Kansas running back Torry Locklin celebrates after his touchdown during the first half of an NCAA college football game against Houston, Saturday, Sept. 17, 2022, in Houston. (AP Photo/Eric Christian Smith)

So now that the Kansas football program has done the unthinkable and ripped off three straight wins to the start the 2022 season, it’s only natural to wonder what’s next.

From the fan perspective, wondering what’s next is tied directly to next week’s game against 3-0 Duke and questions about whether ESPN’s College Gameday might come to Lawrence to host its Saturday showcase and highlight the clash between basketball powers.

It’s one thing for fans to hope for that. After all, that’s what fans do. Get fired up, go overboard and spend a few seconds firing off a tweet tagging College Gameday.

They weren’t the only ones, though.

Within minutes of Saturday’s 48-30 win going final, KU assistant Rob Ianello was already on Twitter encouraging Gameday to come to Lawrence. That merely followed up a tweet from the official KU football account featuring longtime Gameday host Lee Corso putting on a Jayhawk head.

Those weren’t the only one notable tweets.

About an hour after the game, KU Athletic Director Travis Goff penned his own tweet inviting the Gameday crew to town, tagging Kirk Herbstreit, Desmond Howard, Rece Davis, Pat McAfee, David Pollack and Chris Fallica individually, along with the entire College Gameday entity.

“Lawrence, KS,” Goff began. “It will be magical next weekend.”

That likely will be true whether Gameday makes it to town or not. But if it does, therein adding to the significant buzz that already surrounds the program, you might see football fever in Lawrence like you’ve never seen it before.

The guess here is that the final word will come sometime Sunday.

A couple of people I checked with at KU on Saturday night, did not know yet and weren’t sure when they would.

From the looks of it, games between Florida and Tennessee and Clemson and Wake Forest are likely KU’s biggest competition to host Gameday next week.

But don’t underestimate ESPN latching on to the KU-Duke football/basketball angle and wanting to spend an entire day cheesing it up over that.

Either way, the mere fact that I wrote this and people are wondering is just another sign that Kansas football once again is headed in the right direction under second-year coach Lance Leipold and crew.

Kickoff for next Saturday’s battle of the unbeatens is slated for 11 a.m. on FS1.

And Goff already is asking fans to show up and be loud. Don’t be surprised if they listen and don’t be shocked if it’s a sellout.

Goff talks to fans

Goff tweets at Gameday

Ianello tweets at Gameday

KU tweets at Gameday