Lance Leipold excited about new stadium’s atmosphere as Kansas prepares for Cincinnati

Kansas will play in front of a sellout crowd for the second time this season against Cincinnati on Saturday. Lance Leipold spoke to the media Monday about the atmosphere at the new stadium so far. He also discussed the dual-threat ability of Bearcats QB Brendan Sorsby and what he saw from the offensive line against West Virginia.

Atmosphere at the new stadium is exciting, still progress to be made

Last Saturday’s game against West Virginia was a near-sellout with an announced attendance of 40,320. Leipold said it’s been exciting through three home games, and Kansas has worked to make it a special experience.

“It’s been exciting,” Leipold said. “Our people have worked hard to make the experience special — video board, lights, everything. Fans have been extremely loud and into the games, making a difference.”

The Jayhawks will play in front of a sellout crowd during family weekend against Cincinnati. It’s the 11th sellout under Lance Leipold and the ninth at David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium. Leipold said he had a conversation with a ref in the West Virginia game about how far the crowd has come.

“It’s important for us to fill that place on a weekly basis when possible, for many fronts, but to create an atmosphere that will make it difficult for opposing teams to come in here,” Leipold said. “One of the officials in the first half was on the sideline in the first half and he said something to me, he’s like ‘you know coach remember when I told you you’d be okay if you guys just kept working when this place was half empty three years ago.’ He’s saying how far we’d come as a program. Those people notice, and it’s noticeable where it’s been at and how far we’ve come, but we still have a long way to go.”

Kansas will need to be assignment-sound

Brendan Sorsby has done a lot for the Bearcats’ offense this season. He’s tallied 655 yards and eight touchdowns through the air, while also being the leading rusher with 175 yards and four touchdowns. Sorsby has also yet to be sacked this season, and Kansas’ front will have to be disruptive against Cincinnati’s weapons.

“Our front’s played well so far, but again, it gets into all those things — being assignment sound football, getting off blocks, tackling well, all the different things,” Leipold said. “[Cincinnati’s got] a lot of weapons there. So you’ve got to defend everyone because good offenses are going to exploit what you’re not defending.”

Leipold said Cincinnati has come a long way since the Jayhawks beat them 49-16 in the teams’ last meeting. He said Scott Satterfield has done a good job recruiting the Bearcats’ current roster.

“A couple years back when we played them, talking with coach before the game, he talked about that they had some things to work on, recruiting, addressing and that, and it’s very obvious they’ve done that,” Leipold said. “And especially including the quarterback position and what they’re able to do and the start that they’re off to, I think our guys are well aware of that after introductions today, that this will be the best team that we’ve played so far.”

Leipold thought offensive line was better against Missouri

Kansas struggled to match Missouri’s physicality up front, with Leipold challenging the Jayhawks as they went into the bye week and in preparation for West Virginia. The Mountaineers also had a strong front, but Kansas was more productive. Leipold said there’s still work to be done across the board, but they made progress last week.

“Better than the game before,” Leipold said of the offensive line. “I thought we protected Jalon pretty well. There were some times as you could see, especially in the first half, we weren’t clicking quite in rhythm as we’d want. The fourth down conversion early for a touchdown was huge to get us off to a good start. I thought as the game went on, we wore them down a little bit and were able to create some things.”

The Jayhawks rushed for just 31 yards against Missouri, but bounced back 242 yards on the ground against West Virginia. Leipold said he thought the run game was more consistent, and the designed quarterback runs were blocked well.

“I think we’re getting more consistent,” Leipold said. “Sometimes you just stay the course and eventually break one. The runs with Jalon were designed draws and well blocked. With multiple fronts and blitz packages, it’s a challenging week-to-week assignment.”