With loss at Arizona, Kansas football’s road to bowl eligibility becomes more challenging
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As with any loss, the missed opportunities will loom large after Kansas football’s 24-20 defeat Saturday, Nov. 8, on the road against Arizona.
Look on defense, and a pair of potential interceptions called back — one for a penalty, and another that was overturned after replay. Look on offense, and a drive late in the fourth quarter while the Jayhawks led 20-17 sputtered out in the red zone with a decision to kick a field goal on 4th and 2 at the 11-yard line. Look on special teams, and a missed field goal from 30 yards out that followed the choice to kick a field goal.
But considering the state of KU’s season, the opportunities left out on the field will loom even larger. This was a chance for Kansas (5-5, 3-4 in Big 12) to become bowl eligible against Big 12 Conference-foe Arizona (6-3, 3-3).
Instead, the Jayhawks will leave that game wanting and looking ahead to their last two games of the season — at Iowa State on Nov. 22, vs Utah on Nov. 28 — seemingly even less likely to pick up that pivotal sixth win.
“We’ve just got to keep fighting,” Kansas coach Lance Leipold said on the Varsity Network postgame show. “We’ve got two to go. We’ve got to fight our way to bowl eligibility, and I think this group will. This one is definitely disappointing, and especially with a close one at the end again. We’ve had our share of these, and again, as a head coach, I’ve got to take responsibility for that and find ways for us to be better in those situations.”
The defeat brings up Leipold’s disappointing record of late in one-score games, now 1-2 in 2025 after a 1-5 mark in 2024. It casts a shadow on what could take place during the final two games of the regular season and leads one to wonder what a second-straight year without a bowl game appearance would do to the program’s trajectory. The margin for error for this group was always going to be small when it came to making a bowl game, and that margin continues to tighten.
Iowa State (6-4, 3-4) hasn’t had the season many expected, and at one point encountered a four-game losing streak. But Iowa State has also just become bowl eligible itself after a win on the road against TCU. Iowa State can also carry added motivation from the fact it’s lost its last three games against Kansas and won’t want to see that streak extended in Ames, Iowa.
Utah (7-2, 4-2) has been one of the better teams that the Big 12 has to offer this fall. In its most recent game, it trounced a Cincinnati team that beat Kansas. As much as home-field advantage matters, the question will remain about how much the David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium boost will do for the Jayhawks in that regular season finale.
So, KU will head into the open week that follows this loss in Tucson, Arizona, with a lot on the minds of players, coaches and fans. Questions will linger about decisions made during the game at Arizona and what could have been done differently. One more defensive stop, or a late scoring drive offensively, would have lessened the sting of those questions, but neither happened and for now the sting will only grow.
Jordan Guskey covers University of Kansas Athletics at The Topeka Capital-Journal. He was the 2022 National Sports Media Association’s sportswriter of the year for the state of Kansas. Contact him at jmguskey@gannett.com or on Twitter at @JordanGuskey.
This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Kansas football loss bowl game chances after loss to Arizona
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