Kickoff: Friday, September 4 at 7:00 PM CT
Location: David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium
TV: ESPNU
DraftKings line (Aug. 30): KU -38.5
Over/under: 53.5

The setup

Kansas and LIU have never met. Lance Leipold is 5-0 in Kansas season openers and can become the school’s first coach since A.R. Kennedy from 1904-10 to start 6-0 in them.

What I’m watching

The thing to watch is how quickly Kansas’s rebuilt offense settles in. Kansas averaged 28.1 points per game last season and returns 2 offensive starters. Long Island allowed 18.8 points per game.

Personnel snapshot

• Long Island: Ron Cooper enters Year 5 as head coach.
• Long Island quarterback: Luca Stanzani is Long Island’s most experienced returning passer. Last season, he threw for 562 yards, 3 TD and 3 INT.
• Kansas: Lance Leipold enters Year 6 as head coach. 6 starters return—2 on offense and 4 on defense. Key defenders back include Trey Lathan, Austin Alexander, and Taylor Davis. That defense allowed 387.2 yards and 29.4 points per game last season.
• Kansas quarterback: Isaiah Marshall, who took 32 snaps at quarterback last year, will start for the Jayhawks. He was used mostly as a runner in 2025.

Three quick analysis points

• The opener trend: LIU already played on Aug. 27, losing 42-21 at North Dakota, while Kansas is opening fresh. The Sharks own live reps; the Jayhawks own eight extra recovery days.
• The roster reset: Kansas added 32 transfers who logged nearly 10,000 snaps last year, plus 27 high-school recruits. It also returns 54 players with more than 8,500 snaps, creating a roster that is new without being inexperienced.
• A first real test at quarterback: Long Island finished last season with 19 sacks. Can the Sharks get any pressure on Marshall in his first career start?

How the game is decided

Kansas’s first job is avoiding three-and-outs while the new offensive pieces settle in. Long Island must turn every early stop into field position or points; empty possessions will eventually let the home team’s size and depth take over.

Prediction

I make my final predictions on TikTok, YouTube, Instagram and Facebook at @uthinkuknowsports.

Full disclosure: I use AI tools to format my research into an article encompassing all of the information.