Kansas wide receiver Steven Sims Jr. (11) celebrates with teammate Ke'aun Kinner (22) after his second touchdown of the third quarter on Saturday, Sept. 10, 2016 at Memorial Stadium.

The Kansas football program’s official road losing streak reached 38 games with Saturday’s 49-7 loss to Baylor in Waco, where Bears coach Jim Grobe showed great mercy by resting his starters after taking a 42-0 lead into halftime.

The record does not count three losses to Missouri at Arrowhead Stadium because those were played on a neutral field. So even though KU has lost its last 41 games played outside of Lawrence, the official streak stands at 38.

If Kansas can’t win away from home the rest of this season and in any of its first four road contests of 2017, Western State’s (Gunnison, Col.) record road losing streak of 44 will fall.

Three road games remain this season: Oklahoma, West Virginia, Kansas State. Looking at the past two outcomes in Norman, Morgantown and Manhattan doesn’t inspire confidence that the streak won’t be carried into next season. In its last three trips to those cities, the combined scores have been 96-14 vs. Oklahoma, 92-24 vs. West Virginia and 107-29 against K-State.

In all likelihood, the streak will stand at 41 heading into the 2017 season. Kansas has a realistic shot to end it, Sep. 16 in Athens, Ohio, against an Ohio Bobcats squad that won in Lawrence, 37-21, in the second game of this season.

Potential areas of improvement that need to be realized for Kansas to gain signifcant ground on Ohio:

Offensive line: Charles Baldwin was ranked No. 1 among junior-college offensive linemen, signed with Alabama and participated in the program last spring He was dismissed from the team by coach Nick Saban for violating a team rule. If Baldwin matures enough, gains enough discipline to avoid repeating whatever mistake it was that led to his ejection from the nation’s top program, he could nail down left tackle and enable whatever guard would have been used there to play his natural position. D’Andre Banks is the only senior starting on the offensive line so it doesn’t require a great leap of faith to believe the rest of the line will improve as well.

Quarterback: A better line equates to better play at quarterback. One more candidate will join the mix that already includes current starter Ryan Willis, former starter Montell Cozart and backup Carter Stanley. Tyriek Starks, a fast, strong-armed recruit from New Orleans,. is redshirting this season. Considered raw coming out of college, Starks will compete for the job in the spring.

Wide receiver: Daylon Charlot, a 5-foot-11, 180-pound sprinter from Patterson, La., was frustrated with his lack of playing time as a true freshman at Alabama and transferred to Kansas. Coaches are excited with what they have seen from Charlot in practice. Put him on the field with fellow burner LaQuvionte Gonzalez, Steven Sims and big target Chase Harrell, who is developing steadily, mix in tight end Ben Johnson, and there will be no shortage of capable pass-catchers.

The defense will lose six starters, but if the staff on that side of the ball stays together, they’ll figure out how to field a competitive unit.