LAWRENCE, Kan. -- The Kansas Jayhawks enter week six of the college football season with a Big 12 Conference road game at Arizona State on Saturday, Oct. 5 inside Mountain America Stadium in Tempe, Arizona.
Kickoff is slated for 7:05 p.m. CT on ESPN2 with Brian Custer (Play-by-Play), Rod Gilmore (Analyst) and Lauren Sisler (Sideline) on the call.
Kansas (1-4, 0-2 Big 12) enters Saturday’s game coming off a 38-27 defeat to TCU at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium, the Jayhawks’ first of four games played at that venue. The Jayhawks went back-and-forth with the Horned Frogs in a game that featured six lead changes before TCU was able to put together big plays down the stretch to hand Kansas its fourth-straight loss.
Kansas is led by its rushing attack of senior Devin Neal, who has rushed 86 times for 513 yards and four touchdowns, and redshirt-junior Daniel Hishaw Jr., who has complemented Neal with 38 attempts for 262 yards and three touchdowns. Kansas’ rushing attack averages 224.4 rushing yards per game, ranking third in the Big 12 Conference and 15th nationally.
Defensively, Kansas’ duo of Mello Dotson and Cobee Bryant are the nation’s leaders in career interceptions (20), passes defended (59) and defensive touchdowns (6) by any cornerback duo in the country. In the loss vs. TCU, Dotson recorded his third interception of the season, 10th of his career, which leads the Big 12 Conference and is third nationally this season.
Arizona State (3-1, 0-1 Big 12) is coming off a bye week during week five and is searching for its first Big 12 win as a member of the conference. Last time out, Arizona State fell at Texas Tech in its Big 12 Conference opener, 30-22, in a game that ASU outgained Texas Tech, but was unable to overcome an early 14-0 Texas Tech lead.
Under second-year head coach Kenny Dillingham, the Sun Devils are led offensively by senior running back Cam Skattebo, who has carried 86 times for 433 yards and 5 touchdowns. Skattebo has paired with transfer quarterback Sam Leavitt, who has rushed 39 times for 180 yards and four scores. The Sun Devils enter Saturday’s game averaging 32.8 points per game, averaging 409.3 yards of offense while holding the opposition to 286.0.
The meeting will be the first between the Jayhawks and the Sun Devils as Arizona State is among the four newcomers to the Big 12 Conference in 2024. Saturday’s game will be Kansas’ first regular season game played in the state of Arizona in program history after playing in the 2023 Guaranteed Rate Bowl in Phoenix, where the Jayhawks defeated UNLV, 49-36 on Dec. 26, 2023.
Kansas’ first game played in Arizona came on Dec. 31, 2008, when Kansas defeated Minnesota, 42-21 in the 2008 Insight Bowl at Mountain America Stadium, formerly named Sun Devil Stadium.