Jayhawks 'Well Aware' of Texas Tech's Dominance

The Red Raiders wiped the floor with the preseason conference favorites to the tune of 34-10, and this Saturday, they now get to play the team picked to finish fourth in the league — the Kansas Jayhawks.

Texas Tech is now ranked #9 in the country following its perfect 5-0 start to the year, so they won’t exactly be sneaking up on a Kansas team who is fresh off a road win at UCF this past Saturday. Now the Jayhawks face another tall task on the road in Lubbock Saturday night.

“I think they’re top three in every statistic imaginable in our conference and in the top 10 nationally in many areas,” Kansas football coach Lance Leipold said during his Monday press conference. “That just says Coach McGuire has a really good football team. It’ll be a heck of a challenge on homecoming night, but our guys have embraced that challenge, and it’s a great opportunity for us to go down there and play well.”

The Jayhawks will be able to ride at least some momentum into Lubbock Saturday. They won a gritty back-and-forth game on the road at UCF on October 4. After trailing 20-14 at the half, the Jayhawks completely shut down the Knights in the second half while tacking on 13 more to win by the touchdown margin.

The task of shutting down Texas Tech, though, is a different task entirely. That’s mainly due to the fact that no one has done it. Through its 5-0 start, the lowest point total the Red Raiders have had is 34 against Utah, signifying a shootout or bust mentality for their prospective opponents.

“(It’s) an extremely explosive football team, an excellent team with lots of talent and depth,” Leipold said.. “I don’t know if I’ve ever seen an FBS football game that went to eight-minute quarters like they did against Arkansas–Pine Bluff. That just shows what they have. Most of their games have been decided early, and again, they have a lot of weapons.”

Although Texas Tech won going away again this past Saturday against Houston, it was a game where TTU head coach Joey McGuire admitted he thought his team should have had 60 points, which means the 35 they did score in the team’s 24-point win was the offense being slowed down a bit.

It also highlights the fact that while Texas Tech is scoring at will, their opponents have struggled mightily to keep up. Through five games, the most a team has put up on TTU is 14 points, which happened twice (vs. Oregon State, vs. Kent State).

It’s already a test to slow down one of the best offenses in college football, but it makes it that much more difficult when you’re also facing one of the top defensive units in the game as well.

“I think they’re top in tackles for loss, sacks, and everything else,” Leipold said. “It’s an explosive, very athletic front. Bailey, a kid from Stanford, has been everything they wanted him to be when they got him out of the portal. Very disruptive. It’s as good a front as we’ve seen.”

The Jayhawks offense might be Texas Tech’s toughest challenge yet this season. In fact, last week’s 27 points against UCF was the lowest offensive output from the Jayhawks this season. Even in their losses to Missouri and Cincinnati, the Jayhawks scored 31 and 34 respectively.

The high scoring from both schools certainly signifies that the game could be trending toward a good old fashioned shootout on Saturday. However, Leipold says his team might not be ready for a full-on Western just yet.

“We haven’t been as consistent as I’d like us to be,” he said. “I think we’re better than we’ve shown, but if you put it on tape right now, you can see the daily challenge for this group. I think they know it and embrace it. They’ve seen the good and the not-so-good, and some of the things that have happened along the way result in that.”

After watching Texas Tech meticulously dissect the early part of its schedule, which included the dominating win over preseason favorite Utah, Leipold was asked if he’s surprised by Texas Tech’s rise after being picked to finish 9th in the conference.

Ultimately, he said Tech is a perfect example of why the games aren’t played on paper.

“Obviously they won a big game in Salt Lake City,” Leipold said. “Through everything, it’s not surprising at all that that’s where they’re at, based on what everyone thought about their roster and expectations.”

Leipold, of course hinting at Texas Tech’s strong haul through the transfer portal over the offseason. As many know, the Red Raiders are investing nearly $30 million in NIL funds for its roster this year, and it’s come under some scrutiny by some of their peers. They claim TTU bought its roster, and it’s an unfair advantage both on and off the field.

However, KU’s Leipold isn’t one of the top critics.

“They’ve utilized their resources immensely,” he said. “They’ve made a commitment and are not shy about talking about what they’ve been able to do. You can look at the two-deep and see that they’ve gone everywhere to get players, which is a credit to them. It’s the gaps that are still there under this new model we’re working under. Obviously, they’re probably at the top of the league, and then there’s the rest of the competition.”

Come Saturday, both teams expect it to be a solid competition. During his weekly press conference Monday, TTU coach Joey McGuire said KU is very close to being 6-0, and his team will be treating the Jayhawks as such.

Kickoff between Tech and KU is set for 6:30 p.m. and will be televised nationally on FOX.

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