The Texas Tech Red Raiders, who visit Lawrence today for an 11 a.m. kickoff at Memorial Stadium against the winless Kansas University football team, may be bringing the nation’s top-rated pass offense and one of the Big 12’s highest-scoring teams to town, but that does not mean for a second they’re looking past the Jayhawks.
Texas Tech coach Kliff Kingsbury said this week he had too much respect for KU coach David Beaty and too much respect for the wild and crazy ways of football to let his guys show up expecting to give anything less than their best.
“I think we’re talking about starting the second half of our season the right way,” Kingsbury said. “And that’s been our focus. You look to last year, when TCU went on the road to Kansas, and Kansas almost got them there. So it’s great to point out that it is a good football team that’s well-coached, and they had a tough run, but they’re getting better. They have young players. So we just need to continue to get better ourselves.”
While Tech’s offense, which threw up a school-record 776 yards last week against Iowa State, is rolling, it’s the defense that has Kingsbury hammering home the importance of being focused from start to finish. Tech enters today giving up an average of 40 points per game. And even though KU (0-5) is averaging just 19 per contest, TTU defensive coordinator David Gibbs said true freshman QB Ryan Willis has what it takes to put up points in a hurry.
“(Their) freshman quarterback looked pretty good to me,” Gibbs said. “Did not look intimidated by Baylor, so we’ve got our hands full again. … They’re looking at our film and thinking they’re going to score 50 points, and I would too.”
Willis Part Deux
Now that KU freshman Willis has made his first start and played his first complete game at quarterback for the Jayhawks, offensive coordinator Rob Likens believes Willis will be even better during his second start.
Likens also knows the defense Willis faces be different, as well.
“They do a lot of things to try to confuse you,” said Likens of Texas Tech. “Baylor was a little different. Baylor just lines up and says, ‘This is what I’m doing, come get me.'”
Likens said Tech’s smorgasbord of styles defensively made for a much more extensive week of preparation for Willis and him in the film room and on the practice field.
“Oh yeah,” Likens said. “It’s not easy at all. They vary their fronts, guys standing up, in a three-point stance, sometimes the same guy. And they’ll give you more secondary looks than what Baylor did.”
Series history
Texas Tech is 15-1 all-time against the Jayhawks, including 6-0 in games played in Lawrence.
Kansas’ lone victory in the series came in 2001, when the Jayhawks outlasted the Red Raiders, 34-31 in overtime in Lubbock, Texas.
Tech favored
Another week brings another huge point spread for a Kansas football game, as the Red Raiders enter today’s game favored by 32.5 points.
The line opened at Texas Tech -27 and, like last week when Baylor opened at -38 and settled at -46 by kickoff, the spread quickly shot up with most of the action coming in on Tech to cover the four-touchdown total.
