Head coach Lance Leipold was disappointed after the 16-13 loss to Texas Tech. After quarterback Jason Bean went down with what Leipold called a head injury, the Jayhawks went to true freshman Cole Ballard, who Leipold was happy with his performance. He also discussed the late game situations that cost them the game, and the play of the defense in the second half.
Cole Ballard's first real snaps
Ballard appeared in the opening game against Missouri State and got some snaps, and for one play against Iowa State when Bean went down and returned the next play. It looked like it would be a similar situation as Bean came out for the first play of the second quarter, but after that drive stalled, Bean went to the Locker room.
Leipold was impressed with Ballard throughout fall camp as he earned the third string spot, and was satisfied with the poise the freshman showed.
“Just about what I thought he'd do,” Leipold said of how he expected Ballard to do. “Compete his tail off and he wouldn't flinch, and he'll give you everything he has. I don't think he ever had that deer in the headlights look about him. Where he was going to the moment was too big. That locker room really likes Cole Ballard, and they have for a long time. And it's his makeup, it's in his DNA, and he's going to be a fine player here.”
There was not much of a change in the way that the plays were called once Ballard made his way into the game, as the coaching staff is able to trust that he can run the offense.
“I've never heard Andy [Kotelnicki] or Jim [Zebrowski] say, ‘hey, we got to pare this down.’ But obviously by repetitions, there's some certain things that we're not going to probably run based on what he's really got a chance to do,” Leipold said. “But like I said, he's impressed everyone with retention of information, time and studying.”
Through all of the events that took place today, Ballard has now appeared in three games for the Jayhawks this year. If he appears in five, he burns his ability to redshirt, which is on Leipold’s mind.
“We've been battling because we're hoping to redshirt, you know, and now it's three games,” Leipold said. “Last week was one snap and we're sitting there trying to decide are we going to put Ben Easter's in or something for one play. But Cole just stays ready. But he's been that way. His football upbringing has prepared him to stay ready and that has been very.”
The last minute of the game
Kansas was faced with a third down and goal from the four yard line, they gave Devin Neal the opportunity to throw a pass from the wildcat. The pass fell incomplete and Kansas settled for three to tie the game. Leipold said that they were playing for the touchdown in that situation.
“We're going to try to run, we're going to hopefully get them all to bait in and he's going to try to throw it,” Leipold said on the strategy behind the play call. “It's again, much like many situations with us. Even a week ago we wanted to be aggressive and go win the game. That was the whole mindset.”
Leipold recognized that there were other options available for them, and knows that it’s easier to look back on what could have been.
“Obviously when they don't work, we can always talk about ten other options,” Leipold said. “We could have had other things. You could have run the ball and run the clock down. We could. We could have them all. But our thing was we're going to go get a touchdown and didn't work. From my angle, it's hard to say what was there or not. So I'm not going to give any other thought on that right now.”
After the Jayhawks tied the game, they needed to prevent Texas Tech from getting into field goal range, but they got to the 12-yard line in just three plays. It was not because the defense gave them a certain amount on the first two plays according to Leipold.
“It wasn't like, hey, let's play really soft and let's let them take it down there,” Leipold said. "It Obviously it wasn't enough.”
Second half defense
Outside of that final drive, the defense limited Texas Tech as they allowed the offense to figure things out and tie the game in the second half. The only six points they allowed came from the offense throwing an interception in their own territory and the game-winner.
The Jayhawks did give up 10 points on the game’s first two drives, which helped wake up the rest of the team.
“It was probably frustrating and disappointing and all the other things, but then all of a sudden you look up and it's only a ten point deficit,” Leipold said. “So you're hanging in there and there's some things happening that gives you a chance.”
Leipold was pleased with the way his defense responded to the slow start and made adjustments to keep the team in the game.
“We just kept finding ways to hang in there and find some solutions and get accustomed to what they were going to try to do in some things,” Leipold said.
Leipold said he "failed" coaching the game
The Jayhawks were playing for a lot today. They had a shot at the Big 12 race but Leipold did not manage those expectations well.
“Sometimes when success happens, we tend to really, and I think it's understandable, but this place has been starving for it for so long, I don't know if we're quite getting all the steps in line yet,” Leipold said. “We want to go all the way over to here and start talking about things that aren't even possible yet, and a lot of things that we've got to make sure that we're ABCD all the way through. We want to go A to D right away.”
The strides that he wants to see the program make are going to take time, and he takes responsibility for not making sure the focus was where it actually needed to be.
“Sometimes here we've got to make sure we get there, and that's my responsibility, and today I failed."
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