- Wow.
- I wrote Monday that Kliff Kingsbury and his team had "talked the talked over the offseason" about being a different team than last season, but the three games against Arkansas, TCU and Baylor would present him and his team with a chance to prove it.
They took a big step toward doing that tonight in Fayetteville.
- The Red Raiders never trailed, never appeared to be panicked or out of sorts and played to their identity. Their first three scoring drives all took less than three minutes and, on the night, averaged more than eight yards per play. It wasn't until Texas Tech broke serve and had an opportunity to really separate from Arkansas that you saw the offense slow the tempo down. It was almost poetic, as that's basically what the Razorbacks did last year in Lubbock.
- Defensively, David Gibbs' group largely followed the same script as it has all season. It looked ugly in the first half, almost like a repeat from last season. Following the halftime break, however, Texas Tech played much better. Arkansas scored just three second-half points -- just 20 of the 89 points allowed by the Red Raiders have come in the second half this season -- managed just 160 yards of offense.
- And THAT is why Kingsbury went out and signed Gibbs to a three-year contract.
- Oh, and by the way, Texas Tech forced two more turnovers tonight, giving them eight through three games. Last season, in 12 games, the defense forced just 15 turnovers.
- Jah'Shawn Johnson has shown a knack for big turnovers this season. He dislodged the ball from a Sam Houston State running back after a long run in the opener, and sealed the victory tonight by ripping the ball from Alex Collins. Johnson finished with a game-high 16 tackles, a TFL and a very, very big forced fumble.
- Kingsbury on Johnson after the game: "He's a ball hawk. He always has been. In high school, they'd set him about seven yards away from the line of scrimmage and have him chase the football. He's had to learn our schemes and techniques but when the football is there, he's going to fly down and try to make a play on it."
- Texas Tech was penalized four times for 31 yards tonight, giving the program back-to-back games with just four flags. The last time the Red Raiders posted consecutive games of four or fewer penalties was the 2010 season, when the team was flagged a combined seven times against Houston (4-29) and Northwestern (3-34).
- Kingsbury pointed to the penalties as one of his biggest takeaways from the game, along with turnovers. "The penalties, probably. I didn't see many that hurt us. For the most part, protecting the football. Pat had the long one at the end of the half and turned it over on a third down which was really a punt. Other than that, guys running with the football, secured it, and he did a good job of taking care of it."
- I feel really happy for Reginald Davis. He disappointed with his play last season and had a couple of high-profile drops against Sam Houston State. Davis showed up in a big way against Arkansas, and was awarded a game ball after the game for his play. He finished with five catches and a game-high 115 yards and two touchdowns. Davis' 72-yard catch and run on the Jakeem Grant trick play was the biggest from a statistical standpoint, but I thought his first touchdown catch was more impressive. It was just a three-yard toss, but he broke down a defender and got into the endzone. The sky is the limit for this Texas Tech offense if Davis can continue to perform like this.
- Kingsbury said this about Davis after the game: "A guy who just got better each week. Still developing. I think he's just scratching the surface with his ability. Got to get better at route running, got to get better at understanding what we're trying to accomplish, but has a lot of natural ability. Hopefully that continues."
- Imagine if someone told you earlier today that Devin Lauderdale would catch zero passes against Arkansas. What result would you have expected?
- It was clear watching the game, and even clearer when looking at the stat sheet, that the Red Raiders liked the matchups they had with their inside receivers. Jakeem Grant caught a game-high eight passes for 75 yards and Ian Sadler had five big catches for 57 yards.
- DeAndre Washington averaged more yards per rush (6.8) than Alex Collins (6.1).
- There was one punt in this game. One.
- Taylor Symmank's touchback percentage took a hit tonight, as just three of his six kickoffs were downed in the endzone.
- I didn't feel like Texas Tech's special teams played especially well against Arkansas. Jakeem Grant averaged just 15.8 yards per kickoff return and Michael Barden missed a 22-yard field goal (Yikes).
- Let's revise No. 10. Imagine if someone told you earlier today that Lauderdale would catch zero passes AND Michael Barden would miss his only field goal attempt of the game?
- Kingsbury, Grant and Davis all discussed the second quarter trickeration play that resulted in Grant's 72-yard touchdown pass to Davis. Kingsbury said the team practiced the play "a lot" in practice but Grant only completed the pass "about 50 percent" of the time; he called the play on "blind faith."
- Davis on the play: "That was nice. We practiced it all week. I really didn't know if they were going to call it, but when they called it, I was like, 'I've got to perfect it, I got to perfect it.' So I perfected it and it worked and we scored. In practice, he didn't throw it too good but, in the game, he did great. That's all that matters."
- What can you say about Pat Mahomes at this point? True sophomore, making his seventh career start, playing in front of 73,000 hostile fans as a double-digit underdog, and he was completely unfazed. That was evident from Texas Tech's opening eight-play, 77-yard touchdown drive and continued through the next four quarters.
- Even though his rushing total wasn't overwhelming -- 58 yards, a career high -- Mahomes' legs were a huge, huge part of this game. He converted three third-downs on the ground in the second half. He converted a 3rd and 10 on the Red Raiders' opening drive after halftime with a 16-yard run. Three plays later, he scored a two-yard touchdown on 3rd and Goal to put Texas Tech up 28-21. Finally, with the clock running in the fourth quarter, he converted a 3rd and 6 by evading two defenders and running for nine yards. Bret Bielema called that the play of the game in his postgame press conference.
- It's pretty amazing that, statistically, Saturday was the worst start (not counting the Texas game he didn't finish) of his career. He completed 87 percent of his passes, accounted for 300-plus yards and three touchdowns and -- again, statistically -- it's at the bottom of his list.
- Clearly, though, this is Mahomes first signature win as Texas Tech's starting quarterback. I have a feeling that it won't be his last.
- The season is just three games old. There's a lot of football left to be played. But through three games, Kingsbury's team has shown marked improvement in all of the areas that he and his coaching staff emphasized over the offseason. That's a very promising sign not only for the 2015 season, but for the program's overall future with Kingsbury.
- Texas Tech posted 12 chunk plays -- five runs of 10-plus yards and seven passes of 15-plus yards -- against Arkansas. The Hogs had 10 -- six on the ground, four through the air.
- Mahomes was involved on eight of the Red Raiders' 12 chunk plays.
- How about Dakota Allen posting a career-high 12 tackles? Pete Robertson was active as well, with seven tackles, a TFL and two hurries.
- Dylan Cantrell traveled with the team to Fayetteville but was ruled out for the game before kickoff. They wouldn't have traveled him if they didn't think it was possible he could have played (See: Nigel Bethel), so I would guess there's a decent chance that he'll be in action against TCU on Saturday.
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