Date: October 17, 2015
Time: 11:00 am
Good Guys: Texas Tech Red Raiders
Bad Guys: Kansas Jayhawks
Location: Memorial Stadium | Lawrence, Kansas
Weather: Partly Cloudy, High 74, Low 50
TV/Stream: FOX Sports 1 (complete channel listing via LSUFootball.net)
Radio: Broadcast Affiliates and TuneIn App
Vegas: Texas Tech opened as 27 point favorites and the line has already moved to 31 to 30.5 (via OddsShark)
Last Week: Kansas lost to Baylor, 66-7 (ESPN box score). The Kansas offense managed about 230 yards of total offense on the day and allowed over 640 yards on defense. Taylor Cox led the team with 19 carries and 45 yards, while Willis’ day is detailed below. He did throw his touchdown to Steven Sims, Jr., and that was his only catch of the day. It didn’t help that Kansas lost two fumbles and Willis threw an interception.
Get caught up on all of the Big 12 action at LandGrant Gauntlet
What’s at Stake: Kansas has lost all five games thus far, to South Dakota State (which was close, 41-38), Memphis, Rutgers, Iowa State and Baylor. The SDSU and Rutgers games didn’t appear to be complete blowouts, but it’s hard to tell with just looking at the final score. It’s a rough stretch for Kansas as they’ll face Texas Tech this week, and then go on to play Oklahoma State, Oklahoma, Texas and then TCU. That’s a fun stretch. Texas Tech looks to move to 2-2 in the Big 12 and so this Kansas game is important for the team and to stay in the middle of the conference race.
Four Key Players:
- QB Ryan Willis (6-4/211): This is your new starter because all of the other starters are hurt and I do think Willis will eventually have a little something. Willis threw a ton of passes, completing 20 of 36 (not bad) which is 55% for 158 yards, a touchdown and an interception. Willis averaged 4.4 yards per attempt against Baylor and that’s the part that’s pretty tough. Willis was a 3-star recruit and he threw for a ton of yards while in high school, your typical spread quarterback. He’ll eventually figure it out and be pretty good.
- WR Tyler Patrick (6-0/179): Tell me where you’ve heard this before. Kansas’ best receiver, Tre’ Parmalee, was out against Baylor and I don’t know his current status. There are a bunch of guys I could chose from here, but I’ll stick with Patrick because he is this team’s leading receiver behind Parmalee and he seems to be a possession sort of guy.
- DE Ben Goodman, Jr. (6-3/253): I think Goodman is the best defensive player on the team, but I’m not sure. He’s already got 23 tackles and 6 tackles for a loss including 3.5 sacks, so he has a good ability to get to the quarterback.
- CB Tyrone Miller, Jr. (6-0/180): Miller is a bright spot on an otherwise rough defense. Originally from Michigan, Miler has 40 tackles on the season, including 2 tackles for loss and 2 passes broken up and a forced fumble.
Miscellaneous: It seems all too obvious as to how this game should play out. Kansas averages only 19 points a game while allowing over 45 . . . The offense only has 650 yards of rushing on the year and only 1,142 yards passing . . . The defense has been rough as well, allowing 556 yards a game (hey, don’t laugh, Texas Tech isn’t far behind), 257 yards on the ground and 300 yards in the air . . . When Parmalee was healthy, Kansas did run the ball and they ran it quite well, gaining 285 yards against South Dakota State and 194 yards against Memphis. I guess the point here is don’t sleep on that rushing attack . . . One of the biggest issues with Kansas is their inability to convert inside the redzone as they are 103rd on offense . . .