Despite what looked like a disappointing performance in Kansas’ 23-17 loss to Illinois on Saturday, Lance Leipold felt like there were some positives to take away from the game. He discussed his thoughts on Jalon Daniels’ three interceptions, the defense's relatively sound performance, and the lessons he learned from the team’s first loss of the year.

Jalon Daniels throws three interceptions, still does some good things

Daniels didn’t fill up the box score against Illinois, completing 18 of 32 passes for 141 yards and throwing three interceptions. Leipold talked about what he saw on Daniels’ picks.

“The one right before the half is more on the execution on the perimeter of what the play’s blocked to be,” Leipold said. “The one to Skinner, the last one, just too late. And the first one, another one he didn’t throw well.”

One thing Leipold mentioned that Daniels did well was run the ball. It was the first time Kansas used Daniels in the run game this season, and he tallied 35 yards on the ground. He was able to scramble as well as make plays in the option game.

“He made some big-time plays for us scrambling,” Leipold said. “It’s the most that kid’s run the ball now in 11 months, and I thought he played well and competed, but it wasn’t his best day.

Leipold also mentioned that the offense did not have enough big, explosive plays against the Illinois defense.

Offensive line opens up good running lanes

One area where the Jayhawks did find success was on the ground. Devin Neal rushed for 101 yards and averaged 7.2 yards per carry, while Daniel Hishaw added 39 yards on 5.6 yards per rush. Leipold said it was a pretty decent day for the offensive line, who had to win a lot of one-on-one matchups against Illinois’ five-man front.

“I thought, snapshot, I thought we had pretty good offensive line play tonight,” Leipold said.

Daniels was also sacked just once as the team rushed for 186 yards, averaging 5.6 per carry.

Defense with strong performance, runs out of gas late

Kansas limited Illinois’ offense for much of the game. The Jayhawks especially bottled up the run game, limiting the Fighting Illini to just 79 rushing yards. Overall, Illinois gained 271 yards compared to Kansas’ 327.

“I thought we played the run pretty decent there, especially halfway through the first to halfway through the fourth,” Leipold said. “[In] today’s day and age to hold a team under 300, I think is a pretty decent day.”

One player who stood out was Marvin Grant. Kansas’ safety flew around the field, leading the team with nine tackles with a sack, TFL, and pass breakup. Cornell Wheeler added eight tackles along with three TFLs to anchor the defense.

“I think Marvin showed up pretty well,” Leipold said. “I thought we had decent linebacker play.”

Leipold said ultimately, Kansas just couldn’t make enough plays late to get off the field. There were a couple of third-down conversions on Illinois’ last drive that helped the Fighting Illini ice the game.

Illinois loss a chance to ‘see what we’re made of’

The early season loss is not a season-ender by any means for the Jayhawks. Kansas still has a lot of goals to accomplish, but needs to get better in the coming weeks. Leipold said it’s important for his team to not get ahead of themselves.

“We’ve got a long way to go, we’ve got a lot to do,” Leipold said. “Everyone wants to go into things that aren’t even on the schedule yet to talk about a football team that has to get a lot better.”

Leipold said the loss gives the Jayhawks a chance to see who they are.

“We’re going to see what type of team we are, what kind of resolve we have, what kind of leadership we have starting with the head coach on down,” Leipold said.