The 5-6 Kansas Jayhawks pulled off a huge upset on Saturday afternoon. Playing the No. 16 Colorado Buffaloes in Arrowhead Stadium, the Jayhawks' offense ran wild over Deion Sanders' defense, winning 37-21 on Saturday.
With the win, Kansas became the first team in FBS history to beat three straight ranked opponents with a losing record. In the last two weeks Kansas beat No. 6 BYU and No. 17 Iowa State.
There are multiple Big 12 title game and College Football Playoff implications with this Jayhawks' victory, so let's dive into what this all means for both of those postseasons.
How Kansas upset Colorado
Kansas' offense, led by quarterback Jalon Daniels and running back Devin Neal, dominated Colorado's defense throughout. The Jayhawks got out to a 17-0 lead early, and added two field goals to go to the locker room with a 23-14 lead.
Colorado opened the second half with a six-play, 51-yard touchdown scoring drive. But Kansas responded right back, scoring another Devil Neal touchdown to go up by 9. The Jayhawks added yet another touchdown to take a 37-21 lead. On the day, Kansas had 520 total yards of offense, and dominated time of possession 40:11 -19:49
Colorado QB Shedeur Sanders finished with 266 yards passing with three touchdowns—two of those to Heisman frontrunner Travis Hunter. But it was the Buffs' defense that lost this one.
How does this affect Colorado's playoff chances?
With three losses, Colorado can only get into the playoff if the Buffs can make it to the Big 12 conference championship game, and then win that game. Colorado will not receive an at-large bid.
That was likely already the case for Colorado even before this loss, given the Buffaloes' No. 16 ranking this week.
What are Colorado's chances to reach the Big 12 title game?
Here's where things get interesting for the Buffs.
Arizona State beating BYU 28-23 earlier today, which impacted Colorado's chances. The win puts the Sun Devils tied for second place in the standings, alongside both BYU and Iowa State, assuming the Cyclones get a win at Utah Saturday night. All three teams would be 6-2 in conference play. Even with Colorado's loss to Kansas today, the Buffs are also still tied for second in the Big 12. Here's a look at those standings:
School | Big 12 record | Overall | PF | PA |
Arizona State | 6-2 | 9-2 | 336 | 251 |
BYU | 6-2 | 9-2 | 339 | 223 |
Colorado | 6-2 | 8-3 | 362 | 264 |
Iowa State | 5-2 | 8-2 | 314 | 186 |
Colorado would mainly need help from Iowa State and Arizona State between now and the end of next weekend. The Buffs also have to beat Oklahoma State at home next week. Here are a few scenarios for Colorado to make it to Arlington.
In all of these scenarios, Colorado is knocked out if the Buffs lose to Oklahoma State. These scenarios assume a Colorado win in that game. The Cowboys are 0-7 in Big 12 play, so the Buffs will likely be solid favorites.
- Colorado goes to Big 12 title game with: An Iowa State loss to Utah Saturday night, Iowa State beats Kansas State next week and Arizona State beats Arizona next week
- Colorado goes to the Big 12 title game with: An Iowa State win over Utah Saturday night, Iowa State loses to Kansas State next week and Arizona State beats Arizona next week
- Colorado goes to the Big 12 title game with: An Iowa State win over Utah Saturday night, Arizona beats Arizona State next week and Iowa State beats Kansas State next week
- Colorado goes to the Big 12 title game with: A Utah win over Iowa State tonight, an Arizona win over Arizona State next week and a Kansas State win over Iowa State next week
There are multiple tiebreakers that the Big 12 will use this season. Here are the first four of those, via my colleague Bill Bender:
Step 1: Head-to-head competition among the teams.
Step 2: Win percentage against all common conference opponents among the tied teams.
Step 3: Win percentage against the next highest placed common opponent in the standings (based on the record in all games played within the Conference), proceeding through the standings
Step 4: Combined win percentage in conference games of conference opponents, or the strength-of-conference schedule.
Colorado's loss to Kansas was definitely a shock especially considering the Jayhawks' 4-6 record coming into this. But thanks to Arizona State's resurgence and BYU falling late in the year, the Buffs are still very much alive to make the Big 12 title game, win that, and earn a bid as a top-four conference champion and first-round bye.
