Iowa State aims to corral Kansas QB Jalon Daniels in Saturday's home finale

AMES — How can so-called super senior Kansas quarterback Jalon Daniels stress a defense?

Iowa State head coach Matt Campbell described the laundry list of ways.

“You’ve seen him just get better and better and better during his career,” Campbell said of Daniels, whom the Cyclones (6-4, 3-4 Big 12) aim to corral in Saturday’s 11 a.m. home season finale against the Jayhawks (5-5, 3-4) at Jack Trice Stadium. “Obviously, everybody would say, boy, he’s a great athlete. He certainly can make you play horizontally throughout the football game. You have to be gap sound, because he can make you pay in a heartbeat.”

And that’s just in the running game — whether designed or improvised. Daniels needed just 12 completions to throw for 295 yards in Kansas’s 45-36 win over the Cyclones last season in Lawrence, so he’ll likely test ISU’s injury-plagued secondary yet again in his fourth career start against Campbell’s team.

“I think the thing where it’s been so impressive to watch him, is just his ability to throw the football, and his ability to (go) vertically down the field, (and) his ability to make precision passes,” said Campbell, whose team has lost three straight meetings with the Jayhawks. “He’s done an incredible job of really honing in on the complete package, and he’s really become that as a quarterback.”

Campbell called Kansas “maybe the most talented team in this conference,” and his own roster took another hard hit recently as standout tight end Gabe Burkle is now out for the season after suffering an apparent lower body injury in the win at TCU. Campbell said Burkle — a junior and former Cedar Rapids Prairie star — will undergo surgery. He also said safety Ta’Shawn James will remain “out for the foreseeable future” and fellow safety Jamison Patton should be considered questionable “at best” for Saturday’s matchup with the Jayhawks.

So the already battered and bruised Cyclones will be even more shorthanded as they seek to cement their eighth winning season since 2017. Linebacker Caleb Bacon, however, is expected to play on Saturday.

“So there’s one good news (item),” Campbell said.

There’s also ample opportunity to close ISU’s topsy-turvy season on a high note. The Cyclones are a 4.5-point favorite against the Jayhawks and undoubtedly will be favored in their regular season finale at one-win Oklahoma State. Add in a bowl game yet to be determined, and ISU retains hopes of notching nine or more wins for just the third time in program history — and for the second year in a row.

“As a team, we obviously had a much higher goal in mind,” said senior defensive end Tamatoa McDonough, who earned his college degree from Yale before joining Campbell’s team this season. “We believe we are that type of team, but it’s about the perspective. We still have the opportunity to make history somewhat here and deliver nine wins to the fans in Ames. I feel like that’s very important, too.”

It certainly is to McDonough and the 15 other seniors who will be embraced by Campbell in the tunnel while taking part in Senior Day festivities. Thirteen of those Cyclones have spent their entire college careers in the program, and it’s never easy for Campbell to say goodbye.

“There (are) probably very few teams that could overcome what we’ve had to overcome this year,” Campbell said. “But we have because our senior class — their guts, their character, what they’ve become in their career, what they’ve stood for, has been nothing short of exceptional.”

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