What Lance Leipold Said After Kansas' Embarrassing Road Loss to Iowa State

The Kansas football team did not play an encouraging game following the bye week when it traveled to Ames to take on Iowa State. The Jayhawks were dominated in time of possession and failed to score in the first half en route to an ugly 38-14 loss.

Lance Leipold's group is now facing another bowlless campaign if it cannot defeat Utah in the final week of the regular season. Here's what KU's head coach said after the contest.

On his team's performance:

"Not very well, obviously. Got off to a slow start. I thought we played soft and timid. When we did have moments to flip it, we didn't make enough plays to answer that to try to make it a better football game."

On what he told his players at halftime:

"We had the ball, we started feeling good towards the end of the half, that we had some things that could start opening up. We thought we could get Daniel off to [a good start]. We hit some runs. We talked about that we have a chance to flip the script. They answered it. And I thought we did a good job. The disappointing part was that on the ensuing drive, we have Iowa State 1st and 25. They convert and go down [and score]. That that one really hurt, and you think you got yourself in a position to really keep the momentum coming in and making things happen."

On losing like this after a bye week:

"It's concerning. It happens, period, in game 11. Anytime you're at this and you're saying some of the same stuff, it's concerning. It's concerning that you got to continue to look at it and what you're doing, and how they're doing it, and who's on the field doing it. Who's coaching it, who's doing it. Everything has to be evaluated or we're kidding ourselves."

On the defensive backs' coverage:

"We talked about. We tried to tighten up more in the second half. We thought we gave way too much cushion, and doing those things. There time, you come up here and you worry about the surface. Guys slip, and guys don't have a lot of confidence. I thought the field was in great condition today, so that's nothing. But I think sometimes, when you're looking at this whole picture right now, honestly, we're not playing with much confidence, and you can see that out there. And that's where you're catching in blocks, and you're not attacking at the second, third level, tackling, and you're not and you're not playing very confidently in the back end, covering guys.

On whether he considered attempting to score at the end of first half:

"We talked about it, if we could break it or not, but we're backed up. They had all three timeouts. So, our thing was, if we bust the run, okay, then we're gonna go. And I think we've talked about that in these before that. That's kind of our thing, if we run it, and depending on how they play, then we're gonna go and then maybe try. But we're going into the wind. Our field goal range wasn't nearly what it's been going the other direction. It was going to take a hell of a drive. And we looked at it as far as if we can hit it [on the first play], if not. Because the next thing you get into then, of course, is they got a chance to kill the clock come after. Big picture. Earlier in that same half, we had a snap go over our punter's head. And as a head coach, you got to keep that in your mind, okay? And the last thing you want to do is, if it's fourth down, give them a chance to tee off and come after us and really have it snowball on us before half. So that all went into the thought process and considering it all, there's not a lot of 83-yard drives in 23 seconds, or what it is. So I mean, for us to be there and then regroup and then go down and score the first drive, I'm confident with the decision I made."

On the Jayhawks' slow start:

"When teams are moving the ball on you and they're mixing it up on some different things, there's things that you're trying to go through and correct. As far as what happens on each play, whether it be gap integrity, whether it be setting edges, missed tackles, proper eye placement on coverages and eye discipline. There's things that we continue to stress and we have to get better at. It's not the players fault. We got to do a better job coaching it and get it to where it can be at a point where you see it consistently on the field."

On the final game vs. Utah looming:

"You got to challenge the group. You got to go to work, got a short week. Got all the things that we have. We've been playing for that sixth one for a while. We've talked about where they want to be, and do they really want to do it? And again, you've got to make sure that we've got a bunch of really good young men playing their last regular season football game. And I think we owe it to them to put our best efforts from time we get on this bus to finish watching this film, turn the page and start on Utah."

Quotes transcribed from 247 Sports (Phog.net).