Kansas’ offense has been under scrutiny in the Jayhawks’ recent two-game skid, averaging 18.5 points

Kansas suffered another close loss, this time at the hands of West Virginia. The Mountaineers overcame an 11-point deficit with five minutes left to drop the Jayhawks to 1-3.

Head coach Lance Leipold spoke to the media after the game, discussing the defense’s inability to get stops in the fourth quarter, how he expects the team to bounce back from another tough loss, and the decision to punt coming out of the weather delay.

Defense struggles again to get off the field in the fourth quarter

For the third straight week, Kansas struggled to get stops with the game on the line. On Saturday, West Virginia went on back-to-back touchdown drives to complete the comeback. Leipold talked about some of the issues the defense faced.

“I mean, again, we're still trying to get pressure on the quarterback,” Leipold said. “We lost Cornell. We're trying to make sure we're spying the quarterback. We lost contain once we had a late hit on another, we're given too much cushion. A lot of routes are going to be over routes, crossing routes are going to be near the sticks. You know, there's a lot of different things there.”

The Kansas defense forced two interceptions, something they were searching for as an area of improvement. However, the Jayhawks once again struggled to stop a mobile quarterback, with Garrett Greene extending plays with his legs, finishing with 87 rushing yards and a touchdown.

“I think we let Greene, Garrett Greene get into a rhythm and we’re giving them too many chunk plays,” Leipold said.

Team is close, expects them to stay positive

One could make the argument that Kansas could be 4-0 if a couple of things go differently. The Jayhawks have lost one-possession games in three straight weeks, and Leipold said they were “close.”

“I know it stings for everybody associated with our programs, our fans, everybody,” Leipold said. “And I know one thing is that I know this group's got a lot of fight in, and we'll keep working to get better.”

Leipold said that he expects “anybody who touches our program to stay positive and work as hard as they've ever worked before because we owe that to our people.” He said that things could have gone either way multiple times.

“You point it out and you say because again when things go your way and it's really close, you're that close to losing,” Leipold said. “We've said that so many times.”

Leipold also said that Kansas has to get better and give this group a chance.

Rationalizing the decision to take the delay of game, punt after weather delay

Right before the two-hour weather delay, Kansas took a delay of game, pushing a fourth-and-two to a fourth-and-seven from midfield. The fourth down was a result of a close call by the referees on a potential Trevor Kardell catch. The Jayhawks were up four at this point and could have had an opportunity to extend their lead. However, they decided to punt.

“I felt at that time that I made the decision that we're going to punt the football, and I was hoping it [the catch] was going to get reviewed somehow,” Leipold said. “After the review, then the truck decided to get it to the replay official. I don't know how that works. And we didn't get the time back, so it's still, at that time there's ten minutes left in the game.

He continued: "I thought our defense was playing well. I think we'd gotten a couple punts in a row. I thought if we pinned them back again, if we're going to have a chance and they're going to beat us, they're going to have to drive the field.”

Kansas got a stop then a score following the delay. However, the Jayhawks were not able to hold on.