photo by: John Young

Kansas senior receiver Tre' Parmalee finds the end zone in front of Kansas State defensive back Nate Jackson (24) for the Jayhawks' only score in the first of the annual Sunflower Showdown game Saturday at Memorial Stadium.

A year ago, oddsmakers put the over/under for Kansas University football victories at 1.5, and I urged readers who might find themselves in front of a window in Las Vegas to jump through it with a fist full of cash and plunk it down on the under.

It was as easy a call as I could ever recall given that the Jayhawks were operating with sub-Football Championship Subdivision scholarship numbers, a brand-new coaching staff and precious little talent and experience, especially in the blocking department.

Once South Dakota State pulled out a close call in the season-opener in Memorial Stadium, those who bet the under had no reason to sweat the rest of the way, even when the Jayhawks overachieved against TCU yet again, only to lose en route to an 0-12 season.

Las Vegas hasn’t budged on the 1.5 number, but the wager has gone from a layup to a full-court heave in terms of degree of difficultly. Don’t get anywhere near a window with cash in your hand if your intention is to go either over or under on Kansas.

Kansas has no shot of losing head coach David Beaty’s second season-opener, thanks to the first layup, against University of Rhode Island, on the schedule during his tenure.

URI went 1-10 in 2015, including a 47-0 blasting at Syracuse. No way the Jayhawks go 0-12 again. Kansas likely will be the underdog in the next 11 games, but upsets do happen. Nine of those 11 FBS opponents are coming off appearances in bowl games. Iowa State and Texas did not go bowling, and ISU visits Kansas, so there’s one possibility. Texas hasn’t lost to KU since 1938, so forget that one.

Memphis hammered Kansas 55-23 in Lawrence, and the Jayhawks haven’t won a football game on the road since Josh Jackson was a sixth-grader. Sure, Memphis deserves to be favored, but the Tigers are in a transition year with a first-year head coach and without Paxton Lynch, a first-round choice of the Denver Broncos. Ohio, coached by Frank Solich, might beat up Kansas up front, but with a break or three, that game could be stolen as well.