The Pulse of Jayhawk Nation

• 🏈Soaring Expectations: 2024 football fan survey (Part 1)

• 📝 Quick Links: Furphy and Wilson go off at Summer League

• 🔒 UConn/Big 12 Realignment Hearings to come

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EVERYTHING IN THIS NEWSLETTER IS BASED UPON WHAT I AM HEARING FROM PEOPLE I TRUST. PLEASE DO NOT MISTAKE THIS FOR FACT OR FOR ACTUAL JOURNALISM, WHICH HAS VERIFICATION STANDARDS THAT I HAVE NOT ADHERED TO. I DO NOT GUARANTEE THE ACCURACY OF THE CONTENT.

SURVEY SAYS!

KU begins its most anticipated football season in 15 years on Thursday. KUHearings conducted an exclusive fan survey to gauge the pulse of you (of us), the fanbase ahead of the year.

Nearly 10% of KU Hearings’ subscribers – over 1,400 fans in total – answered the call and responded to the survey over the last seven days. 

The results paint a picture of a fanbase brimming with optimism yet still hesitant due to the scars of KU Football Past.

Today’s results are about the expectations for the season. Tomorrow’s will be about the state of the program.

Onto your answers:

1) High Expectations, but Cautious Optimism Prevails

The question: KU enters the season with its highest expectations in 16 years. What statement best describes your feelings ahead of this season:

• Roughly 41% of you are "excited but trying to manage expectations"

• 27.9% are "all in—this is the year Kansas football takes a big step forward"

• 11.1% are "nervous that the high expectations might lead to disappointment"

• 10.9% are "confident the team will meet or exceed expectations"

• 8.4% are "cautiously optimistic but worry about the pressure"

• 0.8% are "indifferent and will just enjoy watching the games"

My answer/thoughts: We’re on the same page here. The results show an energized fanbase that’s mindful of past disappointments. It’s a mindset shaped by years of painful ups and downs (mostly downs).

I don’t want to be let down if the team goes to its third consecutive bowl game for the first time in program history. I just refuse to let that happen.

Still, it’s noteworthy that more than a quarter of you are “all in,” indicating the strong, emerging core of highly optimistic supporters.

The relatively low percentage of you worried about disappointment suggests we’re ready to believe the team is genuinely ready for the new expectations.

And mostly, the near-absence of indifference speaks volumes to the program’s resurgence.

KU football matters again.

2) Win Expectations: A Renewed Faith

This would’ve been unthinkable just a few years ago.

• 47.2% of you expect a 9-3 season

• 32.4% are even more bullish, predicting 10-2 or better

• 17% anticipate an 8-4 record

• Only 3.3% expect 7-5 or worse

My Vote: I generally lean on 9-3. It’s just so hard to have a near-perfect year.

The Big Take: I want to add a dose of realism to these results: The step from 8-4 to 10-2 is often larger than it appears. And you can currently bet KU’s win total at over/under 8 wins this year.

Note: Hypothetically… I’m on the over.

Either way, confidence in KU football has reached levels not seen in recent memory.

A significant portion of you believe a 10-win season is possible — and that speaks volumes about the program's trajectory under Lance Leipold.

These expectations make for an interesting and new challenge within the athletic department. Managing, meeting, and speaking to these high hopes are going to be crucial for maintaining fan support throughout the season and into next year.

It’s a good thing. It’s an amazing thing when you take a step back. And it’s unthinkable if you take two steps back. There’s a renewed faith in KU football.

3) Gotta Have Faith: Meeting Expectations

• 81.1% of fans rated their confidence at 7 or higher on a 10-point scale.

• The most common responses were 7/10 (29.3%) and 8/10 (32.2%).

• Only 6.1% rated their confidence below a 5/10.

Quick Take: I asked this with the question about as a measure of faith. The results generally say that yes, expectations are high, and you all (we) believe in the staff/team to deliver.

4) The Game(s) Fans Are Most Pumped For…

Unsurprisingly, the Kansas State remains the most anticipated matchup. This is my answer as well. Beyond that…

• The Colorado game at Arrowhead (52.2%) is a big one, likely because the Buffs are buzzy, and it’s late in the year when stakes could be their peak.

• 33.5% selected the Iowa State game at Arrowhead, which will have a great atmosphere and is also late in the year.

• There were fun write in answers: multiple people added the Big 12 Championship Game, including specifying Utah as the opponent. And there were multiple CFP Playoffs and National Championship responses.

5) Areas for Improvement: Health and Defense Take Center Stage

Together, we have a clear vision of where we want the team to improve. I’m aligned with you on the top priorities:

• 36.5% prioritize "Staying healthy" as the top area for improvement

• 26.5% want to see better "Defense in general"

• 21.2% specifically highlighted "Red Zone Defense" as a key area

Health is out of anyone’s control, but we all agree it’s critical to team success. Meanwhile, the defense needs to catch up in order for KU to close the gap from an 8-win program to a 10+ win powerhouse.

In the survey last year, I asked where fans want to see the team improve most. Defensive line was the top response with 43% of the vote. As far as we’ve come, there’s still plenty of room to go…

6) Confidence in the Defense?

Your Answer: We have a tie! The results were evenly split between a six and a seven. More people skewed to five than eight for the opposite ends of the tie.

While there isn’t resounding fan pessimism about the defense, it’s clearly the biggest question mark beyond Daniels’ health this year.

My Answer: I’ll break the tie with a 6. I want to see the defense prove it, first.

I’ve Heard the secondary has looked great. My concern is up front. Let’s see how the staff develops these guys.

7) Player Excitement: The Jalon Daniels Show

• An overwhelming 66.7% chose Daniels

• 18.3% picked Devin Neal

• The WRs grabbed 9.5% of the excitement

Quick Take: Week after week the last two years, we’ve been left to wonder if Daniels would make it back to the field. My vote is the same as yours: I want to see Daniels out there.

His health will likely be crucial factors in KU’s success and fan satisfaction this year.

Runner Up: I want to shout out the WRs. I’ve Heard great things about their offseason, and I’m looking forward to seeing them with a new OC who might utilize them more than the past play caller.

8) Fan Priorities: Building for the Long Haul

When asked what’s most important to you this season, you revealed a focus on sustainable success and competition.

• 46.8% prioritize "Keeping program momentum and coaching staff retention"

• 31.8% emphasize "Competing in the new Big 12"

• Only 12.9% chose "Beating K-State" as the top priority

• Surprisingly, just 8.5% selected "Making a bowl game" as most important

The Big Take: The results suggest you are looking beyond a single game, or even a single season. There’s a clear desire from you, the true diehard fans, for long-term stability and competitiveness in the evolving Big 12 landscape.

I love this answer. Yes, some of the answers overlap, but I wanted to know which statement best represented your thoughts.

You are clearly focused toward keeping this thing moving in the right direction… whatever that may mean.

I think this bodes well for fan patience and support as the program keeps… sawing wood 😏 toward becoming a real power in the conference.

There’s more to come tomorrow! HAPPY GAME WEEK!

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🏈 Watch myself, former Rock Chalk Sports Talk host Nick Schwerdt, and KU football fanatic/expert Bryson Stricker give our predictions for this season.

• You can also listen to the episode here on Spotify and on Apple podcasts.

🏈 Jason Bean mania continues to take over Indy. Local columnist Gregg Doyel called him the ‘dashing new hero’ when promoting his Colts mailbag (which doesn’t have a paywall. See the promo here. Read the mailbag here.

We’ll find out later today if Bean makes the Colts’ roster (I’m Hearing chatter that he’ll make the cut). I’ll send out a text to VIP subscribers as soon as the news breaks.

📺🏈 Former KU football WR Micah Brown is the director and showrunner for the new Netflix documentary ‘Sign Stealer’ which covers the Connor Stallions-Michigan scandal. Watch the trailer here.

🏈 You can get KU football pregame sideline passes by replying to the tweet below!