Following a 23-17 loss to Illinois, head coach Lance Leipold met with the media on Monday. Leipold talked about what he saw from the offense and defense on film, how the team has responded to the loss, what he’s seen from an improved UNLV team, and how Kansas is attacking the short week with the Friday game day.

Offense left opportunities on the field

In spite of Jalon Daniels’ three interceptions, the Jayhawks still had opportunities to score and win the game against Illinois. Leipold mentioned a sequence in the early fourth quarter where Kansas ended up going 3-and-out after a 7-yard rush from Devin Neal to open the drive.

Leipold said that the first call was an RPO and it maybe should have been a give rather than a throw.

“The next one, the player flinched, and it’s one of those, you know, I guess Aaron Rodgers probably made a living of it in Green Bay, you know somebody flinches you take a shot,” Leipold said. “Well, the guy flinched, Bryce snapped it, and they didn’t call him offsides, which is automatic ‘We’re going to take a shot…’ He moved, but he didn’t move enough to be offsides, so you end up, you know, we end up losing that possession again.”

Leipold also mentioned that the turnover difference was a big reason why Kansas struggled. The Jayhawks did force a turnover on defense, but the three interceptions hampered the offense’s ability to score.

“If you don’t win the turnover battle, you know, your chances of winning really go down,” Leipold said. “So we’ll continue to learn about this team.”

Pleased with progression of defense, needs to clean up mental errors

Overall, the Kansas defense performed well on Saturday. The Jayhawks limited Illinois to under 300 total yards, and stuffed the run game, only allowing 79 yards on the ground. Leipold said that the defense played hard, but he did see areas where they could improve.

“I thought we had a very solid defensive performance, but unfortunately still we’ve got some mental errors and things we got to clean up,” Leipold said. “I thought [we] were playing hard again. They made some big plays, made some really nice catches, but I thought we had decent coverage.

"So I think that's kind of the tale of some bit is explosive plays. We had some opportunities to get off the field there late and didn't, but overall, I'm pleased with the progression of the defense.”

Leipold mentioned Cornell Wheeler as someone who stood out. Wheeler was second on the team with eight total tackles and led the Jayhawks with three TFLs. He anchored a defense that allowed just one offensive touchdown and limited the Fighting Illini to kicking two field goals.

Jayhawks show good effort in response to the loss

Kansas got back on campus early on Sunday morning after suffering the loss. The team still practiced and met on Sunday, where Leipold said they were “highly disappointed and tired and the body’s not feeling great.” However, he thinks they responded well during Monday’s practice.

“I thought once we got out there today, and they were fine last time, I mean, I don’t have any concerns about effort and attitude about kind of going through what it is on a week like this,” Leipold said. “I’m proud of the group for where we’re at leadership-wise.”

He added he trusts his team to bounce back. He said that there’s no one more disappointed in the outcome than those who are in the facility every day.

Things have also shifted in the expectations of going into a game against Kansas. Rather than just taking care of business and getting a win, teams now see games against the Jayhawks as a chance to make a statement. This is especially true of Illinois and UNLV, who look to get revenge after losing in the previous season.

“They're [UNLV] going to come in here that this can be a statement game, just like last week was for Illinois,” Leipold said. “And that's something we've talked about is that, you know, things have drastically changed here and that you got to say that people are going to prepare and feel that if they can get a win against us, it's going to be more than just the usual.”

UNLV better than last year

Kansas took down the Rebels 49-36 in the Guaranteed Rate Bowl last season. However, like Illinois, UNLV has improved and is hungry for the chance to take down the Jayhawks. The Rebels added Matthew Sluka from Holy Cross, who is a “better running threat” than Jayden Maiava, UNLV’s starting QB last season who is now at USC. UNLV also returns Ricky White III, a 2023 All-American.

“They’re very unique in what they do offensively and they’re very aggressive and multiple on defense in how they bring pressure,” Leipold said. “And they’re playing extremely confident and feel like they should be a top 25 team. We’ve got to make sure that we’re ready and hitting on all cylinders as well.”

Leipold also said he knows that UNLV felt like it had opportunities to win the game last season.

Kansas preparing for a short week

It’ll be a short prep week for the Jayhawks this week as they play on Friday night. Leipold said that Kansas’ off-day this week will be Saturday and the team did a “run-through” Sunday and were in spider pads on Monday.

“We'll have pads on tomorrow and we'll decide from there where we're at,” Leipold said. “And, yeah, it's a balance. Some of it's mental, but it's more physical because you could really examine a six or 07:00 kickoff [Friday] versus an 11:00 a.m. kickoff [Saturday]. And really, what is it other than another night's sleep, which, of course is important, but how much can you do and whatnot? So it's a balancing act.”

Leipold also said that Chris Klieman texted him today about the short week, as Kansas State faces Arizona on Friday. He said the two had both experienced short weeks before, with Leipold’s time in the MAC preparing him for non-traditional schedules.