photo by: Jesus Portillo/Special to the Journal-World

Kansas wide receiver Emmanuel Henderson Jr. celebrates a first down in the fourth quarter against Arizona on Saturday, Nov. 8, 2025, in Tucson, Ariz.

Tucson, Ariz. — Kansas football sits at 5-5 heading into its third and final bye week, needing to win one of its next two games to reach bowl eligibility.

The Jayhawks missed out on their first opportunity to do so in Tucson on Saturday, with a 24-20 loss to the Arizona Wildcats. After the bye week, they will travel to Ames, Iowa, to play Iowa State before ending the season with Utah at home.

“We’re going to be playing good football teams,” Kansas coach Lance Leipold said. “One is ranked top 25, and one that was picked as one of the teams to pick the league that was ranked, and you have to go to their place.”

The upcoming break gives the team a chance to reset and refocus for a final stretch against two teams that are already at or above the six-win mark. Redshirt senior quarterback Jalon Daniels said the team needs to be excited to play in these final games.

“It’s about being able to keep the guys excited,” Daniels said. “Being able to make sure that every single week, no matter what’s going on, no matter what outside noise there is, being able to be excited to be able to play another game of football.”

There are a number of seniors, including Daniels, who are in the final stretch of their college football careers. Daniels said it’s important to keep everyone excited and motivated as players want to play hard for each other a final few times after months and years of practicing and playing together.

Having a week off gives the Jayhawks a chance to recenter themselves and focus on the main thing: hitting the field on Saturdays and playing hard for the team.

“The main thing with a bye week is that it definitely helps with a mental reset, but at the end of the day, it’s a physical reset as well,” Daniels said. “Being able to let the body rest, not having another game on Saturday… it’s about being able to best prepare ourselves for the next game.”

After losses, Daniels often says the team has to “own their mistakes on film” and improve in practices. Saturday was no different, and with a bye week to work on the issues, the Jayhawks have time to get ready for the final two games of the regular season.

“Like any other time they get back in the building, you have to move on,” Leipold said. “You have to keep working at what you’re deficient in. I think this team has done that this year, and I’m confident they’ll do it again.”

To reach that sixth win, Leipold said the Jayhawks will need to be complete in all three phases. Leipold said the Jayhawks “have shown flashes of being really good on defense,” and pointed to the five sacks against Arizona. Cutting down on explosive plays allowed will be key for the defense in the final stretch. Offensively, Leipold said the team needs to be more consistent and to have aspects of the offensive attack build on other aspects better.

But the Jayhawks are hungry to hit that milestone. It’s an accomplishment that would mean a lot for a Kansas program that prior to the 2022 and 2023 seasons hadn’t gone to back-to-back bowls since the 2007 and 2008 seasons — and missed out by one game when it went 5-7 in 2024. As a result, a bowl game in 2025 would be the team’s third in four years.

“It would mean everything,” Daniels said. “At the end of the day, nobody starts the season and says that we don’t want to go bowling. We’re at that mark where we have to be able to do what we have to do.”