Lance Leipold Costs Kansas Football Again With Inexplicable Late-Game Call

We've seen it countless times, but Kansas' second-half collapse to Arizona on Saturday evening was just as unbelievable as every blown game Jayhawk fans have witnessed over the past two seasons.

D.K. McDonald's defense limited the Wildcats to 17 points through the first three quarters, holding them to 323 total yards despite not forcing a single turnover. After a stretch of four consecutive punts between both teams in the fourth quarter, KU mounted a 6:45 drive, one that would ultimately end in the heartbreak the team would soon feel.

On 3rd-and-9 from Arizona's 18-yard line, quarterback Jalon Daniels ran for seven yards to give Kansas enough room to go for a 4th-and-short situation to seal the game with 2:39 left.

Instead, Lance Leipold made another questionable decision that played a huge part in the loss, opting to use Laith Marjan and kick a chip shot just for him to miss his first kick of the season.

Once Again, Kansas Fails To Finish off a Game

Once again, KU had an opportunity to win a game and decided to go the conservative route instead of going for the win. Even if Marjan had hit the field goal, it was foolish for Leipold to put his trust in a defense that has proven time and time again it struggles in late-game situations.

The Jayhawks were in the red zone and could have won it with a touchdown. But instead of trusting his best players to make a conversion on offense, Leipold thought it would be better to give the Wildcats offense three minutes to orchestrate a drive with only a touchdown needed to win.

Nov 8, 2025; Tucson, Arizona, USA; Kansas Jayhawks head coach Lance Leipold watches the game from the sidelines during the first quarter against the Arizona Wildcats at Arizona Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Aryanna Frank-Imagn Images | Aryanna Frank-Imagn Images

To make matters worse, he attempted to justify it with an awkward postgame reaction, saying that he couldn't bring Daniels back in after he coughed up the ball and was banged up on third down.

“Obviously, we elected to kick a field goal thinking that if they scored another half that it would take a touchdown to beat us,” Leipold explained. “That can be scrutinized as far as going forward it.”

“We couldn't put Jalon back in the game, couldn't buy him back into the game with a timeout, and we just felt that putting one of the other guys in that situation was better to keep the field goal. Ultimately, I made the decision.”

This move today was identical to the Missouri game earlier this year, when Leipold chose to punt it away on 4th-and-medium late in the contest with a chance to assemble a game-winning drive.

Leipold is now 10-14 in one-score games at KU and has lost 10 of his last 12, contributing to his brutal stretch as head coach over the last two years.

Kansas has now entered the last two campaigns with hopes of competing for a Big 12 championship and even a national ranking, but instead, it is on the cusp of missing bowl eligibility for the second straight year.

There have been two consecutive seasons where Leipold's passive in-game approach has led to the Jayhawks' downfall. Three games this season were absolutely winnable if not for poor coaching decisions in the fourth quarter.

We wrote that the program had plateaued under Leipold after the K-State loss, and unfortunately, that does seem to be the case. He has shown no ability to win without Andy Kotelnicki, and his job should be hanging by a thread right now.