Lance Leipold on upcoming KU-K-State game: ‘We need to carry our end of the rivalry’

As of Monday, Lance Leipold wasn’t planning on bringing in a bunch of motivational guest speakers, nor a group of former Kansas players, to discuss the importance of the Kansas-Kansas State football rivalry.

“We had Gilbert Brown in last week. We’ve had some players in (this season),” said Leipold, the second-year KU coach who has inked a new extension that could keep him in Lawrence through 2029, The Star confirmed Monday evening.

“I don’t want to devalue anyone’s past experiences. I guess sometimes you do highlight films, speakers at the hotel (the day before game), bring them in,” Leipold said. “I don’t know what that does other than your daily responsibilities of working hard and taking care of yourself and watching film and doing that. I don’t know how that’s going to make me play at a different rate than I should.”

Leipold further explained: “I guess I’ve never fully gone that route because once that ball is kicked off I start thinking way back. It’s been a long time since I played, even a long time ago as an assistant coach. I try to think back (to) what the coach said in the locker room before we took the field. I barely could remember. You’ve got so many other things going on.

“Not to underestimate the value of those things and pride, but I think if we’re doing things correctly we are hitting some of those along the way. Now can you use a little bit of (that) here and there to understand and take a little bit more accountability to the situation? Sure.”

Leipold said following the example of current senior Sam Burt might be enough to motivate any Jayhawk entering Saturday’s 7 p.m. Big 12 battle between the Jayhawks (6-5, 3-5) and Wildcats (8-3, 6-2) in Manhattan.

“Last year, Sam broke his arm and we talked about redshirting. He wanted to do that,” Leipold said of Burt, a defensive lineman from Abilene, Kan. “We were picking the games (a player can appear in four and still redshirt) and he said, ‘I don’t care which other ones, I just want to play in the Kansas State game.’

“Sam has been banged up the last couple games. I asked him after the game (Saturday’s 55-14 loss to Texas) if he’s all right. He says, ‘Have to be, it’s Kansas State week.’ I think we have that (motivation) there.”

In Leipold’s first KU-K-State game as Kansas coach, his side fell to the Wildcats, 35-10, in Lawrence. It was KU’s 13th consecutive loss to Kansas State.

“We need to carry our end of the rivalry. That’s first and foremost. This hasn’t been much of a rivalry,” Leipold said. “We didn’t make that a competitive game last year. That’s going to be first and foremost what I’m focused on. Anything after that it’s what it is.”

Leipold mentioned that he knows K-State coach Chris Klieman, plus assistant Wildcat coaches Conor Riley and Steve Stanard, quite well.

“There’s good people and really good coaches on their staff,” Leipold said. “That sometimes can deflate your dislike. I think they are good people. That’s important. Anytime you get a chance to compete against people who do things the right way, but you can competitively get after it, I think (it’s) always exciting. For what it’s worth I think it’s great that it’s the last game of the year (of the regular season).”

Klieman is 3-0 vs. KU. The Wildcats won 35-10 a year ago, 55-14 in 2020 and 38-10 in 2019.

What would a mean win for the Jayhawks?

“There’s probably some recruiting aspects to it,” Leipold said. “It’s us playing well and showing the way we’re taking steps. You look at how well they played all year and what they’ve done. It’ll be a chance to knock off another ranked opponent and doing it on the road and giving us a little shot of energy as we move into bowl prep.

“It will be an important 30 days of our program in development in how we approach it, the attitude and opportunity. I look at it that way, ... for what it can do. Everything else is more social media based, bragging rights or whatever. ... We have to turn to the next thing pretty quickly (after the K-State game), recruiting and other things within the program.”