Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian and Lance Leipold took over their programs in the same year. Sarkisian was hired in January of 2021 and four months later Kansas hired Leipold.
Sarkisian was complimentary of what Leipold has accomplished at Kansas in the same amount of time he has been running the Texas program.
“I think what's impressed me is they're kind of similar to us in some degree in that you're in year three,” Sarkisian said. “And as I've touched on, we have players in our program that we inherited, that stuck to it and didn't decide to go to the portal and have become really good players for us and I think have become really good players for them, too. They become catalysts for you.”
Leipold and Sarkisian had to convince players to stay in their program because of the transfer portal. And the Jayhawks have used the portal to their advantage to quickly build their roster.
“I think they've done a good job utilizing the transfer portal,” Sarkissian said. “If you look at their defensive front right now, their front four, which is really about a front ten, they rotate a lot of guys. They're all transfers. And so, in this day and age of the portal, you're able to fill those voids and those needs that you may have on your roster. And I think they've done a nice job of that.”
Another aspect of Leipold’s program that Sarkisian respects is the patience to stay with their schemes. It would be easy for a coach to get away from their plan especially after a 2-10 season, but Leipold did not alter anything.
“I think they've done a really good job of implementing their schemes on both sides of the ball,” he said. “They haven't said after year one when things weren't perfect for them, scrap that and we're going to go to a whole another offense or a whole another defense. They've stayed true to who they were as coaches, and now they've got veterans that really understand the nuances of their scheme and they play like it. So, a lot of credit to them.”
Sarkisian was asked about the game two years in Austin where the Jayhawks beat the Longhorns in overtime. He said both teams are different now and that has no meaning with Saturday’s game.
Leipold had the same response at his press conference on Monday. But Sarkisian does remember that was somewhat of a coming out party for quarterback Jalon Daniels. He knows they have a difficult job defending him.
He was asked how they will prepare for Daniels.
“Jalon Daniels is a heck of a player,” he said. “We saw him firsthand in his first start here a couple of years ago, so we know what he's capable of. The thing that he does is he's a real dual threat.
“I think the natural thing is we think about the runs that he has for explosive plays, but he throws the ball all over the place and they've got great schemes and concepts by any means, it isn’t gimmicky. They're running real pass concepts that stress your coverages. And then they have the run concepts with his legs as an added element to it. The plus one runs with the quarterback run, so he taxes you both ways.”
Both teams enter the game with a defense ranked in the top 25. KU leads the nation in third down conversions and Texas is in the top 20 in third down defense.
There are a lot of interesting matchups in the game, and something will have to give. Kansas is 11th in the country in red zone offense and Texas is second in red zone defense.
Sarkisian said his team will have to ready to play in what is expected to be a hot afternoon in Austin.
“We’ve got to make sure that we do our part to get ourselves ready to play,” he said. “We recognize it's going to be hot Saturday. The heat index will be triple digits.
“Devin Neal's a heck of a runner. They’ve got some really good ball hawks in the secondary in Cobee Bryant and (Kenny) Logan. We’ve got our work cut out for us. This is a veteran team. They've been in their system now for two and three years, a lot of older players, and so we know they're going to come ready to play.”
