Surreal? Surprising? Regardless, KU football is going to the Liberty Bowl in 2022

LAWRENCE — Jalon Daniels is the kind of guy who needed to hear that announcement Sunday.

Kansas football reached bowl eligibility about a month earlier, beating Oklahoma State in Lawrence in front of a raucous home crowd. Daniels, the Jayhawks’ junior quarterback, didn’t have the added pressure of leading his team to six wins when he returned from injury. But for Daniels, it didn’t sink in until the Jayhawks’ destination became official on Sunday when Kansas learned it would play Arkansas in the Liberty Bowl on Dec. 28 in Memphis.

While Sunday served as a moment to celebrate what Kansas accomplished for the first time since 2008, it also served as a turning point. When Daniels next went in to study film, along with his teammates and their coaches, there’d be an opponent to study for. Preparation could get underway.

“I feel like, to be able to have this opportunity is something that we’ve spoke about a lot as a team,” Daniels said. “It’s been one of our goals. So, to be able to accomplish it, it means a lot.”

More:3 takeaways from Kansas football players earning All-Big 12 Conference recognition in 2022

A run that defied expectations

The magnitude of the program's turnaround in head coach Lance Leipold’s second season, seeing the Jayhawks (6-6, 3-6 in Big 12) reach a bowl game, isn’t lost on Kansas athletic director Travis Goff. The Jayhawks hadn’t won more than three games in a season since winning five in 2009, the last campaign in Mark Mangino’s run as head coach. Although there were times of promise in Leipold’s first year, the rest of the journey to postseason play didn’t seem so immediate.

Goff went as far as to it felt a little surreal as he reacted to the Liberty Bowl news Sunday. While he values the importance of someone in his position being optimistic about the future, he acknowledged he’d be lying if he thought they would be penciling in a bowl game in just Year 2 of Leipold's tenure. Considering the timing of Leipold’s arrival, the new leadership has only been at the helm for about a year and a half.

More:With contract extension finalized, Lance Leipold and KU football can look to Liberty Bowl

Leipold said he tries not to put a ceiling on what’s possible, but the start Kansas had this season surprised even him. He didn’t know if the Jayhawks would be able to make the jump from 2-10 to 6-6 as quickly as they did. And the fact that they did showed him to never bet against his group.

It may have been a group populated by many who have dealt with a great deal of adversity in recent years. But they persevered and laid the foundation for what Goff envisions as a reawakening for the fan base, something that could prove beneficial in facility renovation efforts and the name, image and likeness (NIL) space. It’s what helped make the bowl announcement so special.

“That was, to me, the highlight of being in that room and just seeing certainly joy and excitement, but really I think a sense of achievement and certainly a sense of fulfillment for a group that’s been through so much,” Goff said. “And to have a chance now to line up against a great SEC opponent in an incredible bowl — right? We’re thinking Liberty Bowl, one of the great brands, one of the longest-standing bowls in the country. They do a heck of a job down there.”

An opportunity against an SEC foe

According to Daniels and super-senior defensive lineman Sam Burt, the team Kansas would play was a popular topic of conversation in recent weeks. Every day players came into the building trying to figure it out.

More:Sam Burt stuck with Kansas football, and his career finale will be the Liberty Bowl

Arkansas (6-6, 3-5 in SEC) is an opponent that hails from a prestigious conference. Although the Razorbacks will be fighting for a winning season just like the Jayhawks, head coach Sam Pittman’s squad finished last season at No. 20 in the coaches poll and started this season ranked No. 23. Pittman, in this third season leading Arkansas, is building something there as well.

“Obviously, it’ll be a great challenge for us,” Burt said. “They’re in a great conference. They’re a good team, very solid. And so, I’m really excited to play them, get the chance to play an SEC team and just see what happens.”

A month that carries with it a lot of possibilities

Goff said that even before the season started, there was interest from the Liberty Bowl. If the Jayhawks were able to reach six wins this season, he said the Liberty Bowl wanted them. That interest remained firm, even as Kansas started 5-0 and then slid to 6-6. That bowl invite will provide the Jayhawks with a month more to develop on the field.

Leipold said he’s talked with his team ever since they reached bowl eligibility about the 15 additional practices they’d be able to have. Daniels thinks they’ll be beneficial, not just for the Arkansas matchup, but for the further progression of the team ahead of spring ball as well. And that’ll happen regardless of the outcome on the field.

Leipold didn’t have a finalized calendar of Kansas’ pre-bowl game plans to describe Sunday, as he spoke from the road while out recruiting. Although he said the players would spend the first half of the week working with the team’s director of sports performance, Matt Gildersleeve, before starting a three-day run of practice Friday. But Leipold did say the Jayhawks will be the healthiest they’ve been since early October when they take the field later this month.

“The most excited team is going to be the team that comes out victorious,” Daniels said. “To be able to play in a bowl game, it’s an extra game. A lot of teams don’t get the opportunity to be able to play that extra game.”

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: Surprised? Regardless, Kansas football is going bowling in 2022