Gameday Breakdown: KU football at Texas Tech

By Benton Smith     Dec 4, 2020

Mike Gunnoe
Kansas wide receiver Kwamie Lassiter Jr. is taken down on a return by Coastal Carolina's Jordan Morris Saturday night at David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium on Sept. 7, 2019.

— Kansas (0-8 overall, 0-7 Big 12) at Texas Tech (3-6, 2-6) • 11 a.m. kickoff, Jones AT & T Stadium • Game-time forecast: 49 degrees, partly sunny, 0% chance of rain • TV: FOX Sports 2 • Radio: KLWN, FM 101.7 / AM 1320

— Log on to KUsports.com for our live coverage and follow our team on Twitter: @KUSports, @BentonASmith, @mctait and @SJacksonLJW

Keys for Kansas

1. Find your QB for the day

True freshman Jalon Daniels seems to be the Jayhawks’ longterm answer at the quarterback position. But Les Miles and his staff showed last week against TCU that they’re willing to adapt in the moment if doing so gives KU a better chance to compete on a Saturday this year.

In the Jayhawks’ road finale at Texas Tech, Miles could play two quarterbacks again, and wouldn’t say for certain ahead of this week’s practices — the last time he spoke publicly — whether Daniels would make his seventh start of the season or junior Miles Kendrick would make his second.

Kendrick came in hot last week with KU already down 32 points, leading a quick touchdown drive late in the first half against TCU, following a slow start for Daniels and the KU offense in general. Miles stuck with Kendrick in the second half, ultimately to no avail.

Of course, KU will need to find a QB who can click much earlier this week, before the Red Raiders have a chance to pull away.

Tech’s pass defense hasn’t been a strength this year, as the Red Raiders enter their finale ranked 108th nationally in passing yards allowed (275.9 per game) and 106th in sacks (1.44 per game).

Whether it’s Daniels or Kendrick (senior Thomas MacVittie continues to deal with a shoulder injury), KU needs a QB to find a rhythm quickly for the Jayhawks to have a shot.

2. Beware of McPhearson

Whomever is passing for KU better know where Tech cornerback Zech McPhearson is before releasing a throw.

Not only does McPhearson enter the weekend tied for the Big 12 lead with four interceptions this year, the 5-foot-11 senior, who used to play at Penn State, has a knack for finding the end zone when he gets the ball in his hands.

McPhearson returned a fumble 56 yards for a score in Tech’s home win over West Virginia on Oct. 24. Prior to that, he returned a blocked field goal 90 yards for a touchdown in a loss at Iowa State.

As a team, the Red Raiders are tied for second in the nation with three defensive touchdowns scored in 2020.

Defensive scores have cost the Jayhawks plenty this year, too, as recently as the TCU loss, when the Frogs took both a Kendrick interception and fumble into the end zone in the second half. Earlier this year, K-State’s defense put a TD on the board when Justin Gardner returned a Daniels pick.

A savvy veteran defensive back, McPhearson has an interception in each of Tech’s previous three games — at TCU, versus Baylor and at Oklahoma State.

McPhearson also blocked an extra point against KU in the last meeting between these two teams, in Lawrence more than a year ago.

3. Prepare for a fight

It so happens the Red Raiders are the last team to lose to Kansas. The Jayhawks have dropped 12 games in a row, dating back to their last-second home win over Tech, 37-34, on Oct. 26, 2019.

So while some teams may overlook a winless KU program late in the year, it doesn’t appear that Red Raiders head coach Matt Wells thinks that will be an issue.

The Lubbock Avalanche-Journal reported earlier this week — before Tech announced Wells tested positive for COVID-19 and began isolating (defensive coordinator Keith Patterson was set to fill in) — that Wells told reporters he “put on the tape from last year” ahead of the Jayhawks’ trip to Lubbock.

“We remember that game in Lawrence really good. This is all about us, how we prepare, how we practice,” Wells said, “getting ready to go, sending these seniors out the right way.” 

The Red Raiders led that 2019 game 17-0 in the second quarter and 27-14 in the third quarter before the Jayhawks rallied with long touchdown passes from Carter Stanley to Stephon Robinson Jr. and Andrew Parchment, and a 32-yard Velton Gardner TD run keying the comeback. A 32-yard field goal from Liam Jones capped the victory as time expired, after the wild finish included long snapper Logan Klusman recovering a fumble after Tech blocked Jones’ previous field goal try.

“If we finish on the positive side,” Miles said this week while recalling KU’s last win, “I think those are the fun ones, period. That’s something we’ll try to get accomplished two more times here in the back end of this season.”

Mega Matchup

http://www2.kusports.com/photos/2018/oct/20/327492/

KU pass defense vs. Tech QB Alan Bowman

Benched earlier this season due to his struggles, Tech quarterback Alan Bowman has experienced both the highs and lows of college football this year.

It will be up to the Jayhawks’ defense to bother him enough that he falls back in a rut.

Just last week, in a shootout loss at Oklahoma State, Bowman completed 31 of his 46 passes (67.4%) for 384 yards and three touchdowns, with one interception in his first start since Oct. 10.

The last time Bowman, who ended up redshirting in 2019 due to injury, faced KU, he lit up the Jayhawks in 2018, throwing for 408 yards and three touchdowns, and connecting on 78.3% of his passes.

“I think their team continues to get better,” Miles said of the Red Raiders (3-6 overall, 2-6 Big 12). “It’ll be a great challenge to us.”

Bowman, who has completed 65.5% of his 206 pass attempts this year, with 10 TDs and six interceptions, has only been sacked once, even though he’s not known as a run threat at QB.

This year, the Jayhawks are only averaging one sack a game, and they usually find success with a blitzing player rather than a defensive lineman. Linebacker Kyron Johnson has three of KU’s eight sacks on the year. Linebacker Nick Channel and safety Kenny Logan Jr. each have one.

The KU defense enters the road finale with just three interceptions on the year, with Logan accounting for two of them. Defensive end Malcolm Lee also picked off a pass at West Virginia.

Jayhawk Pulse

KU’s offense, which has struggled all season, scored three touchdowns for the first time in Big 12 play last week in a blowout home loss to TCU.

The Jayhawks on that side of the ball know they have to do better for this team to finally get a win.

“We’ve just got to move the ball,” said freshman receiver Luke Grimm, who caught two TD passes versus TCU. “We had glimpses of it this last game. We’ve got to put them together, get rid of the mistakes and just keep driving down the field.”

The game comes with some added significance for the receivers, whose position coach, Emmett Jones, worked at Tech from 2015-18, before Miles hired him at KU.

“With Coach Jones,” Grimm said ahead of the assistant’s return to Lubbock, “this is a bowl game for the wide receivers. And we want to go out there and prove it to him.”

Tale of the Tape

KU ….. TT

KU run D vs. TT run game v

KU pass D vs. TT pass game v

KU run game vs. TT run D v

KU pass game vs. TT pass D v

Special teams v

Prediction

Tech 41, KU 24

Gameday Breakdown: KU football at Texas Tech

By Benton Smith     Oct 19, 2018

Kansas quarterback Peyton Bender (7) hands off to running back Khalil Herbert (10) during the first quarter of an NCAA college football game in Lawrence, Kan., Saturday, Sept. 1, 2018. (AP Photo/Reed Hoffmann

— Kansas (2-4 overall, 0-3 Big 12) at Texas Tech (4-2, 2-1) • 2:30 p.m. kickoff, Jones AT&T Stadium, in Lubbock, Texas • Game-time forecast: 65 degrees, mostly sunny, 0% chance of rain • TV: FOX Sports 1 • Radio: KLWN, FM 101.7 / AM 1320

— Log on to KUsports.com for our live game blog and follow our coverage team on Twitter: @KUSports, @BentonASmith, @TomKeeganLJW and @SJacksonLJW

Keys for Kansas

1. Prove your offense has changed for the better

David Beaty fired offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Doug Meacham during the bye week and took over Meacham’s responsibilities. Now is the fourth-year Kansas head coach’s first chance to prove that move is one capable of invigorating his team.

What exactly will look different about the Jayhawks’ offense with Beaty coaching the QBs and calling plays? We’ll find out during KU’s trip to Lubbock, Texas, because he was intentionally vague about it in the days leading up to its debut.

A former colleague of Beaty’s, Texas Tech head coach Kliff Kingsbury, said KU’s coordination switchup made the Red Raiders rethink their defensive preparation.

“You go from watching film on a certain coordinator, what he’s been doing all year,” Kingsbury said during his press conference earlier this week, “not really knowing what direction they’re going to take it with Coach Beaty, whoever else is calling it. I think you definitely have to be prepared for anything.”

Regardless of what tactics they take to get there, the Jayhawks have to show improvement offensively. In conference games, KU ranks 10th in the Big 12 in total offense (308.3 yards per game), passing yards per completion (9.9) and rushing yards per game (107.7), ninth in passing yards (200.7 per game) and eighth in passing yards per attempt (6.5) and rushing yards per carry (3.8).

KU’s defense has played well enough at times for the offense to feel some pressure to improve.

“The defense has kept us in a lot of games,” said senior quarterback Peyton Bender, who will return to the starting lineup at Tech, “kept it close and given us opportunities to tie it up or take the lead and we haven’t capitalized on it. That’s been frustrating from our standpoint because we feel like we have a higher ceiling than what we’e shown up to this point in the season. So for these last six games we have high expectations and we’re hoping to help out other sides of the ball, because they’ve been doing their part. We’ve just got to get things clicking. … I think we’ve just got to get into routine plays and just one routine play at a time.”

2. Don’t forget about Pooka

What’s more routine than handing the ball off to your most talented skill player?

In KU’s loss at West Virginia two weeks ago, freshman running back Pooka Williams carried the ball 12 times — a season low for the breakout performer, who has delivered eight rushes of 20-plus yards in five games.

Averaging 7.5 yards per rush attempt on the season, Williams, whom Kingsbury said has “kind of taken this league by storm,” needs the ball in his hands as often as possible for KU’s offense to reach its potential.

Texas Tech senior safety Jah’Shawn Johnson told reporters earlier this week the Red Raiders’ defense is expecting KU to get the ball to Williams.

“He’s not very big, but he runs really hard. He can make some nice cuts in and out the holes,” Johnson said. “We just have to do a great job of rallying to the ball, make sure we’re wrapping up, tackle.”

If Beaty was willing to make a move as drastic as firing Meacham in the middle of the season, one would think he wouldn’t mind doing something as simple as featuring Williams more prominently in the offense.

3. Get better on 3rd downs

Neither Beaty, Bender nor linebacker Joe Dineen completed his media sessions this week without bringing up third downs — clearly a point of emphasis for the Jayhawks during their midseason bye week.

The KU offense hasn’t lived in three-and-out land this season as it so often did in Beaty’s first three seasons. The Jayhawks went three plays and a punt five times against both Nicholls State and Oklahoma State, but did so just a combined nine times in their other four games.

Of course, the primary job of the offense is to put points on the board, and KU has to get itself in position to accomplish that by extending drives on third downs.

In the first half of the season Kansas picked up first downs on third-down plays on 29 out of 85 attempts (34.1 percent) — a rate that ranks 110th nationally.

There’s some potential bad news for the Jayhawks on that front, too: Tech opponents have only converted on 31.5 percent of their third downs, giving the Red Raiders the 20th-best third-down defense nationally.

“So that makes it even a more tall task,” Beaty said, “but in general that’s the money down in football. So we’ve got to do a great job of improving efficiency on both sides of the ball there. Being a smarter team. We’re right around the middle of the pack in the Big 12 right now, and we need to be in the top three if not better than that. That’s self-inflicted things we can control. We’ve got to get those things taken care of.”

Opposing offenses are 34 of 83 on third downs (41 percent, 88th nationally) against KU, while the Red Raiders are one of the country’s best offenses on third downs, extending drives on 46 of 96 such attempts (47.9 percent, 18th).

Mega Matchup

http://www2.kusports.com/photos/2018/sep/15/327330/

KU pass defense vs. Tech passing attack

It looks as if, due to an injury suffered by freshman Tech quarterback Alan Bowman on Sept. 29 against West Virginia, the Jayhawks won’t have to face Texas Tech’s offense at its best.

Bowman had completed 69.3 percent of his 199 throws for 1,680 yards and 11 touchdowns, with three interceptions, before getting knocked out of the lineup with a partially collapsed lung.

Kingsbury indicated earlier in the week Bowman had not yet fully participated in practice.

That means KU could see dual-threat QB Jett Duffey, who started in Tech’s win over TCU, or McLane Carter, who started the season opener.

Though he has played in only three of the Red Raiders’ six games so far, Duffey is the team’s second leading rusher, averaging 83.3 yards per game on the ground and 6.8 yards per carry, with three rushing TDs.

As a passer, Duffey has connected on 36 of 60 passes (60 percent), for 455 yards and two TDs, with four picks.

Duffey scored the game-winning touchdown for Tech at TCU on a 38-yard run midway through the fourth quarter. Kingsbury said the 6-foot-1 redshirt sophomore showed enough in the second half to give the offense something off which it could build.

“Got to be smoother in some of our operation or decision making, things like that,” Kingsbury added of Duffey, whom he called mentally tough and a dynamic playmaker. “He’s got a lot of growth, a lot of upside, there’s no question.”

Carter, a junior, only has attempted 10 passes on the season, so it seems Duffey is the most likely QB to play against KU. With his relative inexperience, KU’s defensive backs will need to confuse Duffey when possible, with the help of some defensive line pressure, of course, and find ways to possess any errant passes made in their direction.

With Duffey’s ability to scramble and/or take off and run if the coverage doesn’t give him passing lanes, it will be on KU’s linebackers to keep an eye on him and make sure he doesn’t turn a busted play into a huge one for Tech’s offense.

Jayhawk Pulse

The deeper KU gets into the season, the more it feels like like do-or-die time for Beaty, as evidenced by his firing of Meacham. Only six games remain on the schedule, and for Beaty, those are six opportunities to convince his boss, KU athletic director Jeff Long, to keep the football coach in place for a fifth season.

Beaty has won just five games since taking over the long struggling program before the 2015 season, and he has lost 37 (a .119 winning percentage).

The program hasn’t won a true Big 12 road game since Beaty was a receivers coach on Mark Mangino’s staff in 2008. That road losing streak, obviously not all on Beaty’s watch, sits at 42 games.

Perhaps a drastic turnaround by the offense, a few wins for the constant underdogs and a rare gem of a road victory between now and the finale on Black Friday could save Beaty’s job. Finding a way to defeat a borderline top 25 team in Texas Tech on the road would be a significant step in the right direction for the embattled coach.

Tale of the Tape

KU ….. TT

KU run D vs. TT run game v

KU pass D vs. TT pass game v

KU run game vs. TT run D v

v KU pass game vs. TT pass D

Special teams v

Prediction

Texas Tech 41, Kansas 17

Gameday Breakdown: KU football at Texas Tech

By Benton Smith     Sep 29, 2016

Kansas (1-2) at Texas Tech (2-1)

Nick Krug
Kansas wide receiver Steven Sims Jr. tears up the field for a touchdown during the third quarter on Saturday, Sept. 3, 2016 at Memorial Stadium.

7:30 p.m. Thursday, Jones AT&T Stadium • Game-time forecast: 69 degrees, partly cloudy, 0% chance of rain • TV: FOX Sports 1

Log on to KUsports.com for our live game blog and follow our coverage team on Twitter: @KUSports, @BentonASmith, @TomKeeganLJW, @mctait and @nightengalejr

Keys for Kansas

1. Try and keep up

Texas Tech’s offense is going to put up some points. That’s just what the Red Raiders do. The program hasn’t been shut out since 1997, and this year Tech ranks second in the country in points per game (61.0), trailing only Louisville (63.5). So the Kansas offense — whether led by fourth-year junior Montell Cozart or sophomore Ryan Willis or a combination of the two at quarterback — better find ways to get in the end zone repeatedly. While the Jayhawks resembled a high-powered attack in their season opener, scoring 55 points against Rhode Island, an overwhelmed FCS opponent, the production has declined in each game since. The KU offense accounted for just two of the team’s three touchdowns in a loss to Ohio, and the following week at Memphis came up with just one score. The Red Raiders’ defense, allowing 43.3 points a game, has shown its holes. Now it’s up to David Beaty and his staff to come in ready to exploit those shortcomings and get the ball in space to KU’s best play-makers: Steven Sims Jr., LaQuvionte Gonzalez and Khalil Herbert.

2. Learn from your mistakes

In the nearly two weeks since Kansas lost 43-7 at Memphis, Beaty often has referenced the Jayhawks’ unsightly six turnovers in this year’s road opener as not only the reason for the blowout but also an issue that has to get fixed. Now is the time for KU’s offensive players to show they heard Beaty’s message and come out and play cleanly. No team has a shot at winning with six turnovers, particularly on the road. A night free of bad throws and a disregard for ball security should go a long way toward giving the offense some much-needed confidence and help keep the Kansas defense from consistently being thrown into difficult spots. Regardless of the final score, players on both sides of the ball should leave Texas feeling much better about the state of the season if the offense can make it a competitive game.

3. Upgrade that run defense

True, Texas Tech calls passing plays far more often than rushing plays (160 throws versus 93 runs this season), but when quarterback Patrick Mahomes II isn’t slinging the ball around the field, Kansas needs to step up its rush defense. Through three games, the Jayhawks are surrendering 234.7 yards a game on the ground — that ranks last in the Big 12 and 110th in the nation. Tech running back DeMarcus Felton (7.1 yards a carry this season, three touchdowns) has the ability to make the Red Raiders’ offense unstoppable if KU hasn’t yet sufficiently addressed its biggest defensive issue. And, don’t forget, Kansas will have to scheme a way to keep Mahomes (4.2 yards per carry, four rushing TD’s) contained as a ball-carrying threat, too.

Mega Matchup

Texas Tech Air Raid vs. Kansas secondary

http://www2.kusports.com/photos/2016/sep/27/310614/

The numbers indicate KU’s pass defense has become a team strength. Entering the Big 12 opener, Kansas foes have completed just 47.6 percent of their throws for 135 yards a game and a pass efficiency mark of 99.1. By the end of the night against Texas Tech, we’ll know just how relevant those non-conference stats are. With junior quarterback Mahomes (198.2 pass efficiency) at the controls, Tech is averaging an FBS-best 547.7 passing yards a game — nearly 100 yards more than the category’s runner-up, Cal (459.3). Throws upon throws upon throws are coming the way of KU’s secondary. Defensive backs such as Brandon Stewart, Tevin Shaw, Fish Smithson, Marnez Ogletree and Bazie Bates IV know what they’re up against. They’ll have to prove those statistics from the past three games aren’t a fluke.

5 Questions with Dorance Armstrong Jr.

http://www2.kusports.com/photos/2016/sep/17/310405/

1. What was the biggest difference for you at Memphis, where you had two sacks and three total tackles for loss, compared to the first two games of the season?

“I feel like I needed to get just a sack, or more than one, because I went two games without having none. I have goals to get more than six sacks this season, so now I’m gonna start and just keep building off of those two sacks from last week.”

2. After your freshman year, are you putting more pressure on yourself for your sophomore season?

“I’m not too sure on that, but I feel like I’m able to do more and I feel like coaches depend on me more than they did last year. So now I just have to step up to the challenge and accept the role that I have now, and know that it’s bigger than it was last year.”

3. Defensively, what’s helped you guys do so well? When your backs are up against the wall, it seems like you are forcing field goals or coming up with key stops in the red zone.

“When we’re out there on the field and things aren’t going our way we just know we’ve gotta get a stop. We’re talking every play like, ‘Come on, let’s go. We need this stop. They’re not getting in the end zone.’ So I think the communication between the whole defense, it just sets that tone to know that they’re not getting in the end zone.”

4. On the defensive line, how competitive are you all? Daniel Wise had two big games, and then you had the big one at Memphis.

“We compete every week. From Week 1, I know we had a bet on whoever gets the first sack and we didn’t get it ’til last weekend. So we compete every day, even in the offseason in everything. Me and Daniel go at it all the time, like no matter what type of day it is. We’re gonna go at it. I think that helps a lot with our chemistry and knowing how each other play.”

5. For you, having a goal of surpassing six sacks this season, what led to your slow start the first two weeks? Did your preseason leg injury play a factor?

“I’m not gonna make the injury no excuse. I came out playing slow. That’s just not how I play. But as the season keeps going I’ve just got to get myself back into the groove and know what I’ve gotta do to reach my goal.”

Jayhawk Pulse

Coming off the only bye week of the season, the Big 12 grind begins for Kansas with a nationally televised difficult road game — aren’t they all for the Jayhawks, losers of 39 straight away from Lawrence. KU’s players and coaches have had more than enough time to analyze and digest a rather disastrous trip to Memphis. The combination of desiring to bounce back and wanting to prove to the college football nation the program isn’t the laughingstock many consider it to be could be enough for the Jayhawks to keep things interesting early on. If KU can manage to play the role of the pesky underdog it would prove to all involved, including a suffering fan base, that better days might be ahead for Beaty, the second-year coach who enters the game 0-9 in Big 12 outings.

Tale of the Tape

Texas Tech ….. Kansas

v Tech run D vs. KU run game

Tech pass D vs. KU pass game v

v Tech run game vs. KU run D

v Tech pass game vs. KU pass D

v Special teams

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