Transcript provided by Texas Tech Athletics --
Q. Coach, when it got kind of out of hand, was there ever any doubt? I mean, you have come back so many times this game. With Patrick leading the way, kind of give us your thoughts when y'all might have made a charge there?
COACH KLIFF KINGSBURY: Yeah, we just kept playing hard. We just never got over the hump. And they're very good. They controlled the ball in the second half when they wanted to and so never really got over that hump where we could have really made a good run at it. You got to give them credit. They did a good job defensively of creating turnovers turnovers and putting us in a hole.
Q. Coach, just your evaluation of your team and how they performed mentally on the field today.
COACH KINGSBURY: Not as good as we've been. A lot of that is due to that team. I thought they did a grat job putting pressure on us by scoring as fast as they did and the way they came out fast. And that's a lot of credit to their coaching staff. The penalties, obviously, crushed us and the turnovers in the first half. You've got to keep up. Had a couple big drops that we needed to keep pace, and we didn't do a good job of that. And then, to their credit, Baylor never let up the entire game.
Q. Kliff, quite a roller coaster the past three weeks. Have you had a chance to assess how your team has grown over the past three weeks, even in defeat?
COACH KINGSBURY: The one thing I saw tonight was they kept fighting. That's a very good Baylor team. And they just kept going toe to toe with them at the end, and so I was proud of that. But we reverted back to some bad habits as far as penalties and turnovers in this game. And against a top 5 team in the country, you can't have that happen. So I don't think we really gave ourselves an opportunity to win the game like we have the previous first four.
Q. Coach, do you think with this 3‑game stretch that mental strain is why the team reverted back on the penalties and turnovers that we haven't really seen so far this season?
COACH KINGSBURY: I don't think so. Like I said, they just did a great job of getting out and putting pressure on us, and we didn't handle it well. In a game that's going like that, you got to go back and forth. You've got to try and create some turnovers, which we did not. And they did. So I don't think it had anything to do with mental strain. We just got beat by a very good team and didn't respond the way we needed to.
Q. Coach, your evaluation of Patrick Mahomes's start today and then an update on Devin Lauderdale and his injury?
COACH KINGSBURY: I thought Pat played fairly well. He got behind and got out of our game plan, and so it was tough. He hung in there on some stuff, not being 100%. But, you know, you lose Devin early and a couple others. Key receivers are out. And I thought he did a good job of hanging with some of those young guys. And those young guys, a couple of them stepped in there and made a few plays. But it just got out of hand for us. But I thought he kept battling. And I'm not sure on Devin's status. I just was told he'd be out for the rest of the game.
Q. Kliff, what did you think about Zach Austin and his performance today, especially stepping in and just kind of how he played today?
COACH KINGSBURY: It was great to see. He works very hard. You know, we rewarded him with a scholarship here in camp and well deserved. And he's a guy ‑‑ he's a gamer. He's a guy who is best when the lights are on, and couldn't be more proud of him coming out and making those plays like he did.
Q. You've only had one turnover today. Other than that, how did you assess the defense?
COACH KINGSBURY: You know, they are growing up. I think last year, I don't know if they would have had that same fight, and they fought hard. It wasn't pretty. And you got to give Baylor, like I said, a ton of credit. That's the best group of wide receivers I've ever coached against by far. Their quarterback, he was on the money. He can move around, make all the throws. Running back is a great player. They're loaded. So you've got to give them a lot of credit. I was just proud that our defense continued to fight and move past the setbacks at some point.
Q. Kliff, on Patrick, obviously, he still made a bunch of plays today. But it seemed like he was throwing so much off of his back foot. Did it look to you like he was still being bothered by the knee and not really stepping into throws, just having to do it with his arm and gut it out?
COACH KINGSBURY: Yeah, more than you'd like. He's really snapping that ball off and putting pressure on that leg. You can tell he's not that comfortable with it yet. But it was dramatically better than it was last weekend and the beginning of the week. And so, hopefully, we can take another step this week and he feels that much better next Saturday.
Q. Coach, did you expect that they'd be able to get a little more going running the ball against Baylor today?
COACH KINGSBURY: I think the game took us out of that. Early on, they did a great job on the run. And then you get behind by that many points, you're trying to save time and start throwing it. But they did the job against the run early. That's what we have to look at.
Q. Kliff, what did Payton Hendrix miss today? And there's a follow‑up to that. Without him and Dixon and Barnes, how much is that lack of depth hurting your secondary, particularly in a game such as this?
COACH KINGSBURY: Payton was sick. And, yeah, not having that depth hurt us. Just because you'd like to run fresh bodies in there with that type of tempo and those type of weapons they have at wide receiver. But, hopefully, we can get those guys back sooner than later.
Q. Shock Linwood had a great game today. How come he gave you so much trouble?
COACH KINGSBURY: He's a very good player. Their line did a good job creating holes, and he finished his runs. So you got to give him all the credit. He made a bunch of those plays. We had guys there to make tackles. Either ran through us or around us. Once again, their line is at a high level.
Q. They made that big play on the first kickoff with a lateral. Looked like Art didn't want to give you a chance to ‑‑ didn't want to give Jakeem or anybody else a chance to hurt him. How much did that affect game play,
what you do on special teams?
COACH KINGSBURY: It didn't. They did a lot of that last year and didn't want to get Jakeem the ball, which is smart. They did a good job of where they were placing the kicks. But that didn't affect us. We knew that was probably coming.
Q. Jakeem Grant had a big drop in the first and second quarter. How much did those drops hurt you? I know Brown had another one in the end zone.
COACH KINGSBURY: Those type games, when you're trying to keep up, you know, that one happens to be on a third down. And you've got to make those plays. They seemed to make all of them, and that's a credit to their esprit de corps and their coaches. And anytime you have those and you have a game going back and forth like that, it's going to hurt.
Q. Going forward, assuming ‑‑ if you don't have Ian for a while. And depending on what's wrong with Devin, how comfortable are you with such a young group of receivers?
COACH KINGSBURY: You know, you can't throw a Sadler and Lauderdale out. Two of your top four. But I think this was a good game to get Tony some touches. Keke got to play a lot. Jobs got to play a lot. Zach Austin. So I think it was good to get them broken in, and they're going to have to develop fast.
Q. Coach, when it got kind of out of hand, was there ever any doubt? I mean, you have come back so many times this game. With Patrick leading the way, kind of give us your thoughts when y'all might have made a charge there?
COACH KLIFF KINGSBURY: Yeah, we just kept playing hard. We just never got over the hump. And they're very good. They controlled the ball in the second half when they wanted to and so never really got over that hump where we could have really made a good run at it. You got to give them credit. They did a good job defensively of creating turnovers turnovers and putting us in a hole.
Q. Coach, just your evaluation of your team and how they performed mentally on the field today.
COACH KINGSBURY: Not as good as we've been. A lot of that is due to that team. I thought they did a grat job putting pressure on us by scoring as fast as they did and the way they came out fast. And that's a lot of credit to their coaching staff. The penalties, obviously, crushed us and the turnovers in the first half. You've got to keep up. Had a couple big drops that we needed to keep pace, and we didn't do a good job of that. And then, to their credit, Baylor never let up the entire game.
Q. Kliff, quite a roller coaster the past three weeks. Have you had a chance to assess how your team has grown over the past three weeks, even in defeat?
COACH KINGSBURY: The one thing I saw tonight was they kept fighting. That's a very good Baylor team. And they just kept going toe to toe with them at the end, and so I was proud of that. But we reverted back to some bad habits as far as penalties and turnovers in this game. And against a top 5 team in the country, you can't have that happen. So I don't think we really gave ourselves an opportunity to win the game like we have the previous first four.
Q. Coach, do you think with this 3‑game stretch that mental strain is why the team reverted back on the penalties and turnovers that we haven't really seen so far this season?
COACH KINGSBURY: I don't think so. Like I said, they just did a great job of getting out and putting pressure on us, and we didn't handle it well. In a game that's going like that, you got to go back and forth. You've got to try and create some turnovers, which we did not. And they did. So I don't think it had anything to do with mental strain. We just got beat by a very good team and didn't respond the way we needed to.
Q. Coach, your evaluation of Patrick Mahomes's start today and then an update on Devin Lauderdale and his injury?
COACH KINGSBURY: I thought Pat played fairly well. He got behind and got out of our game plan, and so it was tough. He hung in there on some stuff, not being 100%. But, you know, you lose Devin early and a couple others. Key receivers are out. And I thought he did a good job of hanging with some of those young guys. And those young guys, a couple of them stepped in there and made a few plays. But it just got out of hand for us. But I thought he kept battling. And I'm not sure on Devin's status. I just was told he'd be out for the rest of the game.
Q. Kliff, what did you think about Zach Austin and his performance today, especially stepping in and just kind of how he played today?
COACH KINGSBURY: It was great to see. He works very hard. You know, we rewarded him with a scholarship here in camp and well deserved. And he's a guy ‑‑ he's a gamer. He's a guy who is best when the lights are on, and couldn't be more proud of him coming out and making those plays like he did.
Q. You've only had one turnover today. Other than that, how did you assess the defense?
COACH KINGSBURY: You know, they are growing up. I think last year, I don't know if they would have had that same fight, and they fought hard. It wasn't pretty. And you got to give Baylor, like I said, a ton of credit. That's the best group of wide receivers I've ever coached against by far. Their quarterback, he was on the money. He can move around, make all the throws. Running back is a great player. They're loaded. So you've got to give them a lot of credit. I was just proud that our defense continued to fight and move past the setbacks at some point.
Q. Kliff, on Patrick, obviously, he still made a bunch of plays today. But it seemed like he was throwing so much off of his back foot. Did it look to you like he was still being bothered by the knee and not really stepping into throws, just having to do it with his arm and gut it out?
COACH KINGSBURY: Yeah, more than you'd like. He's really snapping that ball off and putting pressure on that leg. You can tell he's not that comfortable with it yet. But it was dramatically better than it was last weekend and the beginning of the week. And so, hopefully, we can take another step this week and he feels that much better next Saturday.
Q. Coach, did you expect that they'd be able to get a little more going running the ball against Baylor today?
COACH KINGSBURY: I think the game took us out of that. Early on, they did a great job on the run. And then you get behind by that many points, you're trying to save time and start throwing it. But they did the job against the run early. That's what we have to look at.
Q. Kliff, what did Payton Hendrix miss today? And there's a follow‑up to that. Without him and Dixon and Barnes, how much is that lack of depth hurting your secondary, particularly in a game such as this?
COACH KINGSBURY: Payton was sick. And, yeah, not having that depth hurt us. Just because you'd like to run fresh bodies in there with that type of tempo and those type of weapons they have at wide receiver. But, hopefully, we can get those guys back sooner than later.
Q. Shock Linwood had a great game today. How come he gave you so much trouble?
COACH KINGSBURY: He's a very good player. Their line did a good job creating holes, and he finished his runs. So you got to give him all the credit. He made a bunch of those plays. We had guys there to make tackles. Either ran through us or around us. Once again, their line is at a high level.
Q. They made that big play on the first kickoff with a lateral. Looked like Art didn't want to give you a chance to ‑‑ didn't want to give Jakeem or anybody else a chance to hurt him. How much did that affect game play,
what you do on special teams?
COACH KINGSBURY: It didn't. They did a lot of that last year and didn't want to get Jakeem the ball, which is smart. They did a good job of where they were placing the kicks. But that didn't affect us. We knew that was probably coming.
Q. Jakeem Grant had a big drop in the first and second quarter. How much did those drops hurt you? I know Brown had another one in the end zone.
COACH KINGSBURY: Those type games, when you're trying to keep up, you know, that one happens to be on a third down. And you've got to make those plays. They seemed to make all of them, and that's a credit to their esprit de corps and their coaches. And anytime you have those and you have a game going back and forth like that, it's going to hurt.
Q. Going forward, assuming ‑‑ if you don't have Ian for a while. And depending on what's wrong with Devin, how comfortable are you with such a young group of receivers?
COACH KINGSBURY: You know, you can't throw a Sadler and Lauderdale out. Two of your top four. But I think this was a good game to get Tony some touches. Keke got to play a lot. Jobs got to play a lot. Zach Austin. So I think it was good to get them broken in, and they're going to have to develop fast.
