Sir Edmund Hillary, Neil Armstrong... Lance Leipold. Men who like challenges. Maybe he wasn't climbing Mt. Everest or landing on the Moon, but Leipold has undertaken equivalent football risks in his last two gridiron coaching assignments. Only John Wooden and Geno Auriemma had comparable coaching records to the 109-6 that Leipold fashioned in a dominant D-III coaching run at Wisconsin-Whitewater, where Leipold could have coached as long as he wished while enjoying the Dells in the summer and leisurely Brewers games in nearby Milwaukee. But that challenge thing proved awfully enticing, and Leipold decided to give it a shot at the top level with Buffalo, not an assignment for the faint of heart. But win Leipold did with the Bulls, and could have stayed as long as he wished at Buffalo too, before the pull of the ultimate FBS challenge at long-downtrodden Kansas proved too intoxicating (even as the job in Lawrence didn't open until after spring practice two years ago). 

Doing what sorts like predecessors Charlie Weis and Les Miles couldn't in the previous decade, Leipold got the Jayhawks competitive in a hurry, and they were celebrating in Lawrence like it was V-E Day when Kansas broke 5-0 from the gate last year and got into the top 20 for the first time in ages. Attrition would then begin to hit, knocking out among others quarterback Jalon Daniels until late November. But Kansas still made it to a bowl game for the first time since 2008. Now, if Leipold is contemplating a switch into politics, he might want to consider running for Governor of Kansas, or at the least Mayor of Lawrence...

Bruce Marshall's full breakdown of Kansas's 2023 outlook, which includes how he's playing their win total, can be found below as part of SportsLine's preview of the Big 12 season.

Big 12 preview: Conference winner | Baylor | BYU | Cincinnati | Houston | Iowa State | Kansas | Kansas State | Oklahoma | Oklahoma State | Texas | TCU | Texas Tech | UCF | West Virginia

2023 Kansas at a glance

• Last Year: 6-7 SU, 7-5-1 ATS, 9-4 O/U
• Returning starters: Offense 9; Defense 7
• Win total: 6 (Over -110, Under -110)

What do you need to know about Kansas before locking in your Big 12 futures bets? And which side of their win total makes for the best play? ... Join SportsLine right now to see Big 12 futures betting strategy from a veteran college football expert!