Lance Leipold looks at o-line play against OSU, previews Arizona

Kansas now sits at five wins and looking for bowl eligibility after beating Oklahoma State last week. Lance Leipold met with the media on Monday, looking back at the offensive line’s play against the Cowboys and the Jayhawks’ upcoming matchup at Arizona.

Leipold thought offensive line as a whole played well

The offensive line received a lot of high PFF grades in the win against Oklahoma State. The Jayhawks rushed for 232 yards and didn’t allow a sack. Leipold said the group as a whole played well.

“Calvin [Clements]  had probably his best game in at least a while, maybe of the year,” Leipold said. “Kobe [Baynes] played really well, had one of his better games, but, yeah, we needed that. Obviously protected Jalon better, but obviously a lot more successful in the run game.”

Kansas utilized more heavy sets, either with an extra offensive lineman or multiple tight ends. Nolan Gorczyca was often the extra lineman used, with a high PFF grade in his 20 snaps. With the Jayhawks’ tight end room depleted due to injury, Leipold said they looked at other personnel groupings and were able to find success.

“After we lost Carson, obviously, we had to look, you know, we’re looking a little thin at the position, so try to look at all options, different personnel groupings,” Leipold said. “It’s been in our package quite a bit since we’ve been here. Just kind of pulled it back up, dusted it off, I guess, and, you know, I venture to say we’ll keep using it.”

Brent Brennan has established a culture quickly at Arizona

Kansas will play Arizona for the first time since the Wildcats moved to the Big 12 and the first time since 1966. Leipold said that Arizona head coach Brent Brennan has established a culture in his second year as head coach. He noted that the Wildcats may feel like they are a couple of plays away from being a one-loss team this season.

“To get Arizona and go to Tucson for the first time, I’ve always said it’s always unique experiences and challenging ones to kind of see,” Leipold said. “Coach Brennan’s done a great job in his second year of establishing his culture and expectations. You can see the improvement of their team. And again, that’s a team that, you know, other than their trip to Ames, they probably feel they could, they should be sitting maybe with one loss all year.”

The Jayhawks are searching for their second road win after beating UCF and losing to Missouri and Texas Tech. Leipold said that winning on the road in the Big 12 is tough, but he thinks his staff has a good plan in place for his team to be prepared.

“I think we do a good, intentional plan of what we try to do to get our team ready and go play in environments and to go play at a place we haven’t before,” Leipold said. “Not exactly sure what factors are there, crowd wise, noise wise, all the different things. But again, anytime you gotta go on the road, you gotta band together and go out and play your best football possible.”

Noah Fifita and Arizona offense ‘clicking pretty well’ right now

Arizona is on the heels of a 52-point performance against Colorado last week. Noah Fifita threw for four touchdowns and is in the midst of an impressive season, with 21 touchdowns to four interceptions on the year. Leipold said Fifita is a very talented quarterback.

“[He] obviously gets the ball out quickly, very mobile, extends plays when he has to,” Leipold said. “The accuracy part is what’s really impressive. And now that they’ve kind of gotten a little better rhythm on things, you can see that they’re clicking pretty well and did in Boulder Saturday night. So he’s up there with the top in the league without a doubt.”

Leipold also said the Wildcats receiving corps was impressive, complimenting their ability to make defenders miss.

“The receiving corps, like I said, is there’s a mixture of size, and speed and quickness too, you know, not just guys that could run by people, guys that can make people miss after the catch and then accelerate,” Leipold said. “And that’s impressive.”