Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders at Kansas Jayhawks

Rushing attack, strong defense lead Kansas past Middle Tennessee

It was Kansas’ first shutout since 2008 against Louisiana Tech.

“We needed it, no doubt,” head coach Lance Leipold said. “It’s good to get back on the winning track. The good thing about it is our football team has confidence coming out of this. Our defense has played with a lot of confidence, but when you have a have a game like this, it can boost all the way around.”

Kansas outgained Middle Tennessee 706-136, including 480-55 rushing.

It was the first 100-yard rushing game for Edwards with the Jayhawks, the third of his career.

“It felt like it was easy when the line did their job,” Edwards said. “We’re just gonna keep building from here.”

Quarterback Isaiah Marshall also rushed for more than 100 yards, gaining 110 on 11 carries. Marshall was also 13-of-22 passing for 161 yards and a touchdown. Marshall and Edwards sat for much of the second half.

“In the first half I missed a couple of throws that could have been big, but I feel like I did a good job controlling the offense,” Marshall said. “Great job by the O-line and the running backs and the receivers.

“It starts with a great week of practice. I think the biggest thing is trusting each other. We went in with a great game plan. We wanted to run the ball on them, and that’s what we did. I’m very happy with the offense performance we had.”

The defense shined for Kansas (2-2), holding Middle Tennessee (2-3) to just seven first downs and 3.2 yards per play.

“Our guys are playing confidently, communicating well,” Leipold said. “For the most part we covered more aggressively today. We’re continuing to get some pressure on the quarterback and got him off rhythm, (which) made it tough for him.”

Keeping the shutout was important for the Kansas defense.

“As a defense, you would want zero points on the board every game,” linebacker Bam Crouch said. “Even with our twos, threes and fours going in, there was no fall off. That’s a big thing for our defense. We want to rotate a lot of players and not have any fall off, and we were able to display that today. So it was a great day.”

Edwards opened the second-half scoring with a 12-yard touchdown. Marshall then hit Middle Tennessee transfer Nahzae Cox on a 34-yard touchdown.

After seeing its first drive stalled by a penalty and settling for a field goal, Kansas took a 10-0 lead in the second quarter on an 8-yard touchdown run by Edwards early in the second quarter. It capped a 13-play, 75-yard drive.

Edwards then punched it in from the 5-yard line to give Kansas a 17-0 lead with 4:43 left in the first half. At halftime, Edwards had amassed 89 yards on the ground and an additional 30 in receiving yards.

The Jayhawks took a 20-0 lead into the locker room, having outgained the Blue Raiders 281-50.

The Takeaway Middle Tennessee: The Blue Raiders lacked the big play Saturday. Middle Tennessee had just two plays of more than 15 yards.

Kansas: Penalties were the only blemish in a nearly flawless effort for the Jayhawks. Kansas finished with six penalties for 50 yards, all in the first half.

Up next Middle Tennessee: returns to Conference USA action with a home game against Delaware on Oct. 13.

Kansas: returns to Big 12 play at No. 13 Utah next Saturday.

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