Lance Leipold liked Kansas’ defense and special teams in win over West Virginia

Kansas improved to 3-1 on the season and opened Big 12 play with a 41-10 win over West Virginia on Saturday. Lance Leipold liked his defense’s response following the Missouri game and the overall play of the special teams unit. Leipold also gave his perspective on the two targeting calls in Saturday’s game.

Defense responded to struggles against Missouri, handled WVU’s tempo well

Kansas missed 24 tackles against Missouri as the Jayhawks allowed almost 600 total yards. Leipold and the staff challenged the Jayhawks’ physicality through the bye week and in preparation for West Virginia. Against the Mountaineers, Leipold said Kansas’ defense was extremely physical and tackled well.

“DK and the defensive staff, we challenged, you know, because we didn’t tackle as well as we should have two weeks ago, or we could have,” Leipold said. “And again, going back to some fundamental stuff, trying to work at it. There still wasn’t a live tackling period, but it was back to fundamentals and doing different things and working at it.”

Going into the game, West Virginia played at one of the fastest paces in the country. Kansas stopped the Mountaineers from getting anything going early, forcing punts on their first six drives. Leipold said he thought the Jayhawks handled the tempo well.

“I thought we did well,” Leipold said. “You’re still trying to get things communicated and stuff, but all in all, I would say and with just that, you know, just the view of, and what I’m listening to during the game, I thought it was good.”

Special teams had a ‘really good day’

Kansas got a spark from its special teams unit throughout the game. Tate Nagy got it started with a nice punt return, and Emmanuel Henderson made the big highlight play with a 94-yard kickoff return touchdown. That return gave the Jayhawks great momentum to open the second half, effectively icing the game.

“Emmanuel’s kick return was definitely a huge turning point in the game,” Leipold said. “Put that with the field goal right before the half, I think it really kind of made a statement there for us. So really pleased on where we’re at in special teams.”

Henderson’s touchdown came on the heels of a 43-yard return late in the second quarter. Lance Leipold said Henderson was supposed to fair catch it, but that the successful return gave Henderson confidence he could take one to the house.

“I knew he was pretty confident on what was happening,” Leipold said. “The cool thing is you get everybody a chance to see how fast the guy really is and it was an impressive run and a big time boost for us in that middle eight.”

Kansas had a complete special teams performance outside of just returns. Finn Lappin averaged 46.2 yards over his six punts, pinning West Virginia inside the 20 on four occasions.

“That one really kind of gets forgotten sometimes in this, but I thought we had a really good day special teams wise,” Leipold said. “Thought our coverage units were good again.”

Leipold wanted to keep things from getting out of hand after targeting on Daniels

Jalon Daniels got rocked on a scramble early in the second quarter, resulting in Fred Perry being disqualified for targeting. There was a bit of a skirmish after the play, and Lance Leipold found himself on the field. He said he didn’t completely see what happened but wanted to make sure the situation didn’t get out of hand.

“Of course our guys are going to try to defend somebody,” Leipold said. “I didn’t see the exact, if Kobe Baynes was the first one to push somebody, then I saw somebody else in a white jersey push somebody, and then Calvin Clements was [there]. And that’s where I went to try to get it before we just have a disaster.”

Later in the third quarter, Devin Dye was flagged for targeting. Dye laid a big hit attempting to break up the pass, but led with the crown of the helmet and not the face. Leipold emphasized the importance of trying to keep players healthy.

“The officials said to me as they’re reviewing it, he thought his face was up on it,” Leipold said. “But I think the replay showed that his head was down and hit with the crown of the helmet, which is unfortunate because it was a nice hit. So. But again, all those things are for the safety of the game to keep guys healthy and that’s what’s most important.”