This weekend, Kansas football (3-2) (1-1) will be doing something they have yet to do all season. Change time zones. Believe it or not, as nearly half the season is gone, the Jayhawks have been able to remain in the CT zone of the country. As a matter of fact, this will be the only time this season (barring a bowl game) that the Jayhawks will be moving east enough to change time zones as UCF (3-1).
“Yeah, we talked a little bit about to our leadership group, talked about it as a staff, obviously, our Friday will be different,” said head coach Lance Leipold.
“It'll be a little bit earlier to get him in the building, and we have all the rest of the year. But with it, then you lose the hour and travel, all those things, and then once we get to the hotel, it'll be a format that we've used before, so, you know, I think once we get there, we'll kind of fall into that routine. [We’ll] try to give them a little extra time in the morning because of the time change so we can get than we normally would wake up because, you, it's a 7:30 kick versus a 6:30 here. So we try to adapt it and make a few templates on different kick-off times, depending on how we do it, and try to stay consistent.”
Maybe this sounds a little dramatic, but after a disappointing 37-34 loss to the Cincinnati Bearcats, it is understandable how any measure will be taken to even the playing field against the Golden Knights, who have kept an undefeated season at home under head coach Scott Frost.
This is the first game in the East Coast since last season’s falter at West Virginia, when the Mountaineers piled on the third of what would eventually be a five-game losing streak as the Jayhawks fell 32-28, thanks to back-to-back touchdowns by the Mountaineers that saw Kansas surrender a 28-17 lead.
"Just for me, I've been a part of things where you have issues. So I still want to try to take off as close to midday as possible. noon or whatever, especially on a later on a longer trip, so that if there is anything, because I've been part of a disaster where a couple of them, where you don't, you know, your plane has issues and you don't roll in till after midnight, and you got to get up and play, and all those things. So want to try to make sure we give ourselves time if there is anything, and then still stay in routine."