Friday Night Recap: Kansas Ends 48-game Road Skid To Power 5 Teams

September 14, 2019 by Dave Congrove

Kansas had a Miles-stone victory on Friday night at Boston College, notching the school's first road win against a Power 5 opponent since knocking off Iowa State in 2008 - a stretch of 48 games. Thus, it's a bit ironic that Kansas scored a point for every such game it had lost. The 48-24 victory came on the first road trip under new head coach Les Miles.

The Jayhawks were a 21-point underdog and flipped that script with a 24-point victory.

So what does it mean? Absolutely nothing. Not to diminish the victory, but this is the same Kansas squad that was fresh off a 12-7 home loss to Coastal Carolina (a Group of Five school) and needed a late score in their opener for a 24-17 win over FCS member Indiana State. Yes, Kansas is 2-1, but the Jayhawks also started 2-1 a year ago when a win at Central Michigan in week two was their first road win over anyone since taking down UTEP in 2009.

That said, what happens over the next couple of weeks will be telling. Kansas returns home to face a beatable West Virginia team next week. After that, it s back on the road to take on a TCU program that the Jayhawks defeated 27-26 last year in Lawrence.

Also on Friday night, Mack Brown's North Carolina Tar Heels lost for the first time in 2019 (2-1), falling 24-18 at Wake Forest (3-0). Though the two schools are both in the ACC, this was not an ACC conference game. The long-term rivals didn't like the 6-year interval between games under the league's cross-over scheduling, so they'll meet again in a "non-conference" clash in 2021 at UNC.

The third and final game on Friday saw Washington State take a 31-24 win at Houston in a game played at NRG Stadium, home of the NFL's Texans. The Pullman Cougars were up 31-17 before allowing a late touchdown.