Border Showdown: Is Missouri Game the Biggest of Lance Leipold's Career?

Lance Leipold has been a college head coach since 2007, but could Saturday's road tilt against Missouri be the biggest game of his career?

It's certainly a big one, but no, it's not the biggest of his career. Leipold coached in seven national championship games — winning six of them — from 2007 to 2014 when he was the head coach at Division III Wisconsin-Whitewater, so to say Saturday's game is the biggest simply isn't true.

UW-Whitewater coach Lance Leipold is the fastest ever to reach 100 coaching wins (all divisions) pic.twitter.com/RNTgcdwZeE
— ESPN College Football (@ESPNCFB) December 20, 2014

Now, is it Leipold's biggest game as head coach at Kansas? No, we still don't think so. Don't forget that the Jayhawks started the 2022 season 5-0, and you can make the argument KU's Week 4 matchup against Duke and its Week 5 game against conference foe Iowa State three years ago had more on the line than Saturday's game does.

Same thing in 2023 when Kansas jumped out to a 4-0 start. The Jayhawks' Week 4 matchup against undefeated BYU was probably a bigger game than Saturday's.

Does Missouri being an SEC school that has won 10+ games each of the last two years add to the hype for Saturday's game? Absolutely. But while Mizzou is a very good team that has been successful over the years, they're simply not on the same level as SEC juggernauts Georgia, Alabama, or LSU.

A lot has been made of Saturday's game against Missouri — and rightfully so — but this isn't the biggest game of Leipold's career. You can even argue that both bowl games Leipold coached in 2022 and 2023 had more at stake than Saturday's game.

Does that mean the national media has overhyped Saturday's game? Yeah, maybe a little. But it's still a big game, just not a make-or-break game for KU. And does a road win over Mizzou guarantee the Jayhawks a spot in the top 25? No, not necessarily. But it certainly would help.

KU's biggest games will be in late November against Iowa State and Utah to close out Big 12 play, and a loss to the Tigers won't change that. No matter how close the game is.

As for what to expect on Saturday, expect a tightly contested game. Quarterback Jalon Daniels will have to play at a Heisman level for KU to have a legit shot of winning, and the defense will have to dominate like they have in each of their first two games. Will all that happen on Saturday? We'll have to wait and see.