MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Reinvigorated takes on revenge-minded when West Virginia and Kansas meet at newly refurbished David Booth/Kansas Memorial Stadium Saturday night in Lawrence, Kansas, in the Big 12 opener for both teams.

Reinvigorated is West Virginia, following its 31-24 overtime victory over arch-rival Pitt last Saturday in Morgantown, while Kansas has revenge on its mind after last year's 32-28 loss in Morgantown when the Jayhawks blew an 11-point lead with 5:30 remaining in the fourth quarter.

In that game, wide receiver Rodney Gallagher III's 15-yard touchdown catch with 26 seconds left proved to be the deciding score.

Gallagher is one of just a few remaining players left from that game for West Virginia, while Kansas boasts several key returning performers, including quarterback Jalon Daniels, running back Daniel Hishaw Jr., All-Big 12 center Bryce Foster, right guard Kobe Baynes, defensive end Dean Miller, defensive tackle Tommy Dunn Jr. and safety Devin Dye.

Daniels was unstoppable against West Virginia in 2022 when he led Kansas to a 55-42 overtime victory in Morgantown, accounting for 304 yards of total offense and three touchdowns in the 13-point victory.

Last year, WVU limited the Lawndale, California, resident to only 184 yards passing and 11 yards rushing in WVU's comeback win.

In three career games against the Mountaineers, Daniels has completed 55 of his 86 pass attempts for 652 yards and five touchdowns with three interceptions. He's also rushed 31 times for 106 yards and a score.

"He's a well-built, strong-looking player who breaks a lot of tackles," West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez said. "You hate facing mobile quarterbacks like that who have a lot of experience. You can have the perfect defense called and you've got a guy right on him and he shakes somebody or makes somebody miss and makes a big play.

"That's the biggest concern when you play an athletic guy like that," he added.

Hishaw, now No. 1 on KU's depth chart with the departure of Devin Neal to the pros, has also been a thorn in the side of West Virginia in two career games against the Mountaineers. The 5-foot-10, 220-pounder ran 10 times for 63 yards and two touchdowns in 2022 and contributed 72 yards and a touchdown on just nine carries a year ago. His 19 rushing attempts have accounted for three scores and an average of 7.1 yards per rush.

During the offseason, the Jayhawks added a key backfield piece from the transfer portal in Iowa transfer Leshon Williams, a 5-foot-10, 215-pound senior who ran for 821 yards last year for the Hawkeyes, including 100-yard performances against Western Michigan, Wisconsin and Nebraska.

Hishaw, Daniels and Williams have helped Kansas average 174.3 yards and 5.2 yards per carry on the ground so far this year in games against Fresno State, Wagner and Missouri two weeks ago.

Hishaw leads the Jayhawks with 169 yards, while Daniels has contributed 90 and Williams 52. Interestingly, the trio are all about the same size, weighing 215 to 220 pounds, and each wears single-digit numerals: Williams (4), Daniels (6) and Hishaw (9).

Daniels is completing 72% of his 75 pass attempts for 679 yards and nine touchdowns, three each of those scoring strikes going to Cam Pickett and DeShawn Hanika.

Senior Emmanuel Henderson Jr. leads Kansas with 12 catches for 183 yards and two touchdowns. Quarterbacks coach Jim Zebrowski is now in complete control of the Jayhawk offense after being promoted from co-offensive coordinator during the offseason.

"They've very multiple," Rodriguez said. "They'll have some unbalanced stuff and different stuff that we don't see. The key for us is to be able to adjust early because there will be some stuff that they have not done this year, or even last year, because they have time to do it. We've got to have great eye discipline and fundamental discipline, particularly during the early part of the game."

The KU defense, overseen by coordinator DK McDonald, has a familiar face in linebacker Trey Lathan, who leads the Jayhawks with 25 tackles, 3½ tackles for loss and two pass deflections through three games. He recorded a team-best 13 tackles in the Missouri loss while also generating a sack.

Lathan played three seasons at West Virginia including a 79-tackle, nine-TFL, two-sack campaign in 2024.

"They do a lot; they're very similar to us defensively," Rodriguez said. "Some teams you will see a certain base defense, mostly on first and second down and then third down some of the exotic stuff, but you'll see a lot from these guys on every down. With two weeks, we're probably going to see some stuff that we haven't seen that we've got to be prepared for."

Seniors Miller and Dunn Jr. lead an experienced defensive line that has a combined 58 career starts and more than 300 career game's-worth of experience among them.

Starting defensive tackle DJ Withers and Texas transfer Justice Finkley are also seniors.

"They're really athletic up front," Rodriguez said. "We've been really impressed with their interior D-line and how active they are. That's a big concern for us to be able to handle their interior D-line, because they can move."

The top playmaker in the secondary so far has been senior safety Lyrik Rawls, an Oklahoma State transfer who has accounted for 17 tackles, a tackle for loss, an interception and a pass breakup.

Rawls is one of 13 players expected to be in Kansas' starting lineup on Saturday who began their collegiate careers at another schools.

The others are left guard Amir Herring (Michigan), center Foster (Texas A&M), right guard Baynes (Louisville), right tackle Enrique Cruz Jr. (Syracuse), tight end Hanika (Iowa State), wide receiver Pickett (Ball State), wide receiver Henderson (Alabama), wide receiver Levi Wentz (Old Dominion), defensive end Miller (College of the Canyons), defensive end Finkley (Texas), and linebackers Lathan (West Virginia) and Bangally Kamara (Pitt).

Kansas opened the season with victories over Fresno State and Wagner before falling 42-31 at arch-rival Missouri two weeks ago in Columbia. The Jayhawks jumped out to a 21-6 first-quarter lead before the Tigers came roaring back.

"We've got a big challenge on the road," Rodriguez said. "Kansas has a really talented team with an open week, so they've had two weeks to prepare in a new stadium with all that goes with it."

West Virginia, meanwhile, rallied from 10 points down with 9:23 remaining in the fourth quarter to stun rival Pitt 31-24 in overtime.

Starting quarterback Nicco Marchiol led WVU to a 7-3 halftime lead but spent the entire third quarter and the beginning of the fourth on the sidelines watching backups Scotty Fox Jr. and Jaylen Henderson operate the Mountaineer offense. Fox led WVU into the end zone on one of this three possessions, but the other two resulted in interceptions on the Mountaineers' side of the field that ended up turning into Panther field goals.

Henderson's lone possession at the beginning of the fourth quarter ended at Pitt's 43 on downs when he was sacked for a 10-yard loss.

Marchiol came back into the game and led West Virginia to three consecutive scores the deciding one Tye Edwards' 1-yard plunge in overtime to give the Mountaineers a 31-24 victory.

"Typically, when you take someone out and then put them back in, they can go in the tank or they can go and pout and not be engaged anymore in the game," Rodriguez observed. "He didn't do that at all for us. He stayed engaged in the game and when he got his opportunity to go back into the game, he did a great job. That tells you that he's made of the right stuff."

Marchiol was outstanding late, completing 9 of his 11 pass attempts for 109 yards and a touchdown during West Virginia's final three possessions. For the game, the junior was 19-of-25 passing for 192 yards while Edwards was a discovery at running back.

The 6-foot-2, 225-pound senior transfer from Northern Iowa contributed 141 yards and three touchdowns on the ground.

"Tye is a big guy who ran physical, and I thought we played pretty solidly up front," Rodriguez said. "We executed a little bit better in the run game." 

Northern Illinois tight end transfer Grayson Barnes made a 34-yard catch over the middle to put WVU in position to tie the game, which he did nine plays later when he caught Marchiol's 2-yard lob in the end zone with 13 seconds left.

West Virginia's defense sacked Pitt quarterback Eli Holstein six times, pressured him twice, broke up three passes and picked off Holstein in the end zone.

Safety Darrian Lewis and linebacker Ben Cutter (eight tackles each), along with defensive tackle Edward Vesterinen (two sacks) had standout performances.

WVU's defense is expected to get a boost with the availability of senior transfer Jimmori Robinson, whose 10½ sacks last year at UTSA led him to being named American Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year.

"He's an athletic guy, and he's got all the physical skills that you want," Rodriguez said. "He's like a freshman, and he's got to play within the system, but I'm sure he'll have a big week getting ready."

Rodriguez announced Monday night on his weekly radio show that Robinson will play this Saturday.

West Virginia and Kansas have met 13 times, beginning in 1941 in Morgantown, with the Mountaineers owning an 11-2 overall edge. Kansas' two wins were in 2013 (31-19) in Lawrence and in 2022 (55-42) in Morgantown.

Saturday's game will kick off at 6 p.m. and will be televised nationally on FS1 (Noah Reed and Robert Smith).

Mountaineer Sports Network from Learfield coverage with Tony Caridi, Dwight Wallace and Jed Drenning starts at 3 p.m. with the GoMart Mountaineer Tailgate Show leading into regular network coverage at 5 p.m. on stations throughout West Virginia, online via WVUsports.com and the Varsity Network and WVU Gameday apps.

As of Wednesday morning, Kansas is listed as two-touchdown favorites.