Central Michigan-Kansas.
Time: 2:30 CST
Spread: KAN -3.5
Total: 44.5
M/L: KAN -165; CM +140

Betting Odds courtesy of Bookmaker

The Kansas Jayhawks fell to 1-1 last week with an embarrassing 41-3 loss to Duke. The week prior, the Cardinals squeaked by SE Missouri State, winning 34-28.

Sophomore Montell Cozart starts at QB, and he as had his struggles thus far. He’s thrown three TDs and two INTs, while also having been sacked four times. In the victory over SE Missouri State, he completed 50 percent of his passes, but that number dipped to just 40.7 percent against Duke. He also threw no TDs against Duke while racking up three interceptions.

DeAndre Mann and Corey Avery split the ball handling duties up evenly. Avery, a freshman, has been the Jayhawks most consistent threat thus far. He showed up in the loss to Duke, catching 16 passes for 87 yards. He runs a lot of short routes, and resultantly his yards per rush have been moderate (4.8 vs SEMS and 5.4 vs Duke).

Mann is in his junior season and has rushed for 186 yards on 27 carries, good for 6.9 yards per carry. But he has yet to score a TD on the year, and his game agains Duke was more pedestrian, rushing for 65 yards on 12 carries. He caught one reception for 36 yards in the game, though.

Mann and Avery have been good enough to propel the Jayhawks to the 34th spot in rushing yards, though it is still very early obviously. Its defense and passing that the Jayhawks lack and that is going to limit the team’s scoring this season. Even so, the Jayhawks find itself 3.5 point favorites against Central Michigan this week.

Central Michigan is in the MAC conference, and is 2-1 on the season. The Chippewas won weeks 1 and 2, disposing of Chattanooga and Purdue. Purdue has been hideously awful at defense for the last few seasons, so it was hardly a surprise that Boilermakers were blown out.

Aside from that drubbing, the Chippewas have lost the other two games by an average of 17 points. So, it is actually respite to face this Jayhawks team, even more so since Kansas is at home.

Sophomore QB Cooper Rush has had success this season. He’s completing 57.9 percent of his passes of an average of 6.95 yards per carry. He’s thrown four TDs to one INT, but the nine sacks he has incurred hurt. Even so, his QB ranking is a 131.0. He stood out in the game against Purdue, throwing for 172 yards on 16 passes with a 68.8 percent completion ratio. The other games he was a little more ground to the Earth, with 57.7 percent (vs Chattanooga) and 52.9 (Syracuse).

Central Michigan has two easy games following this match against Toledo and Ohio before facing the Northern Illinois Huskies.

The Chippewas are 5-0 ATS in last 5 road games and the Jayhawks are 0-5-1 ATS in last six Sept. games. The Jayhawks are also 0-4 ATS following an SU loss of more than 20 points.