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09/04 22:37 CDT Kansas shakes off a sluggish start, crushes LIU 51-6 in its
opener ahead of Border War with Missouri
Kansas shakes off a sluggish start, crushes LIU 51-6 in its opener ahead of
Border War with Missouri
By DAVE SKRETTA
AP Sports Writer
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) --- Isaiah Marshall threw for 246 yards and two touchdowns,
Yasin Willis ran for 72 yards and two scores in his Kansas debut, and the
Jayhawks rolled after a sluggish start to a 51-6 victory over Long Island
University in their season-opener on Friday night.
Buffalo transfer Nik McMillan had six catches for 130 yards and a touchdown,
and Tate Nagy added a second-half scoring catch off a deflected pass, as the
Jayhawks warmed up for the latest edition of the Border War against bitter
rival Missouri next week.
Kansas piled up 613 yards of total offense in the return of Andy Kotelnicki,
their former offensive coordinator. He departed a couple of years ago for the
same job at Penn State, but returned to the Jayhawks as the associate head
coach earlier this year.
Luca Stanzani threw for 111 yards for LIU (0-2). He also was the Sharks'
leading rusher with 20 yards.
Marshall won the starting job over Cole Ballard as the successor to Jalon
Daniels, who'd played quarterback for most of the past six seasons at Kansas.
Daniels was back in Memorial Stadium on a sweltering Friday night --- the heat
index was 102 degrees Fahrenheit (39 degrees Celsius) at kickoff --- after
having won the backup job to Baker Mayfield with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
The first few series for Marshall were a little shaky, and Kansas led just 6-0
early in the second quarter. But eventually, the sophomore QB began to find his
athletic fleet of wide receivers downfield, and that opened up the rest of
coach Lance Leipold's offense.
The first big strike was a 46-yard pass to McMillan that set up Willis, a
Syracuse transfer, whose second TD run made it 16-0. Then came a 47-yard throw
to Nahzae Cox, setting up Jalen Dupree's scoring plunge, and a 19-yard
touchdown toss to McMillan that sent the Jayhawks into halftime with a 30-0
lead.
LIU had managed just 43 yards by that point. The Sharks finished with 146 for
the game.
The Jayhawks soaked up most of the third quarter with another touchdown drive,
and Ballard and the backups took care of the rest, much to the delight of PGA
Tour star and Kansas alum Gary Woodland, who watched the game from the sideline.
The takeaway Kansas did exactly what was expected against LIU, which was routed by fellow FCS-level school North Dakota last weekend. But the road will get much more difficult when the Tigers roll into town fresh off a 54-14 win over Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Thursday night.
Up next
Long Island returns home to play Albany on Sept. 12. Kansas hosts the Tigers next Friday night for the first time since Oct. 29, 2005. ___ Sign up for Top 25 poll alerts here, visit the Top 25 here and see AP's full college football coverage here
The takeaway Kansas did exactly what was expected against LIU, which was routed by fellow FCS-level school North Dakota last weekend. But the road will get much more difficult when the Tigers roll into town fresh off a 54-14 win over Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Thursday night.
Up next
Long Island returns home to play Albany on Sept. 12. Kansas hosts the Tigers next Friday night for the first time since Oct. 29, 2005. ___ Sign up for Top 25 poll alerts here, visit the Top 25 here and see AP's full college football coverage here
