Gameday Breakdown: KU football at Texas Tech

photo by: Nick Krug

Kansas wide receiver Steven Sims Jr. tears up the field for a touchdown during the third quarter on Saturday, Sept. 3, 2016 at Memorial Stadium.

Kansas (1-2) at Texas Tech (2-1)

7:30 p.m. Thursday, Jones AT&T Stadium • Game-time forecast: 69 degrees, partly cloudy, 0% chance of rain • TV: FOX Sports 1

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Keys for Kansas

1. Try and keep up

Texas Tech’s offense is going to put up some points. That’s just what the Red Raiders do. The program hasn’t been shut out since 1997, and this year Tech ranks second in the country in points per game (61.0), trailing only Louisville (63.5). So the Kansas offense — whether led by fourth-year junior Montell Cozart or sophomore Ryan Willis or a combination of the two at quarterback — better find ways to get in the end zone repeatedly. While the Jayhawks resembled a high-powered attack in their season opener, scoring 55 points against Rhode Island, an overwhelmed FCS opponent, the production has declined in each game since. The KU offense accounted for just two of the team’s three touchdowns in a loss to Ohio, and the following week at Memphis came up with just one score. The Red Raiders’ defense, allowing 43.3 points a game, has shown its holes. Now it’s up to David Beaty and his staff to come in ready to exploit those shortcomings and get the ball in space to KU’s best play-makers: Steven Sims Jr., LaQuvionte Gonzalez and Khalil Herbert.

2. Learn from your mistakes

In the nearly two weeks since Kansas lost 43-7 at Memphis, Beaty often has referenced the Jayhawks’ unsightly six turnovers in this year’s road opener as not only the reason for the blowout but also an issue that has to get fixed. Now is the time for KU’s offensive players to show they heard Beaty’s message and come out and play cleanly. No team has a shot at winning with six turnovers, particularly on the road. A night free of bad throws and a disregard for ball security should go a long way toward giving the offense some much-needed confidence and help keep the Kansas defense from consistently being thrown into difficult spots. Regardless of the final score, players on both sides of the ball should leave Texas feeling much better about the state of the season if the offense can make it a competitive game.

3. Upgrade that run defense

True, Texas Tech calls passing plays far more often than rushing plays (160 throws versus 93 runs this season), but when quarterback Patrick Mahomes II isn’t slinging the ball around the field, Kansas needs to step up its rush defense. Through three games, the Jayhawks are surrendering 234.7 yards a game on the ground — that ranks last in the Big 12 and 110th in the nation. Tech running back DeMarcus Felton (7.1 yards a carry this season, three touchdowns) has the ability to make the Red Raiders’ offense unstoppable if KU hasn’t yet sufficiently addressed its biggest defensive issue. And, don’t forget, Kansas will have to scheme a way to keep Mahomes (4.2 yards per carry, four rushing TD’s) contained as a ball-carrying threat, too.

Mega Matchup

Texas Tech Air Raid vs. Kansas secondary

The numbers indicate KU’s pass defense has become a team strength. Entering the Big 12 opener, Kansas foes have completed just 47.6 percent of their throws for 135 yards a game and a pass efficiency mark of 99.1. By the end of the night against Texas Tech, we’ll know just how relevant those non-conference stats are. With junior quarterback Mahomes (198.2 pass efficiency) at the controls, Tech is averaging an FBS-best 547.7 passing yards a game — nearly 100 yards more than the category’s runner-up, Cal (459.3). Throws upon throws upon throws are coming the way of KU’s secondary. Defensive backs such as Brandon Stewart, Tevin Shaw, Fish Smithson, Marnez Ogletree and Bazie Bates IV know what they’re up against. They’ll have to prove those statistics from the past three games aren’t a fluke.

5 Questions with Dorance Armstrong Jr.

1. What was the biggest difference for you at Memphis, where you had two sacks and three total tackles for loss, compared to the first two games of the season?

“I feel like I needed to get just a sack, or more than one, because I went two games without having none. I have goals to get more than six sacks this season, so now I’m gonna start and just keep building off of those two sacks from last week.”

2. After your freshman year, are you putting more pressure on yourself for your sophomore season?

“I’m not too sure on that, but I feel like I’m able to do more and I feel like coaches depend on me more than they did last year. So now I just have to step up to the challenge and accept the role that I have now, and know that it’s bigger than it was last year.”

3. Defensively, what’s helped you guys do so well? When your backs are up against the wall, it seems like you are forcing field goals or coming up with key stops in the red zone.

“When we’re out there on the field and things aren’t going our way we just know we’ve gotta get a stop. We’re talking every play like, ‘Come on, let’s go. We need this stop. They’re not getting in the end zone.’ So I think the communication between the whole defense, it just sets that tone to know that they’re not getting in the end zone.”

4. On the defensive line, how competitive are you all? Daniel Wise had two big games, and then you had the big one at Memphis.

“We compete every week. From Week 1, I know we had a bet on whoever gets the first sack and we didn’t get it ’til last weekend. So we compete every day, even in the offseason in everything. Me and Daniel go at it all the time, like no matter what type of day it is. We’re gonna go at it. I think that helps a lot with our chemistry and knowing how each other play.”

5. For you, having a goal of surpassing six sacks this season, what led to your slow start the first two weeks? Did your preseason leg injury play a factor?

“I’m not gonna make the injury no excuse. I came out playing slow. That’s just not how I play. But as the season keeps going I’ve just got to get myself back into the groove and know what I’ve gotta do to reach my goal.”

Jayhawk Pulse

Coming off the only bye week of the season, the Big 12 grind begins for Kansas with a nationally televised difficult road game — aren’t they all for the Jayhawks, losers of 39 straight away from Lawrence. KU’s players and coaches have had more than enough time to analyze and digest a rather disastrous trip to Memphis. The combination of desiring to bounce back and wanting to prove to the college football nation the program isn’t the laughingstock many consider it to be could be enough for the Jayhawks to keep things interesting early on. If KU can manage to play the role of the pesky underdog it would prove to all involved, including a suffering fan base, that better days might be ahead for Beaty, the second-year coach who enters the game 0-9 in Big 12 outings.