Kansas football’s trip to Wembley Stadium has been one of the most debated parts of the upcoming season, but Lance Leipold isn’t treating it like a disaster waiting to happen.
At Big 12 Media Day this week, the Jayhawks coach addressed the overseas matchup in the Union Jack Classic and drew a clear line between Kansas’ situation and what Kansas State and Iowa State dealt with in last year’s Aer Lingus College Football Classic.
“... The one thing that I think is a little different, it's in week three for us versus the Kansas State, Iowa State game of a year ago; both those teams came back and had to play that next Saturday.
Didn't matter if it was an FCS opponent or who they each played. They had to get their teams back and ready and that stuff.”
That distinction matters because Kansas gets its bye week after the Arizona State game, giving Leipold’s staff a built-in reset before the real grind begins. He said the program believes it has “a very confident plan” for how to handle the return and prepare for the Oct. 3 game.
“And I think, hopefully, we feel we have a very confident plan that when we do get back about how we're gonna get our guys, some time down [to] transition back, and then get ready for a game on October 3rd. So I think that that'll be very important as we move forward.”
The concern for Kansas isn’t just the travel. It’s what comes after. The bye week lands right after the Arizona State trip, and that sets up a brutal nine-game finish to the season.
Kansas’ final nine games are:
Middle Tennessee (Home) October 3rd
Utah (Away) October 10th
Kansas State (Away) October 17th
Baylor (Home) October 24th
TCU (Away) October 31st
UCF (Home) November 7th
WVU (Away) November 14th
BYU (Home) November 21st
Oklahoma State (Away) November 28th
The Jayhawks’ season is coming up fast, and the overseas game is only one piece of it. Leipold is entering his sixth season at Kansas, with the opener against LIU on Sept. 4 followed by the Border Showdown against Missouri a week later. Kansas narrowly lost that game last season, 42-31.
The Arizona State game in London will carry extra attention, but it arrives after those first two tests and before the long stretch that will define the rest of Kansas’ year.
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At Big 12 Media Days, Lance Leipold sounded encouraged by what Kansas has built heading into the season, pointing to a roster that looks sturdier across the board. The Jayhawks believe they have more reliable depth in the trenches and at several key spots on defense and in the backfield, and that matters for a program trying to turn more of its competitive Saturdays into wins.
Leipold also tied that stability to the changing college football landscape, saying the new revenue-sharing model has helped Kansas allocate resources more effectively. He added that the single transfer portal window has made it easier to keep the roster together, and for a team that has been searching for a better way to finish tight games, that kind of continuity could be as important as any single player on the depth chart. [Read more 🡒]