Lance Leipold speaks to the media after the Kansas Jayhawks defeat the Illinois Fighting Illini 34-23
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00:00 talk a lot about in the offseason,
00:01 even leading into this game,
00:02 it's just increased physicality.
00:04 Want to improve that?
00:05 How do you feel you did that?
00:06 - You know, at first glance,
00:08 I think we're an extremely physical football team.
00:10 Now, in our own game,
00:12 the field won't tell us for sure,
00:13 but I thought so.
00:14 I thought, you know,
00:16 here I've been carrying this around
00:17 and I haven't even looked,
00:18 but you know, 542 yards,
00:21 and they had what, three something.
00:22 So, again, I thought we played,
00:27 I think we got a couple tough targeting calls,
00:30 but we're playing aggressive
00:31 and we're playing in a fashion
00:33 that we're gonna need,
00:35 well this year.
00:37 - For you guys, just as a program,
00:39 how big of a win does this feel like?
00:41 - Well, it's a big win,
00:44 but it's a non-conference win,
00:45 we gotta make sure of that.
00:46 But I think it's,
00:47 from where this program has been
00:49 for over a decade,
00:50 I think wins like this,
00:52 and this was the opportunity,
00:53 when Travis and I talked about the opportunity
00:56 to move this game,
00:57 there was something like,
00:59 did these, our guys deserve an opportunity
01:01 to go play when they got a lot of,
01:03 I think there was probably a lot of eyeballs
01:05 on this football team tonight,
01:06 and I'm very proud of the way they played,
01:09 but, you know, I don't wanna make anything
01:12 more than that,
01:13 because we got a lot of football to play
01:15 that didn't want to.
01:16 - And something,
01:19 you alluded to Jalen not showing any rust,
01:22 I wonder if the pass on that last drive
01:25 to the half,
01:26 do you think many people can do that,
01:28 and how that play struck you,
01:31 as well as the one out of the end zone,
01:32 when he ran out,
01:34 what does that do for a team?
01:35 - It's a way a guy's gonna make a lot of money
01:37 someday, I'm proud too.
01:38 And,
01:39 yeah, I think his,
01:43 I think there was a couple times
01:44 he kinda got off balance,
01:46 and, you know, I probably a little bit of,
01:48 you know, I'm sure he's coming in here soon,
01:50 he's gonna tell you,
01:51 I would imagine he's gonna tell you he's pretty tired,
01:54 'cause I think conditioning was,
01:55 you know, again, that's as much as he's done
01:58 in a very long time.
01:59 But yeah, those throws were amazing,
02:02 I think he played with extreme confidence,
02:05 even some of the incompletions in the first half
02:08 weren't off the mark very much,
02:09 you know, I think he had a drive,
02:11 on the court, he kinda had one of the numbers,
02:14 I don't know if it got just,
02:16 somebody tipped it or whatever,
02:17 but he was,
02:19 he was on, you know,
02:22 and that's impressive,
02:23 and you can see why,
02:24 why it was,
02:26 whether it was him as well as us,
02:30 you know, and at the same time,
02:31 there's Jason, you know,
02:32 and that's prepared extremely well,
02:34 and, you know, the whole thing,
02:36 I told Jason after the game,
02:37 I was hoping we could have punched
02:38 another touchdown or so in,
02:40 because it'd have been easier to get him in
02:43 in the fourth and the fifth.
02:45 - Lance, do you think you'll ask for either
02:48 of those targeting calls,
02:49 day review, you know?
02:50 - Yeah, I don't know,
02:52 you don't wanna say review,
02:52 I don't know the procedures,
02:54 it's a big 10 crew,
02:55 I don't know how we go through it
02:57 with our people,
02:57 so, there's a few of those,
03:00 I'd like to kinda see where it goes,
03:02 I don't know,
03:03 I don't even know what my,
03:05 at this moment,
03:06 what my options are,
03:08 because does it go to someone else,
03:09 or does it go within the conference,
03:11 I don't know, so,
03:12 yeah, 'cause, you know,
03:17 the one on Austin,
03:18 I don't know, you know,
03:19 it was heads down a little bit,
03:21 but it's still in the mid,
03:22 I've never seen a targeting call like that,
03:25 I can count on one hand,
03:26 in 17 years,
03:28 or there's a number of sentences,
03:29 but then on one hand,
03:30 how many players on teams
03:32 that have coached
03:33 have had a targeting call,
03:35 and to get two in one game,
03:37 you know, Colby's had,
03:40 from at least what we could see there,
03:42 didn't seem like he launched,
03:44 used his shoulder,
03:46 the player was putting his head down,
03:49 I don't know,
03:50 that's a tough one,
03:52 but,
03:52 - On Jalen again,
03:57 what were your expectations
04:00 for him for his game at all?
04:02 - I don't know,
04:05 I don't know if that's,
04:06 I don't know how to answer that one,
04:07 to be honest,
04:08 like our expectations statistically,
04:10 I expect him to,
04:11 I could tell today in the hotel
04:13 when we were doing some walkthrough stuff
04:14 that he felt really good,
04:16 he was really anxious to play,
04:18 he felt really in command of calls,
04:20 and just as we go through things,
04:23 I felt he was ready,
04:26 I didn't see any apprehension
04:28 that he was worried about anything,
04:30 and that was exciting to see,
04:32 but,
04:34 I don't know,
04:36 I don't know if I have that on any plan,
04:38 I expect this guy to have these type of days,
04:41 but,
04:42 I thought overall,
04:44 you know, there's some there,
04:45 you know, maybe late or some things,
04:47 I thought off,
04:48 I thought mine played really well,
04:49 considering, I said,
04:50 there's two, three guys that showed up,
04:54 the NFL players,
04:55 and that's a lot,
04:56 - And I wanted to ask you too,
05:00 did you know who was getting that first snap?
05:02 I mean, that's a play we don't see,
05:04 first play of the game,
05:06 you guys have been in,
05:08 - Did I know that was happening?
05:09 - Did you know who was gonna get the snap?
05:11 - Well, I knew I was gonna get the snap,
05:14 - Okay.
05:14 - It was who was gonna get the ball after that.
05:16 - Okay.
05:17 - Yeah, so,
05:19 - Yeah, I thought you guys would be mad at me,
05:21 but I wasn't gonna announce,
05:22 like right before the last day,
05:23 Jason was starting the game.
05:25 - Right.
05:26 - I just wasn't gonna say a quarter,
05:27 (laughing)
05:29 But,
05:31 then some of you guys,
05:33 and then all of a sudden,
05:34 so then we got,
05:35 but,
05:37 no, what it was,
05:38 was that there was,
05:39 there was a chance Jason would have carried the ball,
05:41 it was, you know, so,
05:44 and again, as we know,
05:45 for many ways,
05:46 we'll continue to use both those guys,
05:50 but as we can.
05:51 - One more for me on,
05:52 the eyeballs on this game,
05:54 and the significance of the opponent,
05:55 and all that stuff,
05:57 did you feel from your guys a little elevated,
05:59 like let's take care of business,
06:01 let's make a, you know,
06:01 I hate the word statement,
06:02 but a statement, right?
06:03 - Yeah, no, we talked about it,
06:04 we, I mean, we talked about the opportunity
06:06 to play a Big Ten team that home on a night
06:08 where there's only one other game going on,
06:10 and that was a Big Ten team in an FCS school,
06:13 so hopefully there was gonna be a chance for,
06:16 you know, there's a lot of teams sitting in hotels tonight,
06:18 getting ready to play tomorrow,
06:19 and hopefully there's a lot of people
06:21 watching this football team.
06:22 Yeah, we talked about it,
06:25 we talked about what we needed,
06:26 we talked about,
06:27 the reason why this could be a,
06:31 bigger game than maybe when it was scheduled,
06:34 is because of the work of those guys,
06:36 and what they've done.
06:37 They've earned that opportunity to have that chance.
06:40 The last time we played a Friday night game,
06:42 and ESPN was in,
06:46 it was against Coastal Carolina,
06:47 and we got blown out, so, I mean,
06:51 for us to have that is exciting,
06:53 and again, I think more of these games are coming
06:57 on these nights, so maybe we'll be,
07:00 I think we had a great crowd,
07:02 and hopefully we can continue to be somewhere
07:05 that we have these type of opportunities
07:07 whatever time they want us to play.
07:08 - Lance, I've noticed on the passing situations,
07:12 you're moving Jeremy inside,
07:14 you're getting some more athletic guys on the edge,
07:17 but where did that come about?
07:18 It looks like you're getting more pressure.
07:19 - Yeah, you know, we've looked at everything,
07:21 a way to create more, you know,
07:22 we can put JB on the outside a few times,
07:25 and what we've gone to some packages with,
07:27 essentially with Jeremy moving inside
07:29 with three defensive ends.
07:30 Again, you know, much like our offense,
07:34 we wanna be as multiple as we can defensively
07:36 to match up with people,
07:37 to find opportunities to put pressure on the quarterback,
07:40 and do different things, so,
07:43 you know, hopefully we can expound on that a little bit more.
07:47 - Lance, just, you know, six sacks against Illinois,
07:50 you guys talked all week about how physical they are,
07:52 can you give me, what do you take away from a game like this
07:55 and how far you guys--
07:56 - Well, you know, after watching their first game,
07:59 we thought there's maybe a couple opportunities
08:01 on a couple matchups,
08:03 but again, part of that, it goes together
08:06 because I think we had good coverage in the back end,
08:09 but sometimes you can see them hanging out on the ball
08:11 a little bit longer.
08:12 We're in bad coverage,
08:14 and the quarterback's scrambling,
08:15 everybody's got their backs to things,
08:17 and that's the risk of it,
08:18 when quarterbacks are gonna be willing to run,
08:20 and so we give up that big one,
08:22 but all in all,
08:23 yeah, you know, and,
08:26 honestly, you should have a chance to get some of those,
08:28 when you get a lead like you have,
08:30 and it forces them to be more one-dimensional,
08:33 and hopefully our rotation up front,
08:38 and the fact that they're not rotating offensive linemen,
08:40 hopefully wear down,
08:41 and you can see us making plays when we need to.
08:44 - The defensive line performance tonight,
08:48 is this the kind of performance you guys were talking about
08:50 during all of camp,
08:51 or is there still more for them to show?
08:52 - I think there's more to show yet,
08:54 but I was pleased with how they played.
08:56 We didn't do really great at all in C,
08:58 but I know they're playing hard,
09:00 there's great effort, there's training,
09:03 and we're making some play.
09:04 I think Kenan Caldwell had a sack in there,
09:05 I don't know if he's got the video,
09:07 anyone have a video?
09:09 - I thought he was in on one towards the end.
09:11 Kenan's a guy that really has had a fine August for us,
09:14 we redshirted him a year ago,
09:15 he played a lot of football our first year,
09:18 and he's kind of had to battle back in the rotation,
09:21 and I'm really proud of him,
09:23 and I think that group again,
09:25 there's enough guys there around the abilities
09:28 that are gonna be able to rotate Kenan's fresh.
09:30 - And then the ability of the defense to bounce back
09:33 after the two targeting calls,
09:34 I mean what does that say about this team?
09:36 - Again, you know, you kind of turn the page,
09:39 and you kind of, you know, I'll be honest,
09:42 there's times you kind of feel a momentum shifting away
09:44 on you a little bit, and find a way to make a play,
09:47 and you keep talking about it,
09:48 and there's a guy who couldn't last
09:50 in their double play very much,
09:51 and all of a sudden he shows up and the ball's there,
09:54 and the ball bounces around and makes a heck of a play for us
09:57 just when we needed it,
09:58 'cause that was about the time they were driving again, so.
10:01 - Top of the line, one in the back.
10:03 - Yeah, Coach, so last week you guys ran the ball well,
10:06 and tonight's game you had two running backs
10:08 go for 100 plus serves and a touchdown each,
10:10 so can you just touch on that,
10:11 and ask me if you have these,
10:12 if you have both running backs go for 100 plus
10:14 and a touchdown, is that part of the game plan,
10:16 getting both of them mixed in like that?
10:18 - Yeah, well, yeah, we wanna play as many as we can,
10:21 I think, in those guys, but yeah, Daniel and Devin,
10:25 we wanna get them their touches,
10:26 they complement each other really well,
10:29 you can see Daniel's physicality when he's running,
10:31 breaking some tackles, and you know,
10:34 I'm doing a poor job here for you guys,
10:37 but I mean, looking at the balance,
10:39 yeah, I mean, we're pretty balanced,
10:41 and for us to be effective, you know, offensively,
10:44 there's two things that can really,
10:46 that are really gonna help us,
10:47 and that means balance between the run and the pass,
10:49 and then just serving the ball to multiple people,
10:52 whether it be the pass game, like we said before,
10:55 playing a lot of tight ends, a lot of receivers,
10:57 and of course, the guys in the backfield,
10:59 and we're lining up, you know,
11:01 Dylan McDuffie got some carries
11:03 when we needed a fresh body, they're late,
11:05 Torrey Loughlin lined up back there a few times,
11:07 so, you know, I think we got, we have some nice weapons,
11:11 and we gotta continue to find ways to use them.
11:14 - All right, thanks everyone.