Via Kansas Athletics
LAWRENCE, Kan. — Kansas football recorded historic performances both offensively and defensively as the Jayhawks defeated Middle Tennessee 55-0 on Saturday afternoon at David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium.
The Jayhawks set a new single-game school record with 706 yards of total offense while notching the program’s first shutout of an opponent since 2008 in the process. Kansas ran for 480 yards, the fifth most in school history, while adding 226 yards through the air. Defensively, KU limited MTSU to 136 yards of total offense, which is the fewest allowed during head coach Lance Leipold‘s six-year tenure at Kansas.
Dylan Edwards paced the Jayhawks with 137 yards and three touchdowns on 20 carries, while quarterback Isaiah Marshall also topped the century mark with 110 yards on 11 carries. Jalen Dupree, Chase Jenkins and Khijohn Cummings-Coleman also added rushing touchdowns for KU.
Marshall completed 13-of-22 passes for 161 yards and a touchdown, which came on a 34-yard strike to Nahzae Cox in the third quarter. Cam Pickett led the Jayhawks with six receptions while Bryson Hayes had a team-high 50 receiving yards on three catches.
Corey Gordon, Trey Lathan and Leroy Harris III led the Jayhawks with three tackles apiece, while Harris also forced and recovered a fumble. KU had seven tackles for loss in the game, led by Bam Crouch and Jibriel Conde with 1.5 each.
With the win, Kansas improves to 2-2 on the year, while Middle Tennessee falls to 2-3. Kansas returns to Big 12 Conference play with eight-straight conference games starting Saturday, Oct. 10 at No. 13 Utah. Kickoff is slated for 9:15 p.m. CT from Rice Eccles-Stadium in Salt Lake City on ESPN.
Kansas scored on its first two drives of the games and four of five possessions in the first half, building a 20-0 lead at the break. Following a 10-play drive that ended with a 43-yard Martin Connington field goal, the Jayhawks scored their first touchdown of the day on a six-yard run by Edwards at the 13:13 mark of the second quarter.
Edwards scored his second rushing touchdown of the day with 4:23 to play in the second quarter, putting KU on top 17-0 before Connington connected from 35 yards out in the closing seconds of the half to make it 20-0.
Kansas kept its offensive success rolling in the third quarter, with Edwards adding his third rushing touchdown of the game to cap KU’s first drive before Marshall found Cox for a 34-yard score at the 3:47 mark which made the score 34-0. Defensively, the Jayhawks forced two three and outs while recovering a fumble in the quarter as KU held the Blue Raiders to less than three minutes of possession in the third.
The Jayhawks closed out the game with three touchdowns in the fourth quarter. Dupree found the end zone from five yards out before Chase Jenkins and Cummings-Coleman both scored their first touchdowns in a Kansas uniform.
