Lance Leipold has won 167 games as a collegiate head coach, but few have been as impressive as toppling No. 6 BYU Saturday night in Provo.
Leipold’s Kansas Jayhawks, fighting to keep their bowl eligibility hopes alive, came into an intimidating LaVell Edwards Stadium setting and handed the Cougars their first loss of the season to complicate the home team’s Big 12 championship chances.
“We had heard … that this is one of the more difficult environments in our conference, and I think it truly played out to be that way,” Leipold told reporters following his team’s 17-13 win.
“It’s a great environment, and I tip my hat to the fan base and the atmosphere that they create and the energy that they bring. It makes it a very difficult place to communicate and operate at times. It was truly a factor, and it makes it even more pleasing that we were able to overcome it.”
While the extreme crowd noise did lead to a few Kansas penalties on the night, the Jayhawks seemed largely calm and unaffected by the hostile environment, with Leipold crediting his players’ preparation for that.
“We’ve got a pretty good veteran group offensively, starting at the quarterback position,” Leipold said. “(Jalon Daniels) doesn’t get rattled and he just keeps battling. I thought he handled it all pretty well.”
Lance Leipold says that during his entire head coaching career his teams have practiced pooch punts every Thursday.
By his count, tonight was the third time he’s called for one in a game.
“We didn’t expect it to work out as well as it did for us, but it was huge” pic.twitter.com/17qWVnPvmY
— Jackson Payne (@jackson5payne) November 17, 2024
With the win over BYU, Kansas has now earned ranked victories in consecutive weeks for the first time in program history, having vanquished No. 17 Iowa State just seven days ago.
Though his Jayhawks humbled the Cougars Saturday night, Leipold still had plenty of praise for BYU, believing Kalani Sitake’s squad to have improved greatly from 2023 and still have a real shot at the Big 12 title.
“I have such great respect for the BYU program and (Kalani Sitake) and the job he’s done,” Leipold said. “They’re still in the thick of playing for a conference championship, and I can see why they’ve had the year that they’ve had.
“Compared to where they were last year, with just the improvements they’ve made holistically, I think he’s got this program in a great spot.”
