photo by: Nick Krug

Kansas head coach David Beaty watches from the sidelines during the fourth quarter on Saturday, Oct. 3, 2015 at Jack Trice Stadium in Ames, Iowa.

photo by: Nick Krug

Kansas head coach David Beaty watches from the sidelines during the fourth quarter on Saturday, Oct. 3, 2015 at Jack Trice Stadium in Ames, Iowa.

Many believed Saturday’s showdown at Iowa State looked to be a winnable game on paper. And, for a little more than a quarter, the Jayhawks hung in there and appeared ready to compete with the Cyclones, whom they defeated 34-14 a year ago.

But a couple of costly mistakes and curious decisions cost the Jayhawks and, just like that, they found themselves down 17-0 at halftime and facing a major uphill climb to get back into the game.

Kansas (0-4) did not play particularly well in any aspects of Saturday’s loss. The offense, though efficient at times, never really threatened the ISU defense and the KU defense continued to struggle in the run game, giving up 243 yards on the ground and more than 500 yards of total offense yet again.

Games like these have become all too familiar for KU fans — and the players and a number of different coaches — during recent years, and, although many believed the Iowa State game could be different, the reality of KU’s current situation is that games like this are going to continue to be a part of the fall for some time to come.

And many of them could be much, much uglier than Saturday was.

Quick takeaway

This thing is starting to look a little scary. Nobody expected KU to win many games this season and a good chunk of those of follow the program knew that a winless season could be in the cards. But within that framework, the hope and, really, the expectation, was that the Jayhawks would look a little better each week and put a product on the field that was (a) disciplined, (b) played hard and (c) one fans could be proud of. That was during the first week or week and a half, but in the past few games things seem to have gone in the wrong direction. That’s not to say there have not been improvements in a few areas. There have. But for the most part

Three reasons to smile

1 – OC Rob Likens and the Kansas offense took a few shots down the field. That has to happen in the coming weeks if the Jayhawks hope to get Ke’aun Kinner and that running game going again, and it was good to see it happen in this week’s game. Starting QB Montell Cozart took a few shots early on — missing on them all — and freshman Ryan Willis, who filled in after Cozart left with a shoulder injury, threw a few nice looking deep balls later in the game. The O-Line has to hold up long enough for this to work, but as long as it does, the deep ball has to be a part of KU’s passing game from here on out.

photo by: Nick Krug

Kansas quarterback Montell Cozart (2) tries to escape the oncoming rush of Iowa State defensive end Gabe Luna (11) during the third quarter on Saturday, Oct. 3, 2015 at Jack Trice Stadium in Ames, Iowa.

2 – The Jayhawks are able to move the ball between the 20s. Getting into the red zone and finishing drives is another story, but Cozart and the offense looked pretty good moving it up and down the field before breaking down. Cozart finished 15 of 21 passing for 150 yards and Willis was 8 of 16 for 100 yards. Most of the throws by Cozart were short outs that were both safe and effective and that allowed KU to use the tempo it wants to use to keep pressure on the defense. It’s good to see, but it will not matter much if KU continues to stall after putting together good starts to their drives.

photo by: Nick Krug

Kansas quarterback Montell Cozart (2) drops back to pass during the second quarter on Saturday, Oct. 3, 2015 at Jack Trice Stadium in Ames, Iowa.

3 – After committing seven penalties in each of the past two games, the Jayhawks were flagged just four times in this one. Unfortunately, two of those flags — a false start on a fourth-and-one early and an offsides penalty on a third-and-four for ISU — came at huge times and the Jayhawks made plenty of other non-penalty-flag-drawing mistakes that cost them. Still, it’s important for huge underdogs like Kansas to limit their penalties as much as possible and four is certainly a respectable number.

Three reasons to sigh

1 – Tom Keegan wrote about it in today’s column and I Tweeted about it during the game. KU coach David Beaty’s decision to punt from the 35 yard line on fourth-and-three early in the game seemed like a terrible decision. Beaty said the wind and the down-and-distance factored into his decision to punt instead of kicking the field goal or going for it. But, to me, that sounds too much like a coach coaching with a College Football Playoff berth on the line not a guy trying to inject some confidence into a program in a major rebuilding mode. Teams like Kansas need to be more aggressive, not less, because they really don’t have much to lose.

photo by: Nick Krug

Kansas running back Ke'aun Kinner (22) is dragged down by Iowa State defensive back Brian Peavy (10) during the second quarter on Saturday, Oct. 3, 2015 at Jack Trice Stadium in Ames, Iowa.

2 – The offensive line and KU running game struggled big time for the second week in a row — 38 yards on 33 carries. If they don’t get that right in a hurry, this new-look Air Raid offense is going to be hard-pressed to reach 20 points in any game and, in a hurry, could start to look an awful lot like the offenses we’ve seen around here in recent years.

photo by: Nick Krug

Kansas quarterback Montell Cozart (2) is helped off the turf by Kansas offensive linemen Bryan Peters (76), Joe Gibson (77), Jordan Shelley-Smith (79) after a sack during the second quarter on Saturday, Oct. 3, 2015 at Jack Trice Stadium in Ames, Iowa.

3 – KU quarterbacks are dropping like flies. Through four weeks, the Jayhawks are now down two quarterbacks, with Week 3 starter Deondre Ford out for an unknown amount of time with a thumb injury and now No. 1 QB Montell Cozart dealing with a shoulder sprain. Cozart has yet to play a complete game this season and if he’s out for any amount of time, you’re looking at two true freshmen (Ryan Willis and Carter Stanley) handling the top two spots on the depth chart and forgotten man T.J. Millweard quickly moving up from fifth string to third. None of that is good news.

One for the road

KU’s 25-point loss at Iowa State on Saturday:

• Dropped KU’s all-time record to 579-602-58.

• Prolonged a streak of 32 consecutive losses in true road games and 35 total games played away from Lawrence. Kansas’ last road win came at UTEP on Sept. 12, 2009.

• Also extended KU’s Big 12 Conference road losing streak to 28-straight league road games and 31 conference matches played away from Lawrence. KU’s last Big 12 road victory occurred in Ames, Iowa on Oct. 4, 2008.

Next up

After two weeks on the road, the Jayhawks return home for yet another 11 a.m. kickoff, this one against third-ranked Baylor, which enters the week as a 38-point favorite.