Here are 3 takeaways from Kansas football’s 14-11 win against Iowa State

LAWRENCE — Kansas football’s 2022 season continued Saturday with a 14-11 win at home during Big 12 Conference play against Iowa State.

Here are three takeaways from the Jayhawks (5-0, 2-0 in Big 12) victory against the Cyclones (3-2, 0-2 in Big 12):

Kansas tops Iowa State for first time since 2014

The Jayhawks are 5-0 for the first time since 2009. However, that’s not the only significant drought this win ended for head coach Lance Leipold's program. Leipold, in his second year at the helm, has also led Kansas to its first win over Iowa State since it topped the Cyclones in a 34-14 victory at home back in 2014.

Since that game almost a decade ago, the Jayhawks had struggled to even be competitive in this series. Kansas’ closest defeat against Iowa State was a 31-24 loss in 2016 at home, and every other loss was by 10 points or more. But that streak is over now.

Kansas’ defense gets into the backfield early and often, while Iowa State’s doesn’t appear to need to

Kansas’ defense finished the game with five sacks and eight tackles for loss. Those sacks came from redshirt junior linebacker Craig Young, junior linebacker Taiwan Berryhill Jr., redshirt junior defensive end Lonnie Phelps Jr., super-senior defensive lineman Sam Burt (1.5) and junior defensive lineman Jereme Robinson (0.5). The success there meant while Iowa State could pass for nearly 300 yards, and at times move the ball with ease through the air, it couldn’t run the ball much and was one-dimensional.

Iowa State’s defense finished the game with one sack and four tackles for loss. That production came in the second half. But it was still able to hold Kansas’ offense to the lowest point total the Jayhawks have had this season, and junior quarterback Jalon Daniels was barely able to lead Kansas’ offense to more than 200 total yards.

Kansas shows it can win a low-scoring contest

The first four weeks of the season saw Kansas average 48.5 points per game, and those games average just fewer than 76 points per game overall. But after four quarters Saturday, the Jayhawks scored 14 points and the game overall ended with a combined total of just 25. It had a far different pace than those in the first month of the season.

Not every game is going to see Kansas’ offense light up the scoreboard. The Jayhawks are going to need games where the defense steps up. That’s what happened today, with a bit of help from multiple special teams miscues on the Iowa State side of things — meaning three missed field goals, including a 37-yard attempt with less than a minute left to tie the score.

Jordan Guskey covers University of Kansas Athletics at The Topeka Capital-Journal. Contact him at jmguskey@gannett.com or on Twitter at @JordanGuskey.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Kansas football vs Iowa State score, takeaways