Kansas ran for 480 yards on the way to a school-record 706 total yards and a 34-0 lead through three quarters in Saturday's 55-0 win over Middle Tennessee in Lawrence. Roman Gagliano went 9 of 26 for 81 yards with no interceptions, playing most of the afternoon from second-and-long under steady pressure even though Kansas sacked him only once. Antonio Martin, who already had three 100-yard rushing games this season, was held to 40 yards on eight carries, with a 34-yard burst and then a lost fumble.
The team line is the part that stings for a fanbase that had watched the offense inch forward. The Blue Raiders managed 136 total yards, 55 rushing and 81 passing. Gagliano had thrown for 832 yards with eight touchdowns and one interception this season. One Saturday did not undo that, but it did establish a floor nobody knew was there.
The collapse came in the one area Middle Tennessee rebuilt most deliberately this offseason. Derek Mason replaced coordinator Bodie Reeder with Anthony Scelfo and brought in new offensive line, running backs and tight ends coaches too, a full offensive reset, not a coordinator swap. Scelfo came from Southeastern Louisiana, where his 2025 offense ranked 22nd in the FCS in red-zone offense, 32nd in scoring and 38th in rushing. Against Kansas the Blue Raiders ran for 55 yards.
Mason, in his third season on a five-year contract that began in 2024, did not soften it. "Lack of execution, lack of physicality, lack of being able to string consistent plays together," he said. "It was just a poor day all the way around." Beat reporting called it Middle Tennessee's first shutout loss since 2020 and arguably the worst performance of Mason's tenure. The worst evidence yet in a season that was supposed to show progress over back-to-back three-win years.
So the open date is the whole week. There is no Middle Tennessee game and no result elsewhere Saturday that moves anything for a team whose Conference USA title odds sit at 0% with a projected 2.3 league wins. Watch film, not scoreboards.
The offensive line and the backs have two weeks to block and run the way they did in September, because the next three weeks decide whether this is a bad afternoon or a trend. Delaware visits Oct. 13 with Middle Tennessee a 37% pick, then a trip to Florida International at 14%, then Kennesaw State at home at 43%. The Nov. 7 home date against Western Kentucky, at 55%, is the one circled in Murfreesboro, and the one that will mean much more if the offense looks like itself again by then.
Full week view at the interactive guide; the forecasts are explained in our methodology.