Leipold respects West Virginia’s grit, tempo heading into Big 12 opener
Kansas head coach Lance Leipold met with the media ahead of Saturday night’s matchup against West Virginia, and he had plenty of respect for what Rich Rodriguez and the Mountaineers have shown early in his return to Morgantown.
Bye week focus
Leipold said his team handled the break well, using it as a chance to heal up while also sharpening fundamentals.
“You know, I thought they handled it well. You know, it’s always slightly different when you can tell that there’s not a game coming up, so to speak, but all in all, we challenged the guys. Again, the attitude’s been good. Work ethic’s been good. I think we got a lot accomplished. We tried to take some reps off a few guys, tried to work getting healthy, but also addressing things that we need to get better at. Got a chance, I’m sorry, last thing, but we did get a chance to scrimmage some of our young guys and get a chance for them to play some live football again. Sorry.”
Impressed with WVU under Rodriguez
Leipold was asked about West Virginia’s start under Rodriguez and the comeback win over Pitt.
“Well, again, the pace in which they play is extremely impressive. You know, Saturday’s game, first of all, it’s a big testament to their staff and their leadership in their program because they had a disappointing loss on the road, okay, and then to get that group rallied, obviously, in a rivalry game and to play the way they did was highly impressive. To be down two scores in the fourth quarter and to keep battling, it’s a physical gritty bunch and it’s a testament to the culture he’s established in his short time there.
“He’s implemented a lot of new players, still, I believe, still trying to get clearance for other players and additions to get on the field for them and those guys, some of them have been impactful early, but again, an excellent coach through his whole career and you can see that the way it’s been, especially in offensive philosophy and how they’re going. So again, it’ll be a big test for us and I’ll say that every week in here. Guys, I start thinking about things you’re gonna ask me. I’m like, okay, every week we’re gonna talk about how close the games are gonna be, how good everyone has been coached and where it’s at and that’s what’s making college football, especially in our conference, so exciting.”
Preparing for multiple quarterbacks
Leipold acknowledged that West Virginia can use more than one quarterback, which creates challenges in preparation.
“I think he said he might have played five in this game or something. He was going to maybe do so. Again, there’s film on different guys. You watch what they do, but again it’s still going to be, is there a package of plays for a guy? West Virginia did that the last couple times we played, even under Coach Brown where they had another quarterback and another package of plays. You try to get an idea.
“We only have so much time to get stuff practiced, so you try to get an idea of identity, what they’re going to be with those certain quarterbacks. I think they played two. Did they play two on Saturday or three? Again, to kind of find out what each one of them do, what type of throws they’re most comfortable making, some of those will start to show tendencies.”
Importance of the matchup
Leipold reflected on how close the series has been and the chance to open Big 12 play at home.
“It’s a great question because as you said that, I was quick reflecting. I mean it’s been close games, overtime games, even as I think that was our last home game in 21, if I remember correctly. That was as we were starting to make noticeable improvement on the field, I thought we really battled and had chances even back then to win games.
“So again, you hope it’s one of those things that personnel-wise, it’ll be a balanced matchup that you got to go out and play well. But again, to open up conference at home and have a chance to play against a team like this is exciting and I think our guys understand that we need to play at our best to have a chance to win and get this conference season kicked off the right way.”
Kickoff between Kansas and West Virginia is set for 6:00 PM ET Saturday on FS1.
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