The hiring of Kliff Kingsbury was touted as the move to bring Texas Tech football back to the status it had achieved under Mike Leach. Kingsbury did not disappoint, with movie star good looks and a swagger that made even the coolest of cool jealous.
The Red Raiders (2-3; 0-1, Big 12) started out 7-0 last season before collapsing to lose five straight. Tech’s 37-23 victory over Arizona State University in the Holiday Bowl last season salvaged a mid-season skid.
Texas Tech v. Kansas State on October 4. Picture from wreckemred.com.
Tech was picked to finish seventh in the Big 12 conference this year by the media. In a lackluster season, one thing is abundantly clear: these Red Raiders are all style and no substance.
Football is a simple game; one of the tenets is to not beat yourself. On Saturday night, Kansas State University, ranked No. 23 in the country, manhandled Tech on both sides of the ball to win easily 45-13.
The Wildcats (4-1, 2-0, Big 12) rushed the ball 50 times for 245 yards, and quarterback Jake Waters went 24-of-31 for 290 yards. The Wildcats had 535 yards in total offense. The Wildcats held onto the ball for 40:09 minutes of the game.
The scouting report on the Red Raiders is that they are more concerned with looking good than winning. When teams apply pressure to Tech, they beat themselves by doing something stupid — their receivers drop passes, quarterback Davis Webb throws interceptions (four), and they are called for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty or pass interference. All of which happened against Kansas State.
Tech is easily rattled and prone to mistakes and penalties. Tech leads the Big 12 in penalties with 55 for 511 yards in the season. In the Kansas State game, they had nine for 89 yards. Last week they had 16 penalties for 158 yards. Tech is among the most penalized teams in college football.
Tech quarterback Davis Webb played with a sore shoulder and threw for 247 yards, with two touchdowns but also had a career-high four interceptions.
Picture from foxsports.com.
“We’re practicing hard. They’re working hard to get better, but when we get out to games, it’s not connecting,” Kingsbury said. “That’s on me as a coach. I’ve got to find that disconnect.”
Tech actually had a chance to score first, marching right down the field on the game’s first possession. But on second-and-5 at the 7-yard line, Webb was picked off in the end zone by Morgan Burns, who made a nice one-handed grab to stop the drive.
Tech had not started 0-2 in the Big 12 since 2010, but with a daunting schedule and only one potentially for-sure win, Kansas, Tech needs to figure out how to win four more games to become Bowl game eligible.
Kingsbury is now 3-8 in his last 11 games.
About J.T. Keith
