- This week on my radio show, I likened Texas Tech's game against Kansas to a take-home test. If you take it seriously, attack it with energy and handle your business, it should be an easy A. If you don't do those things, it could easily blow up in your face.
Well, based on what I just watched, the Red Raiders didn't seem to take the Jayhawks seriously, didn't have much energy throughout the game and, for the most part, didn't handle their business in the same way that they had in five of their previous six games.
There was a ton of talk this week from the team's coaches and players about being excited to play, not taking anything for granted and pointing out how TCU struggled in Lawrence last season. Those messages didn't seem to take hold.
- This almost goes without saying, but I'll do it anyway -- Texas Tech won't win another game this season if the offense continues to play like that.
- The good news is that, despite turning in by far their worst performance of the season, the Red Raiders will leave Lawrence with a win. Last year's worst performance resulted in an 82-27 shellacking in Fort Worth.
- There isn't anything especially odorous about Pat Mahomes' stat line -- 30-of-51, 359 passing yards, TD, INT -- but this was by far his worst performance as a starter. He missed open receivers, was late or behind on some throws and generally seemed, for the first time that I can remember, indecisive.
- Mahomes' offensive line didn't do him any favors. This group wasn't playing great before Le'Raven Clark left the game with an injury, but it seemed to totally fall apart after that point. Kansas entered Saturday with eight sacks, and logged five against Texas Tech.
- I doubt Kingsbury will tell us anything specific about Clark's issues but -- and, again, this is blatantly obvious -- this team is in serious, serious trouble if Clark misses any significant amount of time.
- This might get lost in the late drama, but I thought J.J. Gaines really helped save the Red Raiders with a pass breakup on 3rd and 12 -- it would have been a first down -- early in the first quarter, and then a forced fumble early in the second.
- This is going to be ugly, ugly film for the offense to watch. I lost track of how many times Texas Tech got into or near the redzone only to either cough up a turnover or commit a mindless penalty that killed a drive.
- The Red Raiders piled up 584 yards of offense but, boy, it sure never felt that way during the game. Empty yards.
- DeAndre Washington probably should have had more than 22 carries, but he did the most with the opportunities he was given -- 160 yards and a touchdown with a 7.3 yards per carry average.
- Teams have bad games in every sport, on every level. It's very possible that the Red Raiders will go on to win eight or more games and everyone here will forget about what happened today in Lawrence. It's also possible that the Texas Tech team that we saw today will show up more than everyone would like over the second half of the season. We have no way of knowing, but I would caution against putting too much on this one game.
- Here's why: 34-30. 27-20. 41-34. 21-17. 20-14. 31-30.
(No. 4 TCU 2014, No. 16 Oklahoma State 2014, at No. 22 Texas Tech 2012, No. 23 Texas 2012, Oklahoma State 2012, No. 25 Baylor 2011)
