'Old News': 2021 Kansas Win Over Longhorns 'Doesn't Matter'

Lance Leipold doesn't care that he and his team upset the Texas Longhorns in 2021

Matt Galatzan | Sep 26, 2023

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Texas Longhorns

The Kansas Jayhawks handed the Texas Longhorns the biggest blow of their embarrassing 5-7 campaign in 2021, beating Steve Sarkisian's team on their home turf in Austin 57-56 in overtime.

And while that might have been a signature moment for most Jayhawk coaches of the past, current Kansas coach Lance Leipold doesn't care.

Instead, he just wants to focus on this year and this iteration of the Jayhawks matchup with the Longhorns.

"Old news. Doesn’t matter," Leipold said of the 2021 game. "Both teams are significantly better and it’s honestly so far in the past we gotta keep moving. Yeah it helped this program, it helped our players, but we can’t... yeah, that’s about it."

Of course, given the Jayhawks and Longhorns' respective histories, beating a team like Texas is always going to be a big deal.

Kansas celebrates their 2021 upset over Kansas / USA Today Sports

But Leipold wants to do it this season. And what happened in 2021, will have no bearing on the outcome this coming Saturday in Austin.

Just like it had no bearing on the result of the Longhorns' 55-14 dismantling of Kansa in Lawrence in 2022.

"I guess I’ll add to that,' Leipold said. "I hope it’s the last time I have to answer that question this week, honestly. I do. I really want to focus on our team now and where we’re going because that’s what’s important."

This season, both teams enter the matchup undefeated at 4-0, with the Longhorns ranked No. 3 overall in the country, and the Jayhawks also in the top-25 at No. 24.

The Longhorns, meanwhile, currently look like a national title contender, while the Jayhawks have good wins over Illinois and BYU under their belt, and could be a player in the Big 12 title game race.

To get to that point, though, the Jayhawks will have to take down the Horns on their home turf yet again - something they accomplished for the first time ever in that 2021 upset.

Kick-off in Austin is set for 2:30 p.m. CT.

Published Sep 26, 2023

MATT GALATZAN

Matt Galatzan is the Managing Editor and Publisher of Texas Longhorns On SI and Texas A&M Aggies On SI and a long-time member of the Football Writer’s Association of America. He graduated from the University of Mississippi, where he studied integrated marketing communications, with minors in journalism and business administration. Galatzan started in the sports journalism industry in 2014 covering the Dallas Mavericks and SMU Mustangs with 247Sports. He then moved to Sports Illustrated's Fan Nation network in 2020, eventually being taking over as the Managing Editor and Publisher of the Longhorns and Aggies sites a year later. You can find Galatzan on all major social media channels, including Twitter on @MattGalatzan.