KU hounds Tech’s Hodges

Lubbock, Texas ? Kansas University’s starting defense said plenty about what kind of game plan it had for No. 16 Texas Tech on Saturday.

The Jayhawks played with five defensive backs, and the other six players on the field – including linemen Charlton Keith, Jermial Ashley and Paul Como and linebacker Brandon Perkins – specialized in pestering quarterbacks.

Tech quarterback Cody Hodges certainly was bugged in the 30-17 Tech victory. He was the victim of five sacks, was drilled on several more occasions and frequently was flushed out of the pocket.

On 13 carries, Hodges gained 44 yards. But he lost 59 yards thanks to backfield tackles and fumbled the ball four times.

“I feel the D-line really stepped it up another level,” KU senior end Keith said. “We haven’t come across a team that passed the ball this much. One thing we really pressed on ourselves was, were we going to put pressure on him so he couldn’t pass the ball with rhythm. I think we did a good job of that.”

As expected, Texas Tech played right into Keith’s strengths, and the athletic 6-foot-5, 235-pounder flourished as a result. He had 21â2 tackles for a loss, a fumble recovery, two sacks, a quarterback hurry, and he broke up a pass. Coupled with Brandon Perkins’ similar statistics as a bandit-package linebacker, the defensive pressure was intense throughout the night.

Problem was, Hodges continued to take the beatings and never lost his poise in the pocket. The composure kept KU a safe distance away on the scoreboard.

“He’s a kid with a lot of heart,” Perkins said. “We hit him with what we had, and he’s a kid with a lot of heart. He kept getting up and kept fighting. Give him a lot of credit for that.

The last two games, Kansas has 13 sacks, six by Perkins. The senior from Texas was noticeably less happy after Saturday’s game, though, compared to the postgame after KU beat Louisiana Tech on Sept. 17.

“You can’t be too pleased,” Perkins said. “We did all right, but we didn’t do enough to win.”