Lance Leipold on the KSU game, fan support, using Sean Snyder

A lot is at stake in this year’s edition of the Dillon’s Sunflower Showdown between Kansas and Kansas State as head coach Lance Leipold gets his team ready. He discussed the injury status of his quarterbacks, the meaning of the rivalry, the impact the seniors have had and what he sees in the Wildcats.

With Bean going down during the Texas Tech game with a head injury, his status for the Kansas State game became a topic of discussion right away. However, Leipold is confident that Bean can take the field on Saturday.

“I'm not going to get into the nature of injuries in depth, but he did not practice last night,” Leipold said. “But my latest is I'm very optimistic that he'll be playing on Saturday.”

The depth chart listed Bean, Cole Ballard and Jalon Daniels in order with an “Or” between each of them. Leipold was asked about who would back up Ballard if he were to go down.

“It could be Ben Easters, it could be Mikey Pauly,” Leipold said.

The Jayhawks have not beaten their in-state rivals since 2008. With everything that is on the line, Leipold does not want his players letting the moment get to them.

“For us to play them and they're the defending conference champs and we're coming in with it with similar records and it's a home game and all those things,” Leipold said. “I think we should play loose in this game. We're just going to keep working on closing that gap and we're going to see where it's going to turn out on Saturday. And that's the way it should be.”

Playing this game at home is crucial for the Jayhawks, who just suffered their first home loss of the year against Texas Tech. While they are the home team, Leipold knows that there will be some purple in the stadium come Saturday, but urges the Jayhawks fans to make an impact on the game.

“Yeah, it's going to be extremely important,” Leipold said. “And you hope that the right people bought the tickets and those things, but I'm sure there'll be noise for both sides. But that's what makes great environments in college football and we have a great setting for college football and we're going to need our fans and our crowd and the noise to be there.”

Leipold stated numerous times throughout his time with the media on Monday that Kansas State’s crowd played a factor in the first quarter last year, and he hopes that Kansas’ crowd can do the same.

“I think there were definitely plays in that early part of that game that I just said I was watching that their fans played a part in and we got to try to make that happen for us,” Leipold said.

With an in-state rivalry like the Sunflower Showdown, the players and coaches that have had a presence in the state of Kansas are involved in the game play a big part in getting ready for the game.

“Our Kansas guys are extremely important and there's some pride in that and there's some of these between families and other things that know past success here, but also the success of what Coach Snyder and Coach Kleiman have done," Kansas head coach Lance Leipold said.

With the success that Kansas State has had, especially over Kansas, comes a lot of respect from Leipold’s side, who wants a great game, but knows that the Jayhawks have a lot on their plate if they want to clear this hurdle.

“You want rivalries to know great competitions, physical battles, all those things, but I know on this side of it there's a lot of respect,” Leipold said.

Leipold was asked if he was going to have any guest speakers ahead of the big game to talk about its significance, but he has someone on his staff who knows all about it in Sean Snyder, who’s father Bill, was the mastermind turning the KSU program around. Snyder played and coached at Kansas State.

“I got probably the best speaker and I'll probably be Sean Snyder this week,” Leipold said. “I think that'd be a pretty good one for us.”

On top of an already important game, Saturday is Senior Day for the Jayhawks. It will be the last time they ever play in David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium. Leipold knows the meaning behind it, but does not want that to be the focus as it can be a distraction if it gets too meaningful.

“I try not to get too sentimental because it's tough and if you let your emotions get a hold of you too much, it distracts from [the seniors],” Leipold said. “Hopefully having their best opportunity to play their best football game, their last home game.

He continued: "The good thing is we've made enough progress in this program to play a bowl game. So it's always like we get more time together because it's tough sometimes when you say goodbye, because it really changes after they leave and their careers are over.”

For Leipold, it was hard to measure the impact the seniors have had, but he feels very positively about them ahead of their last three games.

“To see the guys that each person has their own story of how they got here, how long they've been here, what they've added to this program, as far as their attitude, their effort, their belief, the health changing of the culture, their work ethic and of course, production on the field,” he said. “And they all, in a special way, have left their own mark on this program.”