Lance Leipold wants it understood: he knows exactly what Saturday means when Kansas meets Kansas State.
The Kansas coach addressed the rivalry head-on Monday, pushing back on the idea that he or the program doesn’t put enough weight on the Sunflower Showdown. With KU headed to Bill Snyder Family Stadium in Manhattan for an 11 a.m. kickoff, Leipold said the significance of the game is not lost on him, the team or the fan base.
“We know what this game is,” Leipold said. “I think sometimes we take it as, well, ‘Yeah, he doesn’t care about the game’ or ‘The program doesn’t care about the game.’
“We know what the game is,” he repeated. “I mean, we’re not stupid in this.
Some people think I’m stupid in a lot of other areas, probably, but that’d be a great soundbite, won’t it?” he added, smiling.
Kansas brings a long losing streak into the matchup, having dropped 17 straight to K-State. The Jayhawks’ last win in the series came in 2008. KU still owns a 65-53-5 edge in the all-time series, but Leipold’s record against the Wildcats sits at 0-5.
The teams meet with matching Big 12 struggles, too. Kansas State is 3-2 overall and 0-2 in conference play, while KU is 2-3 and also 0-2.
Leipold said he understands the history and the frustration around it.
“We’re well aware of the situation, the rivalry and our lack of success in a long time,” Leipold said, while further explaining his position as, “I’ve always just tried to say you’ve got to line up the next week, and you’ve got to prepare (for all games).”
He also acknowledged that he could have done a better job of recognizing what the rivalry means beyond the building.
He stressed that he has “done a poor job of obviously not giving enough of the credence of what it means to a lot of people outside of this building,” Leipold added “And it does. There’s a lot of bragging rights and pride and things that go back and forth, and that’s in all the sports across our athletic department. And for that, I don’t want to minimize it.”
Asked how often the KU-K-State game comes up in casual conversation or during speaking engagements, Leipold said the topic is usually more situational than constant.
“You mean in casual (conversations)? I would anticipate this week it comes up.
Is it something usual in the summer if I’m speaking somewhere, if we are at Corinth Square (for a preseason pep rally) or something like that? Somebody will say in either one of the rival games, ‘Hey let’s get them,’ or whatever.
It’s not anything over the top I don’t feel. I’m sure there are points in the social media world and things like that.
There’s things that we’ve got to get the tide turned on this.”
He added that the program’s responsibility is to finally back up the talk with results.
The sixth-year KU coach added that “for a lot of years I said it can’t be much of a rivalry unless we hold up our end of the bargain up. We haven’t done that yet. We’re well aware of that, and we’ve got to find a way to get it done on Saturday.”
For Kansas, that means a strong week of preparation and a cleaner game than the one it played at Utah, where the Jayhawks committed 10 penalties in a 41-24 loss. KU quarterback Isaiah Marshall has offered encouraging signs lately, throwing for 333 yards and two touchdowns in that game after a strong dual-threat outing against Middle Tennessee, and Kansas will need more of that if it is going to snap the skid on the road.
“You just have to make sure that you’re at your best. You’re emphasizing to your players that you need a great week of preparation and how we go about it.
Attention to detail. We’ve got to come out tomorrow with a great practice and focus and energy,” Leipold said.
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