Kansas head coach Lance Leipold waits to take the field with his team prior to kickoff against Kansas State on Saturday, Oct. 17, 2026, at Bill Snyder Family Stadium. Photo by Nick Krug/Special to the Journal-World

Kansas coach Lance Leipold believes his team can still field an explosive offense and an improved defense, even though it hasn’t produced consistent results on either side of the ball in recent weeks.

As the Jayhawks look to get their season turned back in the right direction after last weekend’s 35-24 defeat at Kansas State, they will face another team coming off a grim rivalry loss: the Baylor Bears.

“For only two losses, they’re a fine football team and they’re going to look to bounce back as well,” Leipold said.

Kickoff at David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium is set for 12 p.m., and the homecoming game will be televised on TNT, truTV and HBO Max.

Baylor, which underwhelmed with a 5-7 record last year, retained head coach Dave Aranda under somewhat unusual circumstances, in part because it did not have an athletic director in place at the conclusion of the college football season.

Aranda’s offseason included the additions of former Kansas State defensive coordinator Joe Klanderman and a variety of transfer talent headlined by former Florida quarterback DJ Lagway, whose father had played for Baylor.

The Bears opened their season by losing to Auburn in Atlanta on an unsuccessful two-point conversion from Lagway to Gavin Freeman with nine seconds remaining, but rattled off four straight wins, including a 55-19 demolition of Arizona State on the road on Oct. 3. Lagway, who missed some time due to injury, threw for 306 yards and four touchdowns and ran for another in that game.

After a bye week, however, Baylor fell flat against rival TCU at home with a 17-6 loss last Saturday.

The running-back trio of Caden Knighten, Ryelan Morris and Dawson Pendergrass combined for just 71 yards on 27 carries and Lagway was 22-for-53 passing with an interception. Aranda told reporters that the Bears’ offensive linemen had their worst game.

That could be an opportunity for KU’s defensive line, which showed promise early in the year, to return to form after it was dramatically outmuscled by Kansas State. But as defensive coordinator D.K. McDonald told his unit this week, that early-season success means opponents will treat the Jayhawks differently.

“When you take steps like that, you have to be able to know you’re going to get maybe a better performance from them, a more intense (performance),” Leipold said. “Whatever that may be, it’s like having a target on your back.”

McDonald pointed out that opposing teams might choose to slide protection in the direction of standout defensive end Leroy Harris III or to help out in pass protection with chips. But even beyond that, “what they watch on film isn’t going to be the same guys that are going to show up on Saturday. Those guys are going to come with a purpose to try to show that they’re better than our guys.”

On the other side of the ball, KU will face a difficult test. The Bears have still held every opponent under 20 points this season, and they lead the Big 12 in sacks with 22, although no individual player has more than three (Daniel Cobbs and Bo Onu, who are oddly both safeties). They have also intercepted six passes and recovered five fumbles. Linebacker Travion Barnes, an FIU transfer, leads the defense with 36 total tackles, including 26 solo.

The Jayhawks’ offense continues to experience highs and lows. KU went from starting slow one week to performing poorly on nearly every drive other than its first of each half the next.

“I talked to our guys, I said I’ve coached and called plays in college longer than a lot of those guys have been alive, and I’ve seen a lot of college football practices, and I am most proud of our guys because we continue to practice well, and we continue to practice intentionally,” Kotelnicki said. “And what’s frustrating for everybody is that it hasn’t shown up in the win column the last two weeks.”

Leipold has said that his team expects to compete in and to win every game. Baylor won’t make it easy for the Jayhawks to get their offense headed in the right direction, but with No. 2 BYU and Oklahoma State lined up to conclude the year, the most manageable stretch for KU if it seeks four wins for bowl eligibility is the next four games.

KANSAS JAYHAWKS (2-4, 0-3 BIG 12) VS. BAYLOR BEARS (4-2, 2-1 BIG 12)

• David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium, Lawrence, 12 p.m.

• Broadcast: TNT/truTV/HBO Max

• Radio: Jayhawk Radio Network (in Lawrence, KLWN AM 1320 / K269GB FM 101.7 / KKSW FM 105.9)

• Betting line: Baylor -2.5; over/under 52.5

• Series history: Baylor leads 19-4

KEEP AN EYE OUT

1. Stable: Kotelnicki said this week that early-down run-game struggles have a lot to do with the Jayhawks’ propensity for going three-and-out: “That’s the kind of common denominator there, right, is when you get stuck in predictable situations on two of the three plays that you’re about to call, that’s a challenge.” Dylan Edwards and the KU offensive line will have to find a way to produce more favorable outcomes on first down — and by and large, it will continue to be Edwards in most cases. Kotelnicki said it wouldn’t be quite fair to say that Jalen Dupree, Khijohnn Cummings-Coleman and Chase Belcher are in “fall camp mode” but that, for various reasons (Dupree’s health, Cummings-Coleman’s position change and Belcher’s recent arrival), “that’s the kind of mentality they have with reps, is that they’re learning every time with them.”

2. Stepping up: McDonald hasn’t been happy with the performance of his linebacker group recently: “I think we got some good players, and they need to play like good players,” he said. No player at the position received a Pro Football Focus grade higher than 65.9 (Bam Crouch) in the K-State loss, and all of Crouch, Trey Lathan and Quincy Davis have faded to the background a bit after starting the year well; meanwhile, Malachi Curvey and Jibreel Al-Amin have continued to play peripheral roles. All will be counted on to help limit Baylor’s run game and attempt to place a greater burden on Lagway.

3. Breakneck pace: Baylor currently has the lowest number of seconds per play in the nation, according to TeamRankings.com, at 21.3. That means it is proceeding at the fastest tempo. The Bears ran 102 plays against Auburn, 87 against Prairie View A&M, 75 against Louisiana Tech, 79 against Colorado, 80 against Arizona State and 94 against TCU, per PFF. That means KU’s depth will be tested, and if the Jayhawks can’t find a way to get off the field quickly on defense, they could get tired in a hurry. It’s not an ideal matchup to face amid a stretch of nine consecutive games without a bye week, and KU will have to do whatever it can to force the Bears to take their time and huddle up.

SPOTLIGHT ON…

Anderson Kopp: The redshirt freshman center from Phoenix seems poised to earn his first career start this weekend with Kasen Carpenter ruled out. Kopp has replaced Carpenter in two games this year due to injuries and acquitted himself quite well, but playing an entire Big 12 contest against a team with strong players in the trenches will be a new challenge. Throw in Connor Stroh’s uncertain role at guard — he played only a few snaps against K-State after earning a starting job earlier in the year — and Kopp will have a lot on his plate working with a new-look unit. Kotelnicki has expressed confidence in his young center — the son of former KU defensive lineman Kevin Kopp — and said this week that if he is in the game, “I have no worries about what we’re calling and why.”

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

38.8: KU’s third-down conversion percentage, which ranks 82nd nationally.

19: Number of years since the Jayhawks beat the Bears; Baylor is on a 14-game winning streak in this matchup.

4: Consecutive wins for KU on homecoming; it hasn’t won a fifth homecoming game in a row since 1995.

PREDICTION

Baylor wins 24-17. The Jayhawks haven’t demonstrated any consistency on offense, and it’s difficult to imagine them finding it against a defense led by Aranda and Klanderman, both of whom have had success against KU in recent years. Even if the Bears don’t get the finest possible version of Lagway, they will just need him to avoid major mistakes to get them across the line.