Lance Leipold discusses the evolution of the Sunflower Showdown
Kansas will look to continue its success off bye weeks as it looks to snap a 16-game losing streak against in-state rival Kansas State. Lance Leipold met with the media Monday, discussing the evolution of the rivalry since he arrived at Kansas, what he sees from Kansas State, and the atmosphere he wants to see at The Booth on Saturday.
Kansas has made the Sunflower Showdown competitive, have to find a way to win
The Jayhawks have been on the brink of snapping the streak in each of the last two seasons, losing on a late field goal in 2024 and falling by one possession in 2023. The major sticking point in these games, and others in Leipold’s tenure, is Kansas struggling to find a way to finish a close game. That has been a point of emphasis dating back to the offseason, and Leipold said just being competitive isn’t good enough.
“I don’t know if it’s much of a rivalry, unless it’s just based on locality, that if the game’s not competitive,” Leipold said. “And I think the one thing we’ve been able to do after the first meeting four years ago was we’ve made the game competitive again. Now we’ve had some opportunities that we’ve let slip away and it’s all, it’s our full intention that we find a way to close it out and finish the ball game, when opportunity shows for us to have a chance to win.”
Everyone associated with either side of the Sunflower Showdown is aware of Kansas’ 16-game losing streak. Leipold said there may be extra pressure, but it should be on himself, and the streak has been a talking point in preparation for Saturday.
“This program is aware how many games they’ve won in a row. I’m not going to act like they don’t, and we shared that with our players,” Leipold said. “They can’t change what was done in the past, what you can change is what you do today and the work you put in and what you do on Saturday.”
Kansas State is a dangerous team
Preseason talks tabbed the Wildcats as a Big 12 contender, but they haven’t lived up to expectations with a 3-4 start. However, all four of Kansas State’s losses have been one-score affairs.
Leipold said that the trio of Avery Johnson, Jayce Brown, and Dylan Edwards is one of the most explosive in the Big 12 when they are all healthy. Kansas State, also coming off the bye, has potentially built some positive momentum in recent weeks, winning two of its last three.
“It’s a team that probably hasn’t been exactly where Chris [Klieman] would like them, but again, a highly dangerous team,” Leipold said. “When you watch parts of their game, you could see why they were a conference favorite early in the season and still have a chance. And I know they’ll be confident enough after their last few weeks here that they can be, they can finish strong here down the stretch.”
The Wildcats have a new offensive coordinator in Matt Wells after Colin Klein left for Texas A&M. Johnson started off the season running less while Kansas State’s offense struggled, but has 10 or more attempts in each of his last three games.
“When Avery decides to run the ball, he’s dangerous to score at any time,” Leipold said. “But again, I think his throwing is very underrated in time and you can continue to see the evolution of an outstanding quarterback. When they have people there that they’re able to use schematically to continue to be dangerous with RPOs motions, all the different things that they are able to do, coach Wells has done a nice job.”
Leipold wants atmosphere at the Booth to mirror Kansas’ road opponents, Allen Fieldhouse
Leipold complimented the atmospheres at each of the Jayhawks’ last two road stops, calling Texas Tech’s “the loudest place we played at this year” and UCF’s “an impressive game day atmosphere.” He compared what he wants to see out of Kansas’ crowd to what happens during basketball season.
“You could talk about Allen Fieldhouse, you know, it’s one of the greatest places to play basketball,” Leipold said. “Why? It’s the atmosphere. It’s not that it’s a whatever hundred year old building or whatever it’s at, it’s the atmosphere that’s created and it’s created by the fans, and fans are, in college football are more impactful than sometimes we can realize.”
As of Monday, the Sunflower Showdown is not sold out. Leipold hopes there is a great atmosphere on Saturday.
“in a state rivalry game like this, we need [the atmosphere] to be special and not just for this game, but everyone there to follow,” Leipold said. “And it is important and I get it’s important for us to play well and give our fans reason to be excited about our program. But to me, they kind of go together in what it can be, and I hope we have a great atmosphere at 11am Saturday.”
