Some Hither, Others Yon: Texas Tech vs. Kansas

Here and There

GAME THINGS
	Texas Tech Red Raiders (4-5, 3-3)
	Kansas Jayhawks (7-2, 4-2)
	November 11th @ 11:00 a.m.
	David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium \| Lawrence, Kansas
	Kansas -3.5
	FS1 \| FOX Sports Live
	61, Sunny

Some Hither, Others Yon

While wondering whatever happened to Tuffy Nabors? I found this on a list and wasn’t sure who he was and here we are. Roland Richard “Tuffy” Nabors (6-2/200) was born in Meadow, attended Lubbock High School and played for Texas Tech in 1942, 1946, and 1947. His career was interrupted by World War II, but was on the honorable mention for the 1947 All-American team and was the best center in the conference and also lettered in basketball. He was drafted by the New York Yankees in the 7th round and played in just 1 year before heading back to West Texas where he was the line coach in 1949 at UTEP and then eventually opened the Tuff Nabors Service Station in Lubbock (which was at Clovis Road and Avenue U), worked 20 years for the Comptroller’s Office, and opened a Coors beer distributorship in San Antonio. Nabors died in 1999 in Beaumont.

Prologue

With the basketball game tomorrow I needed to get this out today, so I’m going to briefly summarize the first 20 minutes presser from yesterday.

Scout team players of the week were Chief Collins and Will Burris.
Are relatively healthy, week away for Cole Spencer and Mason Tharp. Steven Linton is good to go, back tightened up and felt much better yesterday.
Kansas is a multiple offense, will shift and motion and shift into a wildcat or do a 12 personnel, outside zone, or shots down the field on the outside option. Have dipped into the transfer portal to fill the 85 limit for Kansas and developed players. Bean is a great athlete, extremely fast, Miles Thompson and Tyler Owens, they play really hard on defense. Will have a great crowd.
With the injuries, have to find guys who can play and can win. Has created depth for the year, Dylan Spencer had a really good game and challenge the defensive staff to get him on the field. He hit the quarterback 3 times. It all goes to finishing the season strong and can overcome some of that stuff. It starts with having a healthy Behren Morton, just being healthier. He said he feels really good and it makes a big difference and energy to the offense.
It is 2023, it seems like there are a lot of flags and there are fixable things, if we are going to have replay, fixing it in real time. We got a yard back, that should have been something to fix in real time. It matters when we are a team that goes for it 82 times, if it happens in real time, then we can tempo, but the reality was that we had to call timeout and everyone was set. In real time, those things can be fixed. Right now there is a proposal to use headsets in the postseason, so why not have that as a proposal in bowl games and fix things in real time and have officials go look at a monitor. As a whole, not just Big 12 officiating. Really just want to be consistent and get it right.
Jacob Rodriguez and Bryce Ramirez are watching tape, both are feeling good. he felt great. He felt more confident and the last drive he had a big hit and tackle. This week in practice, he will feel more comfortable and feeling confidence.
C.J. Baskerville tackled well. Had some big hits. Can be more aggressive on his alignment and his understanding where his help is. He is very smart and says a lot for him to change positions and has to understand where his help comes from and helps us now and in the future.
The defense has to limit their big plays, they will have them. They run the ball effectively, have to do a good job of being right in coverages and have just as many explosive plays in the passing game and a lot of window dressing and trying to get your eyes going in the wrong direction, had some good scheme plays. Be disciplined in the secondary and allow the front and linebackers to stop the run.
Their first 3 quarters they are really outscoring their opponents, so need to figure out what kind of game it is going to be and have to come out and match that if that’s the kind of game it is, and have to create our big plays. When you look at their numbers, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd quarters, have a biggest difference than anyone else.

The Bakay Index

Nick Bakay is an actor, writer and TV personality who made regular appearances on ESPN and wrote on ESPN’s Page 2. Bakay did a segment on ESPN called “Tale of the Tape” where he would give an advantage to one side or the other, or if it was close, then it was a “push”. Bakay was also the voice of the cat Salem on Sabrina the Teenage Witch.

Myles Price vs. the Field. I was thinking about who is clearly the best receiver of this team and without looking up stats, I thought that Price is probably the best and he has caught the most passes at 38. But this team has spread the ball around as there are 8 receivers with at least 11 catches. Price is also the team leader with 5 touchdowns. Of the 8 receivers who have caught at least 11 passes only Xavier White is averaging more than 14 yards a catch. Advantage? Myles Price.

Steve Linton vs. the Field. Same deal here, my initial thought before looking up any stats was that Linton was the team’s best pass rusher. Linton is 2nd on the team with 3 sacks, tied with Jaylon Hutchings. Myles Cole is the leader with 3.5 sacks and the other player that’s close is Charles Esters, III with 2 sacks. Cole has 3 QB hurries and Linton only has 1 with Joseph Adedire having 2 QB hurries. Advantage? The field and Myles Cole for the win.

Dare to Go Under 29. It’s beautiful, the over/under in this week’s Rutgers @ Iowa game is 29 and to think about a college game not going over 29 is silly in the best possible way. Do you dare to take the under? Advantage? Under.

Quickie Previews & Recaps

All games are on Saturday, November 11th.

This Week: Texas Tech @ Kansas (11:00 am on FS1)
Last Week: Texas Tech 35, TCU 28 :: Kansas 28, Iowa State 21
We’ll get more into this game as the week progresses, but Kansas opens as an early 4 point favorite and the initial look at some stats says that these two teams are pretty evenly matched overall.

This Week: Baylor @ Kansas State (2:00 pm on ESPN+)
Last Week: Houston 25, Baylor 24 :: Texas 33, Kansas State 30
Baylor seems like a beaten program, losing to Houston in the last seconds and now having to play Kansas State in Manhattan with the Wildcats likely to have a chip on their shoulder? Yikes! Kansas State is favored by 20.5 and that might not be enough.

This Week: Oklahoma State @ UCF (2:30 pm on ESPN)
Last Week: Oklahoma State 27, Oklahoma 24 :: UCF 28, Cincinnati 26
Oklahoma State is on a collision course with Texas for the Big 12 title and UCF is in the way this week. The Cowboys beat Oklahoma in part based a questionable pass interference call (that’s not the only reason OU lost) and UCF squeaked by Cincinnati and I have zero confidence that they the Knights will pull off the upset. The Cowboys are favored by just 2.5, which seems like easy money and a trap. A trap!

This Week: West Virginia @ Oklahoma (6:00 pm on FOX)
Last Week: West Virginia 37, BYU 7 :: Oklahoma State 27, Oklahoma 24
I am certain that that BYU isn’t a good team and save for the 5 turnovers, Texas Tech would have won that game. Anyway, WVU took care of business at home and will face one of their toughest tests in Oklahoma at home after a bad loss. I don’t think the Sooners will drop this one at home, but West Virginia has been a tough out. Oklahoma is favored by 12.5 and I don’t know if OU will come out pissed off or will have given up. West Virginia is likely to run the ball a ton that might keep the score tight.

This Week: Cincinnati @ Houston (6:00 pm on FS1)
Last Week: UCF 28, Cincinnati 26 :: Houston 25, Baylor 24
Houston’s surprising win at Baylor leaves me to think that they’ll take this game handily at home. Cincinnati lost a tough one to UCF, but I think that Houston is the better team. Houston is favored by 2.5 and I don’t know if Cincy’s offense will travel. I’ll take Houston.

This Week: Texas @ TCU (6:30 pm on ABC)
Last Week: Texas 33, Kansas State 30 :: Texas Tech 35, TCU 28
The expectation here is that Texas is going to demolish TCU here. TCU is reeling a bit as I think the expectation was that they’d beat Texas Tech and Texas got lucky a bit with Kansas State in their overtime win, but that may be on K-State more than Texas. Texas is favored by 10 and I think the Longhorns are a bit lucky, but also on a mission.

This Week: Iowa State @ BYU (9:15 pm on ESPN)
Last Week: Kansas 28, Iowa State 21 :: West Virginia 37, BYU 7
I thought that Iowa State would beat Kansas at home, but couldn’t prevail. BYU is a terrible team, I’ve mentioned that I am certain of that, and I fully expect Iowa State to go on the road and win this game. Iowa State is favored by 7 on the road and BYU is struggling, I think I’ll take the Cyclones.