Lance Leipold reveals the true impact of upsetting host Texas in 2021

Kansas head coach Lance Leipold spoke at Big 12 Media Days on Wednesday about the impact of beating Texas on the road last season. The Jayhawks beat the Longhorns on Texas’ home field in 2021, winning 57-56 in overtime for their second win over Texas in the last six years — and giving Leipold a major win to hang his hat on in his first season as coach of Kansas.

Lance Leipold on beating Texas

“Well, obviously the Texas win, and as we know, we’ve been starving for some wins, so any of them we’re going to talk about,” said Leipold. “When you beat a program with the tradition and past success of the University of Texas and resources, all in all it’s something that we’re going to be proud of.

“I’ve said this, as well; to go down there at 1-8 and where we’ve been is probably one of the things I’m most proud of, is that the preparation and the things that our guys kind of still were doing what we were asking, especially in year one, especially the timing that we came.

“There’s a lot of times unfortunately in college football where guys can go through the motions, and this team didn’t do that. And I’m extremely proud of them and our staff for that and the fact that we went down to Fort Worth and played with some great effort there.”

Leipold then explained that the win wasn’t just big for his team’s morale last year and a good teaching moment — it has led to major improvements on their recruiting efforts in the Texas area. Leipold says the win gives him an in with some players by being able to say they could compete with and beat the Longhorns.

“It made it easier to walk in some Texas high schools, to be quite honest, that there may be that chance that maybe we didn’t get on young men before. Now we have to build upon it, but it’s definitely something positive. But I know that Coach Sarkisian and that program is going to be — we probably hit them at a time when they were in a struggle and were able to take advantage of it, but we know obviously this is a new year, new challenges.”

Kansas and Texas’ history has certainly been one-sided since 2000, with Texas posting a 13-2 record over Kansas in that time. However, both of Kansas’ wins have come in the past six meetings, and in 2018 and 2019 the Jayhawks lost single-score games against Texas.