LAWRENCE — Making the jump from Division-III to FBS can be intimidating for anyone. But when KU coach Lance Leipold left Wisconsin-Whitewater to take the Buffalo job in 2015, he had someone he could lean on for advice: current Illinois coach Bret Bielema.
During much of Leipold’s time at Wisconsin-Whitewater (2007-14), Bielema was coach of the Wisconsin Badgers (2006-12) before he became coach at Arkansas in 2013.
“Bret’s been very good to me,” Leipold said Monday as his team began preparing for Saturday’s game at Illinois. “When I was at Whitewater, he was in Madison with the Badgers. But he helped us with opportunities to practice.
“More importantly, when I got the job at Buffalo, Bret reached out to me. And he was at Arkansas and offered to me if I would come in and sit down and go through a year of the calendar and different things.”
Leipold took Bielema up on his offer and quickly learned some of the particulars of being a Division-I coach. Although Leipold’s start was a little different as his UWW team was in the playoffs.
“At first, you’re busy scrambling, trying to coach two teams,” Leipold said. “And when I was going through that, and when we were done, he actually called a second time to come out there again.
“I went there and spent just a day with them there for bowl prep and met with his recruiting people and went through his philosophies on the offseason. And I owe a lot to Bret Bielema and just forming some thoughts and philosophies from the Division-III level to the FBS level.”
Both Leipold and Bielema’s teams enter Saturday’s game 1-0 as KU defeated Lindenwood 48-3 and the Illini defeated Eastern Illinois 45-0. The two teams played last season, as the Jayhawks won 34-23. Jalon Daniels threw for 277 yards and two touchdowns while Devin Neal ran for 120 yards and a touchdown and Daniel Hishaw added 98 yards and a touchdown.
KU got off to a good start that game but slowed in the second half. And Leipold said Illinois is much better now than when the two teams met last season. Illinois quarterback Luke Altmyer, who had a touchdown and two picks last year against KU, threw four touchdowns and no picks in last week’s season-opening win.
“They’re a physical Big Ten team,” Leipold said. “They’ve improved over last year. You can see when you got a returning quarterback now that’s in his second year starting, you can see he’s somebody that’s definitely in command of what they want to do.
“Like I would expect Bret’s team to do, they’re going to be physical up front and use the tight ends in the run game and they’re not going to beat themselves.”
Leipold is hoping his team plays that way, although he was disappointed KU had two turnovers and a couple other miscues against Lindenwood. KU, however, dominated on the ground, rushing for 287 yards. But Leipold said he wants things a little more even, especially on the road.
“Obviously having a good run game helps, but we strive for balance,” Leipold said. “That’s where you want to be. So if you stay in regular-type situations you can dial up anything — run or pass — and stay out of predictable situations.”
