season. Let’s try to go 2-0,” tight end Ben Johnson said. “On Monday, that was the first thing coach Jackson said to us. And if we can get that done, it’ll be a springboard us into next season and give us something to look forward to.”

Asked what a win, or even two, would mean for the Jayhawks, who have had a couple of close calls this season but also been beat up pretty well at times, Johnson was brutally honest.

“Oh, it’d definitely be huge,” he said. “Just for the players’ whole mindset, that would be great. I think that’s what we need around here. In the Texas game, we played one good quarter. In the TCU game, we followed that up well. And if we keep going that way, eventually we’ll put a whole game together and see a whole different outcome.”

Beaty agreed and said that little-by-little progression was the goal all season long. But he’s not going to count on another solid performance simply because KU played TCU close last week. He focused all week on the same things he had emphasized all season — hard work, extreme focus and great camaraderie.

“It’s the Big 12,” Beaty said. “I think anybody is capable of playing great any week, us included. Last week was its own game. It’s not going to be anything that’s going to help us move it forward. It’s going to be what happens when that ball gets snapped.”

Bowl banter

West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen said earlier this week that this week is the first time he has allowed his players or coaches to talk about the Mountaineers qualifying for a bowl game.

After starting the Big 12 season 0-4 and sitting at 3-4 altogether at that point, WVU ripped off wins over Texas Tech and Texas to pull within one win of bowl eligibility. That means a victory at Memorial Stadium today would turn what once was a scary-looking season.

“We’ll try to meet that goal at the end of this week and then we’ll focus on the rest of our goals after this week,” Holgorsen said. “You can’t look too far in advance. Whatever kind of goals you can set to achieve at the end of the week I think are important.”

Series history

Seventy-one years passed between the first and second meeting between Kansas and West Virginia, but when the Jayhawks and Mountaineers lock up today, it will mark the fourth consecutive season they have played each other.

WVU leads the all-time series that dates back to 1941, 3-1, with KU’s lone victory coming, 31-19, in 2013.

That win, in Lawrence, broke the Jayhawks’ 27-game conference losing streak.

Another heavy favorite

West Virginia entered the week as a 28-point favorite over the Jayhawks, marking the first time since Oct. 3 at Iowa State that a KU opponent was favored by fewer than 30 points.

Baylor, Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Oklahoma and Texas all opened as 30-plus-point favorites over the Jayhawks, and KU went 2-4 against the spread during that stretch.