Jalon Daniels passed for 247 yards and three touchdowns and ran for another score as Kansas rolled to a 42-14 win over Houston on Saturday afternoon in a Big 12 game at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Mo.
The Jayhawks (2-5, 1-3 Big 12) snapped a five-game losing streak. Kansas rushed out to a three-touchdown lead 19 minutes into the game and never looked back as Daniels went 16 of 21 through the air and ran for 58 yards. Devin Neal added 108 yards and two scores on the ground while Cobee Bryant led the Kansas defense with three interceptions..
Donovan Smith entered the game in the second quarter for Houston (2-5, 1-3) in relief of starter Zeon Chriss and passed for 173 yards and two TDs. But he was also picked off three times and was lifted in the final minutes in favor of Ui Ale, who drove the Cougars to the Kansas 7-yard line on Houston’s final drive before the Kansas defense stiffened.
The Jayhawks set the tone early, using nearly nine minutes and 15 plays on the game’s opening possession to march to a 2-yard scoring pass from Daniels to Jaren Casey. After a Bryant interception on Houston’s initial possession, Daniels wasted no time adding to the lead as he hit Quentin Skinner on a 48-yard bomb to make it 14-0 with 2:37 to play in the first quarter.
Neal’s 2-yard TD burst two snaps after a 37-yard run on a reverse by Luke Grimm stoked the Kansas lead to 21-0 four minutes into the second quarter.
The Cougars got on the board via a 23-yard Smith-to-Stacy Sneed TD pass with 6:18 left in the second quarter. Daniels responded with a 3-yard touchdown toss to Casey with 3:33 to play in the half to push Kansas’ advantage back to three scores.
Houston flashed its own big-play ability when Mekhi Mews took a short crossing pass from Smith, turned the corner and went 53 yards for a TD to make it 28-14 with 1:30 to play until halftime.
After a scoreless third quarter, the Jayhawks expanded their advantage to 35-14 on Daniels’ 8-yard scoring run with 14:21 to play that culminated an 87-yard, eight-play drive. Kansas added a 5-yard TD run by Neal with 6:50 left to finalize the scoring.
