Texas Tech 30, Kansas 20: What We Learned

KingsburyThe Red Raiders were very slow out of the gate. It was 3-0 after just one quarter. It was an early kickoff, there was no atmosphere, and a big game against Oklahoma next week looms, so if you’re being ultra-forgiving, these things happen. But not against a team widely considered the worst in the country (until North Texas decided to one-up the awfulness). Then it was 20-0 at halftime, thanks, in part, to three short missed field goals by Kansas. Baylor dropped 24 on the Jayhawks after one quarter. After two, it was 52-7, and the first team offense didn’t even dress out for the second half. Maybe it’s unfair to compare the Red Raiders to the No. 2 team in the country, but  this offense was expected to run riot. It was sluggish, out of sync, and wasteful throughout the first half. Patrick Mahomes, who has been excellent all year, was consistently behind his receivers on throws. Kliff Kingsbury was extremely displeased, and said the way the team played was embarrassing. But hey, no big deal as long as they turned it up in the second half, right? …and never woke up. As you’ve no doubt already deduced with rudimentary math, the Texas Tech offense was actually less effective in the second half. It went into halftime up just 20 on Kansas, and that apparently wasn’t enough to fire it up. Surely the Red Raiders would come out slinging in the final two quarters and bury their unworthy foe. Wrong. Instead, Texas Tech scored just 3 offensive points in the second half, and found itself on national upset watch radars when Kansas scored to make it 23-20 with just over 6 minutes left in the game. Time to pump the brakes on Tech as third-best in the Big 12.  Tech couldn’t convert enough third downs against a miserable defense, kicking 4 field goals on drives that ran out of steam. The Red Raiders' defense found itself being forced to win a game, which had to be a strange feeling after the first half of the season where it was clearly one of the country’s biggest liabilities. Credit has to go to Jah’Shawn Johnson for his fourth quarter pick-six that sealed the Jayhawks’ fate, but it should never have come to that. And we’re guessing Kingsbury let his team hear it in the locker room, and will continue to do so for the rest of the week. This was a tremendous letdown amidst a lot of momentum that's been building for the program, week by week. If you’re looking for a silver lining, it’s this: If you’re going to play your worst game of the year, do it against Kansas. But that Oklahoma game is looking a lot tougher all of the sudden.