Why a Kansas comeback?
A few headline stats.
Why this data, this story.
What initially drew me to this project was the rising momentum behind the University of Kansas football team — and the new stadium going up alongside it. I wanted to research how much the team has actually improved across three categories: offensive yards, defensive yards, and team leaders within both.
The hypothesis going in: if the program is genuinely on the rise, the numbers will say so. If the buzz is just hype, I’d find that too.
What I learned: there was a near-50% jump in offensive yards during the 2022–23 season — a single-season improvement big enough to argue, on the data alone, that something has fundamentally shifted. The story wasn’t a vibe. It was in the box score.
Four parts of the research process.
Data collection
Pulled season stats for 2022–23 and 2023–24 from the official KU Athletics website. Copied raw data into Google Sheets. Cleared formatting, then went through every category and removed stats that didn’t serve the story — the cuts mattered as much as the keeps.
Calculations & cleanup
Calculated percent change between seasons using (New − Old) / Old × 100 for passing and rushing yards. Sorted each season by KU colors so the data felt like the story even before any chart was built. Built a records-per-season sheet as supporting context for the script.
Visualization in Flourish
Built stacked bar charts and a stacked-icon visualization in Flourish — with the icons changed to footballs and color-coded red (gains) vs. blue (losses). For team-leader data, my partner Brynn built interactive bubble charts with each player’s name, position, photo, and stats — three charts per season, nine total.
Story assembly
Took the Flourish exports into Adobe Illustrator to add typography and alternate the color treatments, then dropped everything into a Google Slides presentation as the final deliverable. The visuals carried the headline stats — but the script wove individual player stories in to keep the data from feeling like just numbers.
46.35% jump in offensive yards in the 2022–23 season — the number that anchored the entire story.
What the data said.
- / 01 Defensive yards allowed decreased across the three seasons — meaning fewer yards given up by KU’s defense, season over season.
- / 02 Offensive yards jumped sharply — the 46.35% gain in 2022–23 plus a follow-up 1.86% increase in 2023–24 showed sustained, not flashy, improvement.
- / 03 Top performers held the line. The number-one leader in passing, rushing, and tackles stayed pretty consistent each season — and grew. Stability at the top is what fuels the comeback.
Data storytelling isn’t “add a chart to the deck.” It’s deciding which numbers earn the spotlight, and which ones get cut so the ones that matter can land.
- The cuts are the story. I deleted more data than I kept. The percentage that didn’t make the slides is what made the slides work.
- One headline stat per project. 46.35% became the anchor. Everything else either supported it or didn’t make the final draft.
- Anecdotes fill in for emotion. Numbers explain what; player stories explain why anyone should care. The two have to share the page.
- Your tool stack should match your story. Sheets for the math, Flourish for the visuals, Illustrator for the polish, Slides for the room. Use each one for what it’s good at.
46.35 %
jump in offensive yards in the 2022–23 season — the number that anchored the entire story.