Colorado has one of its toughest games of the season Saturday when it travels to a hostile Arrowhead Stadium to take on Kansas. The Jayhawks are just 4-6 on the season, but they have two consecutive ranked wins over Iowa State and BYU and come into this one playing some of the best football in the Big 12.

A lot of Kansas’ losses come down to luck and poor execution at the end of games, rather than being the inferior team. Turnovers cost the Jayhawks in close early-season losses against Illinois (23-17) and UNLV (23-20), both of whom are ranked in the top 25 this week. Kansas also dropped winnable games against West Virginia (32-28) and Kansas State (29-27), the latter of which it was just a few yards away from closing out.

Colorado can’t afford to look at Kansas’ record and expect an easy win. This is one of the most talented teams on the schedule and coach Lance Leipold has it playing its best football at this point in the season. The Jayhawks have taken plenty of joy in playing spoiler for Iowa State and BYU, and they will be looking to do the same thing to the Buffs on Saturday.

Let’s take a look at what Kansas brings to the table on both sides of the ball.

Head Coach: Lance Leipold (167-66 in 17+ college seasons, 4th at Kansas)

2023 record: 9-2 (5-4 Big 12)

Total offense: 403.1 yards per game (51st in FBS)

Total defense: 380.0 yards allowed per game (79th)

Scoring offense: 30.2 points per game (51st)

Scoring defense: 24.6 points allowed per game (67th)

The Buffs should be looking for a bounce-back on Saturday after a game against Utah where they were extremely inconsistent and relied on a lot of explosive plays to move the ball and put up points. They still managed to score 49 points (42 of them on offense), but that isn’t a super sustainable way of moving the ball week to week.

This is a solid but unspectacular Kansas defense that ranks in the middle of the pack in most areas. It isn’t nearly as stout, especially up front, as the Utah defense that gave CU some trouble last week, but the Jayhawks do have two stars that make things difficult in the secondary and are capable of swinging a game with a big play at just about any moment.

Cornerbacks Mello Dotson and Cobee Bryant form one of the best duos on the outside in the country. The two Kansas stars have combined for nine interceptions this season, and they are capable of altering an opposing gameplan each and every week.

Kansas mixes up its coverages, with a fairly balanced diet of zone and man coverage. Sometimes Bryant and Dotson will be asked to defend the deep parts of the field in a Cover 3 or an inverted Cover 2 look, but they also are excellent at picking off short passes in man coverage or in traditional Cover 2 looks. One of the Jayhawks’ biggest plays of the season came from one of these man looks when Dotson jumped on a dig route against Iowa State, picked it off and took it back for a touchdown.

Because of the matchup, this could be a huge game for LaJohntay Wester. Wester will have the matchup advantage of playing in the slot away from the two Kansas stars and can work against a lesser corner or against the linebackers in zone coverage over the middle. In the Jayhawks' win over Iowa State, star Cyclones wide receiver Jaylin Noel caught eight balls for 167 yards and two touchdowns while working primarily out of the slot.

While getting the ball to the guys out on the perimeter will be a challenge, the Buffs have an advantage once they get it there. As talented as they are in coverage, the Kansas corners struggle to get guys on the ground on the perimeter. Both are on the smaller side — Dotson is listed at 190 pounds and Bryant is 175 — so Travis Hunter and Will Sheppard should be able to overpower them with the ball in their hands. Dotson has especially struggled to make stops; he has 10 missed tackles this season and just 41 total tackles (33 solo).

Kansas plays a lot of off-man coverage, which is something that not a lot of teams have done to Colorado this season. However, Bryant and Dotson are very good in this technique where they start eight or 10 yards off the ball and still play man coverage (see the clip of Dotson above). However, some of CU’s quick screens and RPO’s could be a good option to take advantage of the tackling in space because of the cushion that Kansas’ off-man scheme provides.

The start of this game is going to be very important. Shedeur Sanders has thrown an interception on the first drive of two games this season, and the Buffs have gotten off to a bit of a slow start in the last two games. In front of a crowd that is going to be very hostile and loud, Colorado can’t afford to fall into an early hole.

The running game could go a long way to achieving some more balance and consistency early in the game. The Buffs abandoned the running game for the most part pretty early in last week’s game, but this should be a matchup where the ground game can be a consistent source of success and stability. Kansas ranks in the middle of the pack nationally defending the run and it primarily plays an even front. The Buffs have proven they can put a tight end on the field and run the ball with at least moderate success against those looks this season, and that could take a lot of pressure off of Sanders and the passing game.

Colorado’s defense has become a more steady group that can be relied on from down to down, but this is a game where it can make some more of those splash plays and create turnovers like it has in recent weeks.

Ball security has been an Achilles heel for a Kansas offense that has the tools and talent to be an explosive unit, and it goes a long way in deciphering how the Jayhawks find themselves at 4-6. Kansas turned the ball over four times in a 6-point road loss against Illinois, a top 25 team. Jalon Daniels threw two costly picks in a 3-point loss against UNLV, another ranked team.

Late fumbles also cost Lance Leipold and company in one-score conference losses against West Virginia and Kansas State, the latter of which coming with Kansas just a few yards away from closing the game out. Kansas has cleaned up this issue a bit during its recent hot streak; it has a +2 turnover margin in wins against Iowa State and BYU.

When the Jayhawks do take care of the ball, they have a very good situational offense that performs very well on high-leverage plays in critical areas of the field. They rank 7th in the nation on third down, converting at a 50% clip, and they have 27 touchdowns and six field goals in 34 red zone trips this season.

A lot of that comes down to a versatile and multifaceted running game. Devin Neal is the next excellent back on the Colorado schedule, and he will likely surpass 1,000 yards with a decent day on Saturday. Daniels is also an explosive weapon on the ground for Kansas, but he doesn't just keep the ball on read plays. Any of the run concepts in the Kansas playbook can go to the quarterback or the running back, which allows the Jayhawks to change the math up front and get an extra body out blocking in the red zone or in short yardage situations.

The success that Kansas has on the ground helps it stay in manageable down-and-distances in these situations, so the Buffs can make it significantly tougher on the Kansas offense if they’re able to stifle the running game on first and second down.

If Robert Livingston and company can force Kansas into obvious passing situations, that is where they can force turnovers. Daniels has been very erratic under pressure this season and is prone to putting the ball up for grabs when the pocket isn’t clean. Daniels’ turnover-worthy play rate when pressured this season is 9.5%, which is very high. In those situations, he is 19-for-59 with one touchdown and four interceptions. He loves throwing the ball downfield when pressured, so the Colorado corners will have chances to make plays on the ball.

Of course, getting pressure on the quarterback has been one of the strengths of this Colorado squad this season. The Buffs currently lead the Big 12 and are 6th in the country in sacks and have been able to get pressure both by blitzing and by just rushing four. Whether Livingston decides to blitz more in an attempt to fluster Daniels, that should be a decided advantage for the Buffs and is probably their best path to making big plays.

This is a very challenging game for the Buffs, who potentially could be looking ahead to a berth in the Big 12 championship game. The Buffs have to bring their A-game to beat one of the best teams on their schedule this season, no matter what Kansas’ record is. However, Colorado has struggled with teams who make a difference in the front seven on defense, and Kansas doesn’t necessarily do that. If CU can take advantage of that and force a few turnovers, the Buffs have the advantage.