photo by: Mike Gunnoe/Special to the Journal-World

Kansas offensive lineman Hank Kelly waves the Kansas state flag before the game against Cincinnati at David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 27, 2025, in Lawrence.

Texas Tech has a lot on the line this week against Kansas, to the point that the Red Raiders’ head coach Joey McGuire said Saturday’s game will be “the biggest game that I’ve coached in since I’ve been at Texas Tech.”

Tech is even with BYU atop the Big 12 and at No. 9 in the AP Top 25 poll has attained its highest ranking since 2008. The Red Raiders are hosting their first home conference matchup this season looking to build on their impressive start, and it’s one with plenty of associated pageantry at Jones AT&T Stadium.

“We know it’s going to be loud,” KU center Bryce Foster said. “I think I literally just saw on their Twitter that it’s their homecoming, it’s sold out and it’s a blackout. And so we know the energy’s going to be there. People talk about home-field advantage, it is a real thing, but that energy’s also going to feed into us, and that’s something I’m excited for.”

For Tech to continue its early-season hot streak, the Red Raiders will have to make it past the Jayhawks, a group McGuire declared this week “should be 6-0.”

“They were dominating Missouri at Missouri,” McGuire said. “They are a really good football team. This quarterback is the real deal. The receiver, I think’s leading the Big 12 in yardage. They’ve got two legit tight ends.”

Jalon Daniels, Emmanuel Henderson Jr. and KU’s tight ends all chipped in as the Jayhawks improved to 4-2 — their actual record — at UCF last weekend, but the defense pushed KU across the line, improving dramatically from one half to the next and earning a pair of key fourth-down stops deep in the Jayhawks’ territory in the fourth quarter.

That was promising, but it also attested to an inconsistency that has hampered the Jayhawks in the early stages of the season.

“They’ve seen the good and the not-so-good and some of the things that have happened, and, along the way, that result in that,” KU coach Lance Leipold said, “and we continue to coach, and challenge our leadership and our guys to keep working on those things, and we need a great week of preparation to go down there with a chance to win.”

The Red Raiders garnered plenty of headlines throughout the offseason for the amount of money their boosters poured into assembling a high-caliber roster in the transfer portal. As Leipold said, their resources are top of the league, “and then there’s the rest of us.”

The investment has clearly paid off in the early stages of the season.

“I think they’re top three in every statistic imaginable right now in our conference, and in the top 10 nationally in a lot of things,” Leipold said. “That just says Coach McGuire’s got himself a really good football team.”

On defense, the Red Raiders are reaping the rewards of a late portal addition in defensive end David Bailey. He leads the nation in pressures, according to Pro Football Focus, and teammate Romello Height isn’t far behind; on the inside, nose guard Lee Hunter, formerly of UCF, joins tackle Skyler Gill-Howard.

“We’ve played a handful of pretty good D-lines and boxes so far, and so we’re just ready for our next challenge,” Foster said.

Backed up at the second level by the likes of linebacker Jacob Rodriguez, the Big 12’s preseason defensive player of the year, the unit has held opponents to 65.6 rushing yards per game (No. 3 in the nation), which will present a challenge for KU’s still-developing offensive line.

“These guys are exceptionally fast off the edge and their D-tackles are terrific, and the linebacking corps is outstanding, so the front six, seven, eight are terrific,” offensive coordinator Jim Zebrowski said.

Tech’s offense doesn’t have a lot of household names on a national level but has been so dynamic as to put nearly all of the Red Raiders’ games out of reach early, and to post 48.6 points per contest (which is second nationally). At the helm is quarterback Behren Morton, who has developed a lot since leading Tech to victory in Lawrence in 2023.

“Give him credit for who he is, not just because he’s a coach’s son, but he’s an excellent quarterback that’s gotten better along the way, battled through his share of injuries,” Leipold said.

He has completed nearly 70% of his passes with 12 touchdowns and three interceptions, throwing to a variety of targets led by Coy Eakin (24 catches, 341 yards, three touchdowns) and Caleb Douglas (18 for 340 and one score).

Running back J’Koby Williams, who splits carries with Cameron Dickey, is also a potent pass catcher out of the backfield. The pair has combined for 10 rushing touchdowns, more than KU has as a team.

“Up front, we got to get after them a little bit and win that battle,” KU defensive coordinator D.K. McDonald said. “Then we got to do a good job of covering. But they’re a really good team. They’re good on every level.”

It’ll be a steep test for the Jayhawks, in a venue where they have not won since 2001, but of course they’ve taken down top-10 opponents before under Leipold, including as recently as last year at BYU.

“It’ll be a heck of a challenge on a homecoming night there,” Leipold said. “But our guys have embraced that challenge, and a great opportunity for us to go out there and play well.”

No. 9 Texas Tech Red Raiders (5-0, 2-0 Big 12) vs. Kansas Jayhawks (4-2, 2-1 Big 12)

• Jones AT&T Stadium, Lubbock, Texas, 6:30 p.m.

• Broadcast: Fox

• Radio: Jayhawk Radio Network (in Lawrence, KLWN AM 1320 / K269GB FM 101.7 / KKSW FM 105.9)

• Betting line: Tech -14; over/under 59.5

• Series history: Tech leads 23-2

Keep an eye out

1. Slow start: KU’s defense looked lethargic and unsound in the early minutes of the UCF game, especially against the run. Leipold and McDonald spoke at halftime and apparently agreed that it was simply a result of poor execution — and then the Jayhawks came out after the break and looked like a different team. Leipold said that KU can’t start the same way and expect to beat the Red Raiders: “Winning’s tough enough, winning on the road’s even harder, winning against a top-10 team will be even more difficult. We’ve got to be able to start better.”

2. ‘The new TD’: Backup safety Jalen Dye played a key role in KU’s victory, and the defensive uptick, with a strip-sack that set up the Jayhawks for their go-ahead touchdown in the third quarter. The Jayhawks continue to get beaten up at the safety position, as Taylor Davis and Devin Dye both exited with injuries at UCF, which was why Jalen Dye was in so much in the first place. McDonald said he has taken advantage of his opportunity for playing time and said he could potentially be this year’s version of Davis, who stepped into a starting role unexpectedly in the second half of the 2024 season and proved his merits. It’s a bit different given that Dye is an established veteran, but early indications were positive against the Knights.

3. Opposition research: Foster, one of KU’s captains who has improved his level of play at center over the course of the year, always embraces the chance to take on high-level tackles. With a matchup against Hunter on the way, he’s sought out information on the former Knight from teammates who have faced him in the past, such as right guard Kobe Baynes, who went up against him in the 2023 KU-UCF game. That battle in the middle could go a long way toward determining what sorts of holes open up for Leshon Williams and Harry Stewart III.

Spotlight on…

Bangally Kamara: The Jayhawks get to have one of their best players at full strength for a full game this weekend, which is not something they have always experienced this year when it comes to Kamara. He missed one game due to injury and made an admirable effort to return the next week while playing through the pain. He later got ejected from another due to targeting and had to miss the first half of last week’s against UCF, and then the defense looked completely transformed when he returned. A full four quarters of Kamara will be a big boost as KU looks to combat Tech’s explosive offense.

Inside the numbers

92.3: Rodriguez’s Pro Football Focus grade, which is best at his position among linebackers who have played at least 20% of snaps.

5: Leipold’s total number of ranked wins while at KU, three of which came during the second half of the 2024 season.

4: Number of current power-conference quarterbacks who have thrown for at least 50 touchdowns at a single school, a group that includes both Daniels and Morton.

Prediction

Texas Tech wins 38-27. Daniels is playing at such a high level currently and will challenge the Tech defense — which is weaker in the secondary than up front — to a greater level than any quarterback the Red Raiders have faced thus far. With the possible exception of their 34-10 victory over Utah, which had a three-point margin in the fourth quarter, they really haven’t had to play a close game at all.

The question is whether KU’s defense can keep it close. The Jayhawks have certainly had their moments, but they’ve benefited from low-level opposing quarterback play in every game they won. Morton might be closer to Beau Pribula and Brendan Sorsby than to Tayven Jackson or Nicco Marchiol, and it helps that he has as good an array of weapons as anyone in the Big 12. Aided by their home crowd and the gravity of the matchup, the Red Raiders should pull this one off.