Steve Sarkisian says Lance Leipold has done 'a great job' at Kansas

On3 imageby:Chandler Vessels11/14/22

ChandlerVessels

Texas coach Steve Sarkisian knows the challenge his team faces as it prepares to travel to Lawrence to take on Lance Leipold and Kansas on Saturday. Typically a Big 12 bottom feeder in football, the Jayhawks (6-4, 3-4 Big 12) have transformed themselves this season to become bowl eligible for the first time since 2008.

After starting out the season 5-0, Kansas is just 1-4 over its past five games, though it should be noted that slide coincided with an injury to quarterback Jalon Daniels. In his Monday press conference, Sarkisian had plenty of praise for Leipold, who is in his second season with the Jayhawks.

“I think Lance has done a great job,” Sarkisian said. “They obviously came out early in the year and really jumped on people. Very unique style of offense. A lot of triple-option components to what they do. Everyone talks about playing the Army, Navy and Air Forces of the world and how difficult they are to defend. Well, Kansas has a lot of those same elements. They just do a bit more of a spread-type set with the quarterback in the Pistol and things of that nature, but there’s still those elements. They still force you to play disciplined football.”

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Lance Leipold has already beaten Steve Sarkisian once, as Kansas defeated Texas in a 57-56 overtime thriller last season for its only Big 12 win. However, both teams look a lot different now than they did in that meeting.

Sarkisian pointed to running back Devin Neal, who has rushed for a combined 414 yards over the past two games, as a player the Longhorns defense will need to look out for. He also noted the job that quarterback Jason Bean has done filling in for the injured Daniels.

“You’ve gotta play the dive, you’ve gotta play the quarterback,” Sarkisian said. “You’ve gotta play the pitch. Then they have the play-action passes off of it. They’ve got a dynamic runner. Neal is a fantastic player. Defensively, they’re very active up front. They create sacks, create turnovers. So a lot of credit to them for the job that they’ve done. They’ve kind of withstood the storm of losing their starting quarterback. The backup’s come in and kind of found his way a little bit, too. Great challenge for us.”

Texas will hope to avoid a second straight loss to Kansas when the game kicks off at 2:30 p.m. CT on Saturday in Lawrence.