TLDR: College football makes its Wembley Stadium debut this weekend, and both Big 12 sides are walking in off ugly losses to ranked opponents.
Kansas won't be turning to a new starting quarterback in London, but the Jayhawks will be down their break-glass option behind him. Backup Cole Ballard, hurt on a trick-play throw against Missouri, is doubtful for Saturday and is expected to use the bye week that follows to heal, which means any injury to starter Isaiah Marshall turns into a much bigger problem on the road than it would most weeks. Arizona State has no such issue at the position — Cutter Boley debuted with 387 yards and 6 touchdowns against Morgan State, even if his encore ended in a 48-20 loss to a ranked Texas A&M team.
Arizona State and Kansas both sit 1-1, and both are bringing real question marks to English soil for the first-ever college football game at Wembley Stadium. Kansas's issues run to depth — a doubtful backup quarterback and several regulars questionable behind a starter who threw two picks on the same set of drives last week — while Arizona State counters with its own offensive-line attrition and a 4-turnover meltdown in its lone loss. Both offenses have flashed real ceiling in blowout wins, but each has also shown exactly how it can give a game away.
−Backup QB Cole Ballard doubtful with a shoulder injury
−Marshall threw 2 picks on back-to-back drives vs Missouri
Kansas's injury sheet runs past the quarterback room — receiver Cam Pickett, linebacker Bam Crouch and tight end Carson Bruhn are all questionable, thinning a roster that already needed a get-right game after an 0-1 mark against ranked competition. Arizona State has its own attrition up front, with lineman Wade Helton out for several weeks and two more starters listed as probable, which is a real part of why the board hasn't run away from Kansas despite the extra depth question at quarterback.
Both teams sit at 1-1, and both losses came against ranked competition — Arizona State fell to No. 10 Texas A&M, Kansas to No. 23 Missouri — so neither program arrives at the first-ever college football game at Wembley Stadium with much margin for another rough afternoon. It's the debut edition of the Union Jack Classic, and for a Jayhawks team still hunting a win over quality competition, the stage is bigger than anything either side has played on this year.
Arizona State's opener was a laugher — a 70-7 rout of Morgan State with Boley setting a program record for passing yards in a debut — and Kansas answered with a 51-6 blowout of its own against LIU, so both offenses have shown they can pile up points against overmatched competition. The level-up game told a messier story for both: Marshall threw 2 interceptions on back-to-back Kansas possessions against Missouri, and Arizona State turned it over 4 times against Texas A&M, with 2 of those turning into defensive touchdowns that blew a competitive game open in the fourth quarter.
None of that changes what actually decides Saturday: whether Kansas's starter stays upright behind a line that already has its own questions, against a Sun Devils front that's shorthanded in its own right, and whether either offense can hang onto the ball against a defense that will make it earn every point. Whichever team protects the ball longer probably wins the argument in London.
