Lance Leipold gives his first impressions of UNLV matchup
Kansas is heading to the Guaranteed Rate Bowl. There, the Jayhawks will take on UNLV and, ahead of that game, head coach Lance Leipold broke down what he expects to see from the Rebels.
As Leipold begins preparation, he has seen a dangerous team on both sides of the ball.
“Yeah, I’ve gone through most of their games just as I’ve been traveling,” Lance Leipold said. “I’ve been trying just to get through the course of some of their games. I know the staff started on some. We’ve got everybody back in here Thursday after some travel. So, preliminary stuff [has been] put together I’ve watched.”
The Guaranteed Rate Bowl against UNLV will be Kansas’ first back-to-back bowl game since the 2007 and 2008 seasons. Meanwhile, for UNLV, it’s the Rebels’ first winning season since 2013.
“Again, a great year by them. One of the best years in, I don’t know, what did they say? 30 years or so. They do a great job on offense. Schematically, there’s some things that, principles that they use option game like we do. They’ve got a stable of backs that can make people miss. They’ve got an excellent receiver, a very good tight end that they use. Those have been the two main guys in the pass game which I could really see,” Leipold said.
“Defensively, a unique part of this was Coach [Barry] Odom was at Arkansas last year. Right around this time is when he got the UNLV job. So you kind of look back at those Arkansas games from the regular season a year ago in our bowl prep and you can see some things that again that carry over to what they’re doing this year. So, they beat an SEC [Vanderbilt]. They played Michigan early this year. Once they settled in with their young quarterback who had an outstanding year. They’re a dangerous team and we’ve got to be ready.”
Heading into the Guaranteed Rate Bowl, Lance Leipold and Kansas are dealing with a change at offensive coordinator. Andy Kotelnicki left for the same position at Penn State. In his place, Leipold hired Jeff Grimes.
According to FanDuel, Kansas opened as a 12.5-point favorite. The over/under was set at 63.5 points.
Lance Leipold said he plans to end his coaching career at Kansas
There have been rumors about Lance Leipold moving onto a new program. However, as he explained in November, Leipold isn’t planning on going anywhere.
“It’s something we’ve been extremely — in fact, I was talking with Travis Goff on Monday. And he said, ‘Can you believe it’s only been two and a half years?’ I said, ‘Well, in many ways it seems like five or more because of the progress of the team on the field, but also how comfortable our family [is] and have been welcomed by everybody, and how much we enjoy being here,” Leipold said.
“This is the only interview [I’ve done today]. And that’s the way it’s going to be. The one thing that happens during this time of year, is there’s a lot of speculation on things that are happening that are not accurate, as I’ve said for a long time, Travis Goff and Chancellor [Douglas] Girod have treated Kelly and I extremely well and our family. It is our plan and expectation that we want to be here and this is going to be the last job we have.”