Why Kansas Football HC Lance Leipold Needs a Win vs K-State to Save His Legacy and the 2026 Season

The Sunflower Showdown is one of the biggest games on the schedule each year for the Kansas Jayhawks. But this year, it means a whole lot more.

KU is staring at a 17-game losing streak to the Wildcats dating back to 2009. The last time KU beat KSU was on Nov. 1, 2008, in a 52-21 victory in Lawrence led by Kansas football legends Todd Reesing and head coach Mark Mangino.

Since then, it’s been a one-sided purple punishment that head coach Lance Leipold and the Kansas football program desperately need to put an end to.

Bowl Hopes

If Kansas wants any chance of reaching a bowl game this year, they almost certainly have to win this game. Mathematically speaking, they wouldn’t be eliminated from reaching the postseason if they lose, but a loss would make it severely difficult with what would be a 2-4 record.

ESPN’s College Football Power Index (FPI) currently gives the Jayhawks a 35.7% chance of reaching six wins or more. That number would drop dramatically if KU loses this game on Saturday.

The Jayhawks have a pretty light schedule remaining in front of them with games against K-State, TCU, UCF, and West Virginia – all of whom are 0-2 in Big 12 play, except for UCF who is 1-2.

The problem for Kansas is three of those four games are on the road, and if KU loses to K-State on Saturday, they’ll likely have to win all three of those and steal a win at home versus Baylor, at home versus No. 8 BYU, or on the road at No. 18 Oklahoma State to reach the six-win mark.

A win over K-State gives KU a much better shot at reaching bowl eligibility, which is something they’ve failed to do each of the last two seasons.

Fan Engagement

If KU hopes to retain any significant level of interest and excitement from fans the rest of the season, they must win this game on Saturday. If they don’t, you can expect to see a lot of empty seats inside an already-reduced capacity David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium the rest of the season.

That would be a dagger for a KU Athletics department in need of all the revenue they can muster due to the investments made to the football stadium and the surrounding Gateway District project these last few years. They can ill-afford to have a half-empty stadium as KU football has so often had in the past when things were bad.

Many Kansas football fans are a notoriously fair-weather bunch, and with KU basketball starting up on Friday with Late Night in the Phog and their first exhibition of the year versus Pitt State, attention and attendance is already at risk of waning.

A loss to K-State all but guarantees it.

Leipold’s Legacy

Leipold has accomplished a lot during his six years at KU, but his kryptonite has undoubtedly been finding a way to win these rivalry games.

Leipold is 0-2 versus Missouri and 0-5 versus K-State heading into the Sunflower Showdown on Saturday. That lopsided record has many KU fans calling for his job already, and another loss to the Wildcats would just make those calls grow louder and put Leipold squarely on the hot seat.

The only way to calm those waters if you’re Leipold is to win this game on Saturday, and even that might not be good enough for some KU fans if the Jayhawks fail to reach a bowl game for the third straight season given all the resources and money that has been poured into this program lately.

Entering the season, this was viewed as a make-or-break year for Leipold who led the Jayhawks to disappointing 5-7 finishes in 2024 and 2025, despite having higher expectations. And ending the losing streak to K-State was one of the benchmarks he needed to hit to make this a successful season.

If Leipold is unable to guide his team to a win on Saturday and falls to 0-8 in rivalry games – and if the Jayhawks fail to reach a bowl game because of it – it could drain any remaining confidence that KU fans have in Leipold’s ability to lead this program and could mark the beginning of the end of his time in Lawrence.

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