Gameday Breakdown: KU football at No. 14 West Virginia

Kansas running back Taylor Martin (24) runs into the end zone for a touchdown during the third quarter on Saturday, Oct. 22, 2016 at Memorial Stadium.

— Kansas (1-7 overall, 0-5 Big 12) at No. 14 West Virginia (6-1 overall, 3-1 Big 12) • 6 p.m., Saturday, Milan Puskar Stadium, Morgantown, W. Va. • Game-time forecast: 57 degrees, sunny, 0% chance of rain • TV: ESPN2

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Keys for Kansas

1. Re-discover the end zone

The Jayhawks didn’t cross the goal line last week in a 56-3 blowout at Oklahoma. KU reached the Sooners’ red zone once, and had to settle for a first-quarter field goal. The only time the offense sniffed the end zone again came immediately following a fumble recovery by Jayhawks sophomore defensive tackle Daniel Wise, and then Kansas gave the ball right back on a Montell Cozart interception. Obviously, a repeat of that sort of offensive effort (170 total yards) won’t accomplish anything at West Virginia.

In conference play, the Mountaineers lead the Big 12 in total defense (330.8 yards per game). WVU reached the top spot not only with a league-leading rush defense (97.8 yards allowed an outing) but also the No. 1 pass defense (233.0 yards surrendered a game). Junior quarterback Cozart, the offensive line and KU’s skill players have their work cut out for them, so they’ll have to maximize even the smallest opportunities to avoid another game without a touchdown. If that happens, then they can start thinking about what else it would take to upset West Virginia — nearly a five-touchdown favorite.

2. Catch Mountaineers off guard

When you’ve lost seven consecutive games, adding some new wrinkles to your scheme certainly can’t do any harm. Trick plays. New routes for receivers. Inventive ways to get the ball in the hands of top play-makers Steven Sims Jr. and LaQuvionte Gonzalez. Head coach and offensive coordinator David Beaty shouldn’t hesitate to empty out the play book with only four games remaining on the schedule. On offense, the reads often dictate Cozart makes quick passes to the left or right flat for whomever is lined up wide, but defenses know that’s coming at this point. Moving the chains to extend drives won’t be easy for Kansas in Morgantown, W. Va., so hitting the WVU defense with something unexpected could do relative wonders, particularly for the offense’s morale.

3. Don’t give WVU offense anything easy

By Big 12 standards, West Virginia has an average offense. The Mountaineers tend to get the job done, for sure, but they’re not typically putting up 40 to 50-plus points each week the way Oklahoma, Baylor and Texas Tech do. The WVU offense averages 29.8 points in conference outings — far better than KU’s last-place 14.4 average, but nothing spectacular, either. The last thing the Jayhawks can afford to do is put West Virginia in easy scoring situations. That means the KU offense can’t turn the ball over deep in its own territory and special teams players can’t make mistakes that lead to lengthy returns. Let the Kansas defense do its job. The strength of the team lies on that side of the ball and a low-scoring, field-position-driven game is KU’s best chance of competing. (See: West Virginia’s 17-16 home win over Kansas State on Oct. 1.)

Mega Matchup

Kansas pass rush vs. WVU QB Skyler Howard

You won’t find WVU senior quarterback Skyler Howard’s name at the top of the Big 12 in any statistical categories. That’s no knock on Howard, who has completed 65.7 percent of his throws this season for 2,033 yards, with 13 touchdowns and six interceptions. He’s just more game manager than gunslinger. So the Jayhawks need to hurry Howard with frequency and sack him when possible. Whether it’s sophomore Dorance Armstrong Jr. coming around the edge, sophomore tackle Daniel Wise powering through the middle or linebackers such as senior Marcquis Roberts and defensive backs such as senior Fish Smithson coming on blitz packages, Kansas will want to keep Howard guessing and keep the WVU offense from picking up any momentum.

Plus, when the Jayhawks pressure Howard into scrambling, they’ll have to make sure he doesn’t turn the play into a first-down run. Last season against KU, Howard rushed for 129 yards, averaging 14.3 a carry (even though he only played one second-half possession in a 49-0 blowout).

5 Questions with junior DT DeeIsaac Davis

1. This is your third football program in three years after starting your college career at Eastern Arizona College and playing your sophomore season at Highland Community College. At what point did you start to feel comfortable here at Kansas?

“During the spring. My teammates, sheesh, at that point we’d been working hard together, conditioning and stuff like that. Spring ball came and we kept workin’ hard, so that’s probably when I felt the most comfortable — midway through the spring… I started making plays here and there and I was like, ‘OK, yeah. I got what it takes to compete in this league.'”

2. You didn’t start the season opener, but you’ve started every game since then. How did you find out you had moved up the depth chart and what did that mean to you?

“My coach said I had a pretty good performance against Rhode Island (in the opener) and he moved me up… It was great. It felt good just to be rewarded, because that had been my goal: to start for this team, to make my contributions known. The fact that (defensive coordinator Clint) Bowen and (defensive line coach Michael) Slater recognized that I am a play-maker, that felt great.”

3. How difficult is it to play nose tackle? There are only so many opportunities to make a play — get a tackle for loss or stop a running back coming your direction.

“Sheesh, I mean, to be honest, it’s pretty comfortable for me. I like playing nose tackle, because it’s the grittiest position on the field and if you are dominant in there, you’re noticed because you have to endure a lot of things to make your plays. I like it.”

4. What percentage of your job is just grunt work, just being assignment sound?

“I would say like 50 percent of it, about halfway. You have to fight your way to make the play for yourself, especially over the other guys on the defense. But I’m not saying they’ve got an easier route.”

5. What has stood out to you about facing some of the Big 12’s offensive linemen?

“The main thing that’s stood out to me is our defensive line can go toe-to-toe with anybody. That’s the main thing. We’re just as good as anybody in this league and we can compete against ’em.”

Jayhawk Pulse

KU football fans might be able to recite the losing streaks without looking them up at this point — if they haven’t blocked them from their memory. Kansas hasn’t won on the road since September of 2009, at UTEP. The Jayhawks have dropped 42 consecutive games outside of Lawrence and 39 true road games in a row. Kansas has gone even longer since winning a conference road matchup. The last one came in October of 2008, at Iowa State, bringing KU’s Big 12 road losing streak to 34 games. And Kansas hasn’t won a conference game since Beaty took over the program. The last Big 12 victory came nearly two years ago — also against Iowa State — when Bowen served as interim head coach in 2014, giving the program a slump of 17 consecutive league losses.

The players can’t worry about any of those numbers or recent struggles, though, as difficult as that may be. The goal this week — and every week for this rebuilding program — must be making real progress in every facet of the game.