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LAWRENCE, Kan. – Career days from multiple young Kansas players were not enough to overcome an early 20-point deficit, as the Jayhawks fell to Texas Tech, 30-20, Saturday afternoon inside Memorial Stadium.
 
Kansas (0-6, 0-3 Big 12) finished the day with 475 yards of total offense, highlighted by freshman quarterback Ryan Willis’ career day against a Texas Tech (5-2, 2-2 Big 12) team that averaged 52.7 points per game heading into today’s contest.
 
In just his second career start, Willis threw for 330 yards completing 35-of-50 pass attempts for two touchdowns, including a perfect 9-of-9 stretch for 79 yards in the third quarter. Both yards and completions were career-highs and his 35 completions tied for fifth all-time in the KU history books with David Jaynes, Sr. The only quarterback to complete more passes in a game was Todd Reesing (2006-09), who connected on 37 passes in a game on four different occasions.
 
Senior wide receiver Tre’ Parmalee turned in a career performance as well, hooking up with Willis on five different occasions for 84 yards and a touchdown. Parmalee’s previous career high in yardage came against South Dakota State earlier this season, where he racked up 82 receiving yards.
 
The Red Raider attack, led by quarterback Patrick Mahomes and running back DeAndre Washington, proved to be too much for Kansas as the duo generated 519 yards of total offense. Mahomes threw for 359 yards and one touchdown, while Washington ran for 160 yards, finding the end zone once.
 
The Jayhawk defense forced Mahomes to make plays all afternoon, as Kansas applied pressure from start to finish. KU defenders sacked Mahomes five times, four more than any other team the Red Raiders faced, and hurried him eight more, forcing him outside the pocket the majority of the day. Sophomore linebacker Joe Dineen, Jr., and junior safety Fish Smithson led the effort with 10 tackles each. Nine tackles-for-loss, an interception and a fumble recovery rounded out the rest of the defensive effort for the Jayhawks on the day.
 
The contest was eventful from the start, with Jayhawk senior running back De’Andre Mann breaking off a career-high 41 yard run on the second play from scrimmage. However, the opening drive for the Jayhawks halted after a missed 52-yard field goal from junior kicker Matthew Wyman. Conversely, Texas Tech’s opening drive ended abruptly with a Smithson interception, the first of his career, in the end zone on a 38-yard pass attempt from Mahomes.
 
Late in the first quarter, Dineen, stifled a surging offense with a third-down sack and forced the Red Raiders to their lowest first quarter point total, 3-0. TTU kicker Clayton Hatfield made a 30-yard strike with 43 seconds left in the first quarter.
 
The Texas Tech defense aided its offensive effort after forcing Kansas sophomore wide receiver Darious Crawley to fumble early in the second quarter. The Red Raiders took the ensuing possession and drove 60 yards in five plays, to the one-yard line. Washington muscled one into the end zone and a good two-point conversion left TTU with an 11-0 lead with 13:10 remaining in the first half.
 
Mahomes found wide receiver Cameron Batson for a 45-yard gain to start TTU’s next offensive possession. The No. 1 rated aerial attack in the FBS got the Red Raiders to KU’s own 12-yard line, but the Jayhawk defense held strong again, forcing another field goal, 14-0.  
 
After the Red Raiders scored on their last three possessions, the Kansas defense took the field tasked with stopping another TTU drive. Forcing a big fourth down, the defense came through and stuffed a rushing attempt from Mahomes on fourth and four, forcing a turnover on downs.
 
The inspired effort on the defensive side of the ball provided a spark for the Jayhawk offense. Taking advantage of their best starting field position of the day, Willis led the Jayhawks 56 yards down the field, their longest drive of the first half. However, sophomore kicker Nick Bartolotta could not connect on the 22-yard field goal attempt, leaving Kansas scoreless with 2:20 to play before halftime.
 
Texas Tech responded to the increased pressure with an 11-play touchdown drive capped off by another 45-yard pass from Mahomes, this time to wide receiver Reginald Davis. Freshman defensive tackle Daniel Wise blocked the extra point attempt, and the teams headed to the locker room with KU trailing 20-0 at the half.
 
Kansas opened its second half with Willis connecting on six-straight passes to pull Kansas within two possessions with 5:39 left in the third quarter. The 10-yard touchdown pass from Willis to Crawley capped off the 69-yard drive, but a missed extra point by Wyman kept the Jayhawks at six points.
 
The Red Raiders answered with a 14-play, 68 yard drive that concluded with Hatfield’s third field goal of the afternoon.
 
With Texas Tech threatening in their first offensive series of the fourth quarter, sophomore cornerback/wide receiver Derrick Neal came up huge with a forced fumble, which was returned by Smithson for what looked like a Jayhawk touchdown. A blocking penalty brought the ball back to the Texas Tech 33-yard line and after three rushing attempts from Mann, Kansas faced a tough fourth down decision. Willis let the ball fly and it found its way into the hands of Parmalee as he glided into the end-zone for the second touchdown of his career.
 
After forcing a quick three-and-out, the Jayhawks were back on the attack. It took less than three minutes for Kansas to record its third touchdown of the day, this time on a one-yard run from senior running back Taylor Cox. It was Cox’s fourth career touchdown and, after missing most of the last two seasons with an injury, his first since 2012.
 
With just under five minutes remaining in the game, Kansas again took the field on offense, trailing by only three points. On the third play of the drive, a pass from Willis was intercepted by Red Raider defensive back Jah’Shawn Johnson and returned for a touchdown.
 
On the ensuing possession, the Jayhawks converted one first down before the Red Raider defense forced the second turnover-on-downs of the day for Kansas. Texas Tech would not relinquish the ball again, running six plays to extinguish the remaining time left in the final quarter.  
 
Up Next: The Jayhawks will travel to Stillwater, Oklahoma, to face Big 12 foe Oklahoma State on Saturday, October 24. Kickoff is slated for 2:30 p.m., and the game will be televised live on Fox Sports 1.

QUOTES

Kansas head coach David Beaty 
Q. I know you want to see improvement each and every week and certainly to have a one-score game late in the fourth quarter has got to be a sign of improvement.
DAVID BEATY: Yeah. I mean it’s a sign of improvement, absolutely, but our expectations are to win games, and we put ourselves in position, once again, to be able to get the result we wanted, and we were not able to close it out.

But I’ll tell you this: There was some great things that I saw out there today that had not shown up to this point. That teamed average 52.7 points a game, and our defense played with unbelievable heart, courage. I thought they hustled to the ball well. I thought they tackled well. I thought our coaches did a great job with the game plan.

I mean Fish (Smithson), I think, was in on 10-plus tackles. We sacked him (Texas Tech quarterback Patrick Mahomes) five times. We had nine TFLs. There was some things, seven hurries. I mean we knew to be able to cause some problems with this team, we had to get to that quarterback, and that’s something I’ve got take my hat off to our staff with.

But you know, also take your hat off to Kliff (Kingsbury). This is his third year there, and he’s got a veteran group, and they were able to play smarter than we were. I think that was the difference.

Q. You mentioned the defensive line early in the week and how you were a little bit shorthanded and you need to cause pressure, yet they come out and they were a huge disrupting force today.
DAVID BEATY: Yeah, they were. You know, that was so good to see, and you know, you never know, man. You never know. Until when guys get their shot and they get their moment, what are you going to do with it. And that’s what we preach all the time, and right now we’re in one of those unique positions where nobody’s really stood out anywhere. So the competition is at an all-time high. So you’re going to get your opportunity, what are you going to do with it?

Q. Offensively Ryan Willis made some mistakes, but still showed that ability to kind of stay in the mix, stay in the pocket. Under a lot of pressure again today, how would you look at his game today?
DAVID BEATY: Well, you know, it’s going to be tough to say until I see the tape. I do know I was talking to our SID, he had 35 completions in this game, which is two short of a school record, which you know what, that’s some positive stuff for a young guy like that.

Once again, he made some mistakes again today. He was able to kind of sneak out of one of them. That was a big deal. Man, I just love the kid’s demeanor. I think our kids gravitate to him. I think they really appreciate the fact that he loves the game. He’s got a little connection going with Jeremiah Booker right now that you’ve got to like.

We had a bunch of penalties early in the game, and we settled down, but those penalties killed us early in the game. And we talk about being the smartest team in the conference, and when you’re not, it hurts you.

Q. I know you mentioned also earlier in the week you’re big on special teams. You had some punting woes last week, which seem to be resolved, and then the kicking game was very costly in this one.
DAVID BEATY: Absolutely. You’ve got 10 points there that you have an opportunity to put on the board, and if you do, you win the game. It’s a situation where it’s absolutely, unbelievably disappointing for our coaches, our players. And all those kids that were involved, man, those guys wanted to make those things just as much as anybody else. There was a technique flaw, and you know what, we don’t get to whine and complain. We’ve got go figure out how come we didn’t get it done, get it fixed and make sure it doesn’t happen again.

(Matthew) Wyman went in there, he missed a couple of opportunities kicking today, but I’ll tell you this, that dude averaged 42-point-something yards a punt. Man, that was as big a part of this game as anything else. Him coming in, he hadn’t punted before and he goes out there and averages 42 yards a punt.

Q. What was the biggest difference in the second half? You were able to put some points on the board and slow down their offense.
DAVID BEATY: Well, you know, I think one of the things that — I actually felt pretty good about what we were doing defensively that first half. So that was really something that was kind of giving us life a little bit. Our staff did a great job today, I thought, minimizing an offense that has created a lot of production, 776 yards last week. I think it was one of the highest in their school production.

So let me tell you something. I know how difficult that stuff is to stop. I mean I really do. And man, our guys, I am so proud of those boys, because that stuff is hard now. And I knew every play. I knew every one of them. I knew where they were going. And you can’t get anything in to help it. I mean you just can’t. And man, they do such a good job with what they do, but man, our guys played their tails off. They just kept playing.

Second half, I think, to answer your question, we went in at halftime, and those guys, we just talked about understanding what happened to us, lots of early penalties, which is something we’ve stressed from the first day we got here, how do we get better faster, be the smartest team in the country, smartest team in the conference. We were No. 1 in the conference, I believe, coming in. We still didn’t have a whole lot of penalties, but we had some early that stalled our drives; that hurts the momentum.

We go in there and we talk about special teams till we’re blue in the face because we know that’s a hidden third that we got to win. We win that one right there, we win this football game. We didn’t get it done, though. And once again, we’re going to keep working, keep turning over rocks until we find the combination to get it done. And we’re going to keep growing.

You know what, I love every one of them knuckleheads in there, them boys. They played their tails off for us, including the guys that didn’t put it through the uprights today. Man, Matt Wyman, I love that dude, man. He had a couple of tough things going today, but man, he really stood out big for us in the punt game, which is something that had been absent.

Q. When did you decide to give him a look at it?
DAVID BEATY: We looked at him last week, and he showed some promise, but he held the ball — I mean it didn’t even look like a punt. So we showed him how to do it, and I mean he’s got such a strong leg, if he can just get his foot on it. And he’s come a long way in a week. If you look at the video, you’ll see that ball kind of drops a little funky at times, but man, I like that kid. He’s a tough dude for a kicker, and I know he’s upset about today.

Q. (Patrick) Mahomes leads the conference in passing yards, but yet Ryan Willis had more completions on fewer attempts. Can you talk about the growth he showed from last week to this week?
DAVID BEATY: That’s a great question, and really, I haven’t even really gotten time to digest what happened today, but there was quite a bit of difference in this week than last week, really even more in the confidence. Last week it was more, man, he was like a kid having fun out there. This week he was having fun, but he was thinking, he was talking. He had a touchdown straight down that left sideline, and he had the same play previous and threw it to Kent (Taylor) and it hit defensive back in the back, and he came over and he goes, Coach, we’re going to get back to that and I promise you I’m not going to miss that throw. And he didn’t miss it. It was good.

I thought our offensive staff, we struggled offensively in the first half, and man, it was frustrating. It was frustrating for everybody involved, and for them to come in and compose themselves at halftime, climb back into that game, still had some missed opportunities, but climbed back into the game. We’re making some progress. We’re making some progress. Every one of us are incredibly disappointed right now because that game was there for the taking and we just didn’t get it done, and that really comes back on me. I’ve got to do a better job of preparing them in all areas. All areas.

Q. The defensive line is a little beat up, but they had their best game of the season today, can you talk about how impressed you were with that group?
DAVID BEATY: Very impressive. I thought that there was some guys that got some opportunity today, because other guys got injured. D.J. Williams went in there. Listen, we had Devon Williams went in there. There’s some guys in there that hadn’t played really hardly at all in there, and I thought they created some disruption. I think D.J. was in there one time when they had a penalty on one of their players.

Those guys, they created, man, when you do that, you give yourself a chance. We had seven hurries, five sacks, nine TFLs. That hadn’t been around. I thought we did a nice job really kind of throttling the running game that had been actually pretty good. They ran the ball pretty well, and our linebackers stepped up in there and made some plays on time to time. Teams like Kliff’s team, I’ve played with him before, played his offense before; and man, you can hold them, hold them, hold them. They’re going to get a couple of big run plays every now and then. They just happened to get one late. Unfortunately, we had the guy tackled; we just didn’t get him down. We can’t miss that tackle at that key moment.

Q. What did Kliff say to you after the game?
DAVID BEATY: Man, he’s just a dear friend. He said, you guys did a hell of a job. He said, you’re a hell of a coach. He said, keep going. You can see it.

Q. Were you able to work with Ryan on the sidelines to correct some of the mistakes he was making?
DAVID BEATY: Yeah, you know, the thing that I know about Ryan is he’s young. He’s a freshman. And I know that screaming at him and not teaching him would be a complete mistake. So when he comes off and he makes a mistake, the first thing I do is — and myself and Coach Likens is we start teaching. We talk about that teaching moment. You know, when we threw the interception and it looked like it was a pick six, I didn’t even realize that it was a situation where there were two flags there because he and I were already talking about, listen, in the future, let’s talk about that situation, what could you do better; what do you know you have to do with the ball if you do throw it away. It’s got to get past the sticks.

I mean we went through the checklist of things that you do in ball games to make sure that when you get down the road, you learn from it. So it’s been good. He’s a guy — and he takes that coaching — and you know, he was frustrated, I mean very frustrated, because he felt like he had some opportunities to help us win today; and he did. He did. He helped us, but he made some mistakes, but that kid will do nothing but get better.

Q. And what do you teach him about fumbling in the end zone?
DAVID BEATY: Well, first of all, you’ve got to take care of the ball down there. Pocket awareness, pocket presence, pocket awareness. Understanding where you’re at and then understanding kind of what they’re doing. If they are shifting their safeties a little bit and they’re not standing too high, most of the time you’re fixing to get some kind of pressure, so you have to know where are my quick throws at to help you kind of bail yourself out. And that’s something that comes with learning.

And he told me right after that, he was like, you know, I saw the safeties; I really should have kind of got rid of that ball a little bit quicker, but I kind of stopped him right there because there was some other things that went on during that play that kind of kept us from talking about it too much.

But hey, how about our guys kept playing. What about De’Andre Mann, picks it up, gets it out there, and we get an opportunity to extend the sticks. I mean that right there was some great growth for us as a team because in the past I think we probably would have stopped and just let them suckers recover it in the end zone. And they didn’t do it. Somehow they made a mistake, and we picked it up, got it out, and we got another down out of it, so that was a positive for us.

Q. We have asked a lot about your fourth-down decision making the last couple of weeks. And you always say you want to put our defense in a better position, that kind of thing. Is it also, hey, when we are equal talent wise and we get our numbers up and that kind of thing…
DAVID BEATY: Yeah, absolutely. You know, I mean there’s a lot of factors that go into when and why you go for it on fourth down. A couple of — not the least of which is how our defense is playing, you know, what type of momentum do they have, have they already gotten a little bit of confidence moving forward, have they done some things to stop them.

That was a high-powered offense now. So I felt like we had to score because they’ve averaged 52.7 points a game. I know Baylor did that, too. But I also know in that particular situation it was a 52-yard field goal. So that thing fell a little bit short which is kind of what happens sometimes when you’re kicking a 52-yarder, if you don’t hit it solid, it’ll fall short. But at that particular position, at that particular time when as I discussed it with our defense, you know, it was a deal where they felt good, hey, yeah, go ahead, Coach; let’s roll, instead of trying to pin them back down in there.

We had another one we were fourth and four down by the goal line, but we were 0 of 7 in our last three games on fourth down and short. So going into that situation you have to be smart about when you do it, how you do it, what play do you have and what kind of room do you have to be able to spread the ball out and things like that.

We went for it a few times on fourth down towards the end because we had to, where the score was, which hurts your numbers on fourth down sometimes, but I thought we did a little better job on third and fourth and short today, which we needed to definitely improve on. I thought we did some better things in that area. We challenged those guys this week in that regard.

Q. Are mistakes Ryan is making like fumbling in the end zone a sign of his age?
DAVID BEATY: A lot of it is. A lot of it’s youth. You know, a lot of it is youth, but I’ve seen older guys make mistakes like that, too. I think he was in — he’d try and make a play every now and then. And that’s a big thing for him. And we talked about it on the sideline, and I told him, again, and Coach Likens told him, it’s always, listen, we find the quarterback based on who can manage the game, not win it. Sometimes you’re going to win it by default, but you need to do a great job of managing the game. If you manage the game, you got plenty of talent around you to get the job done.

And that’s kind of one of the lessons that we learned today a little bit about that. We had a little stop route called and they rolled in to cover two, but we had a little two high beater on the other side. Had we just got off that stop route, that last interception wouldn’t have happened.

So that was a young mistake, where he thought he could get it in there, and really we should have probably went over to the two high beater side. So the answer was on the other side. He just got caught in the wrong spot.

Q. It looks like Ryan has no problem throwing the ball into tight spots and he has, can you talk about his arm?
DAVID BEATY: He does, man. I tell you what, he can flip that thing pretty quick now. He can flip it. He can make all the throws. There’s no doubt about that. And he’ll get better. He’ll continue to get better as he gets more chemistry with his players. We put a lot of receivers out there, man, a lot, because we’re trying to go fast and trying to utilize fresh guys. So he’ll get better.

Q. He seems to have a nice connection with Jeremiah Booker, how did that develop?
DAVID BEATY: Yeah, he does. He does. You know, I tell you what, (Jeremiah Booker) Book’s been a nice — he has been a really nice addition. We felt like that coming in because we’ve seen what he could do in the summer and things like that.

It’s just a shame that he got hurt early. But he got banged up a little bit again today, but man, he’s a tough dude. He went back in there — he wasn’t feeling great. He went back in there and continued to make plays for us.

It would have been nice for him to make that last one on fourth down there because I thought that was a really good throw by Ryan, really good throw. I know Book wishes he had that one book, for sure.

Q. Is that a product of Ryan’s confidence, too?
DAVID BEATY: Yeah, I definitely think that helps, you know. And then the other thing, guys, is, hey, man, six weeks ago, sometimes it didn’t even look like football. I mean it didn’t look like football. But we just stayed the course. We just continued to believe in what we were doing and we stayed the course.

Now, hey, it doesn’t look exactly like we want it, but we’re getting better every day. And you know what, that was just one challenge. I mean we got another one next week down in Stillwater that’s going to be a great challenge. So we ain’t got no time to lick our wounds, we’ve got to get ready to go against a great Cowboy team down there.

Q. What was the biggest difference in your team’s performance this week than past weeks?
DAVID BEATY: That they knew they could win, and they’ve known that the entire year, but they knew it; they played like it. They believed in it. The morning meeting this morning was different. It was different. And I like it. There was some intensity from coaches and players today, and they weren’t afraid of anything. They knew they could win. They had plenty of talent out there to win games. That’s not the problem. We got plenty to do it. We just have to play smarter, do what we’ve been coached to do and we’ll be okay. Future looks bright.

Q. What was it like seeing Taylor (Cox) back in the end zone with all the injuries he’s faced in his career?
DAVID BEATY: It was great, man. It was great to have him back in there. I know he was excited about that. He’s another guy, like I said, that has been a big spark plug for us as we move forward.

Like I told you, I love that kid, man. He’s got just such a great spirit. Those kids really gravitate to him. Did some good things today. We had running back committee today, a lot of those guys got a lot of carries. De’Andre Mann, he impressed me today. I thought that sucker ran hard, man; did some good things for us, some real good things. Defensively, man, I have to take my hat off to those guys, those dudes, they played their tails off against a really good unit, held them to 30 points. And really, they held them not to 30 points. They weren’t responsible for those. They were responsible for about 23 of them. They played their tails off. Really proud of them, really proud of them. Appreciate you guys.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

Kansas junior K Matthew Wyman
On how he felt about the 52-yard field goal attempt:
“Not good. I got under it with a bit of wind, but I just didn’t hit it cleanly.”
 
On the woes of the special teams in today’s game:
“I thought two out of three special teams were pretty good and thought I was pretty solid on kickoffs and punts but (Nick Bartolotta) ‘Lotta’ and I just didn’t have solid days on the field goals. You know it’s unfortunate when you lose by 10 (points) and leave 10 points on the field. It’s obviously not a good feeling, but we’ll bounce back and be fine.”
 
On the team’s feeling in the second half, rallying to make it a three-point deficit:
“It’s a good feeling because it’s something we haven’t really felt. It’s obviously exciting and we always like to feel like we’re in the game and that anything can happen.”
 
On if missing kicks is a mental thing:
“Completely, there’re a lot of things that can happen at the snap but I blame it on myself.  Those are just mental errors.  They can be contagious, but I think we have to be mentally strong and forget about. In order to be a good kicker, you have to bounce back.”
 
Kansas junior S Fish Smithson
On the progress the defense made this week:
“I feel like we made a big statement. This is what our coaches wanted us to do the entire season and I feel like we went out there and got it done for the most part. We stopped them when we needed to.”
 
On the team playing with a chip on its shoulders from last week’s performance:
“If anybody comes in and puts up 66 points (Baylor), that’s definitely tough to handle. We’ve had a chip on our shoulder all week and we wanted to go out there and improve on that.”
 
On his fumble return to set up a score:
“I was just running to the ball and doing what I was supposed to do and all of my teammates were doing their jobs. I was doing my job, running to the ball and I just picked it up. I thought I had a touchdown but it was a great thing that Tre’ (Parmalee) got in the end zone on that second play, so that I was great for us.”
 
On the positive vibe the team had before the game:
“The coaches gave us great motivational speeches and I believe a lot of players stood up and did some talking last night. Coming into today we were really focused.”
 
Kansas sophomore WR Darious Crawley
On his touchdown today:
“It was a good look from Ryan (Willis). We were running a different play at first but he saw that the defensive back was about seven yards off the line of scrimmage, so he called that play to me. I had to fight to get into the end zone. As I was fighting to get into the end zone, I thought about all of the summer workouts I fought through and that gave me motivation to keep going. I saw the one-yard line and I told myself I couldn’t go down right here, I have to get into the end zone.”
 
On blocking as a wide receiver:
“I received a big block from Tre’ (Parmalee) on my way to the end zone. Even though we aren’t the biggest guys on thee field, we go hard at practice every day to ensure that we will win our blocks when it’s game time. Our focus is to make sure that the defensive backs don’t get outside of us to make the tackle. It’s something we work on often.”
 
On freshman QB Ryan Willis:
“I’ve seen nothing but improvement from him. He has built up a lot of confidence and that is good because he is a true freshman. To see him improve day-to-day is great and our relationship is building as well. He’s been great.”
 
On Willis being able to navigate out of trouble and how he can help him:
“It keeps me on my toes. If he can get out of trouble, I’m going to try my best to get into his vision so we can continue to move the fall and put points on the board.”
 
On positives from this game that will carry over to future games:
“There are plenty of positives to take away from today’s game. Our defense played a great game, but we left a few opportunities on the field offensively. We are going to build from both the negative and positive plays we had and prepare for next week. Hopefully we will come out on top.”
 
Kansas senior RB De’Andre Mann
On receiving the majority of the carries in the backfield today:
“(Running backs) Coach (Reggie) Mitchell told me that I was going to be starting today, so I embraced the opportunity and got ready to go.”
 
On his production today:
“The offensive line provided some good lanes for me today and I just ran the ball. I’ve been running since I was a kid so it comes easy to me.”
 
On his ability to make people miss in the open field:
“I’ve got a little wiggle to my game.”
 
On battling through injures this season:
“I’ve experienced many things in life so nothing is tough to me anymore. I appreciate everything I’ve got and I was just happy to be out there this week.”
 
On freshman QB Ryan Willis:
“We don’t call Ryan (Willis) a freshman anymore. He is such a composed guy. He just needs to continue working hard, stay focused and continue becoming a leader. He doesn’t get rattled in the pocket and that is a good thing.”

Texas Tech head coach Kliff Kingsbury
On the overall assessment of Texas Tech’s play today:
“I’m proud of the defense. I thought they kept bailing us out. Offensively, that’s all on me as a coach, not having them ready to go. Guys got nervous and really we all choked on that side of the ball; drops and penalties and fumbles, not interested in playing hard. They outplayed us and they outcoached us on that side of the ball. But I’m really proud of the defense stepping up and winning that game.”
 
On sophomore quarterback Patrick Mahomes II’s number of sacks (5) and holding the ball too long:
“That’s what he does, as you’ve watched him play. When we lose offensive lineman Le’Raven Clark we just fall apart which, as coaches, we have got to get better at and as players we’ve got to get better (at). He was playing like he always plays. Their ‘D’ line got after us, our offensive line played terribly. We were lucky to win the game.”
 
On getting off to a slow start at the beginning of the game and again after halftime:
“It was just poor coaching. I did a bad job this week of getting them ready to go. The environment; the 11 a.m., kickoff. I thought I had a good plan in place, but I obviously didn’t, so that’s on me.”
 
On how senior running back Deandre Washington’s (21) consistency and how it helped Texas Tech offensively:
“He closed the game. We weren’t getting any movement; we weren’t blocking anybody, so he did a lot of that on his own. He’s the only guy really on the offense that I thought had a good look in his head. Everybody else got nervous, tightened up, and tried to choke it off.”
 
On the defense’s ability to create turnovers:
“That was everything. Just the fight they had. We continuously put the defense in bad positions, they just kept fighting. That was a big step in the right direction. I thought our ‘D’ line really competed well; we played a bunch of snaps and hung in there.”
 
Texas Tech senior RB DeAndre Washington
On his thoughts overall about today’s victory:
“The defense did a great job, they made the plays that they were supposed to make, but the offense just didn’t come to play today.”

On why he thought the offense struggled today:
“We just didn’t come to play, that’s all it was.”
 
On if he tried to step up and lead by example in the fourth quarter:
“At that point, we’d put ourselves in a bad position, so I was doing whatever I could to come out of here with a win.”

Texas Tech senior LB Micah Awe
On the offense’s struggles and the defense stepping up:
“We had to play our side of the ball. We trust the offense honestly; we have the best offense in the country I still think. So when we’re out there we just have to stop them, that’s the name of the game.”

On the team’s defensive stops made in the fourth quarter:
“We’re supposed to do that. Honestly, that’s our job so is it a surprise? Maybe not, but at the same time we are a team. When the offense is down, we have to pick them up. When the defense is down, the offense has to pick (us) up. It’s a team deal and I think we had a good team win and we learned from it.”
 
On how defensive coordinator David Gibbs’ philosophy has impacted the team this year:
“The number one thing is ‘don’t panic.’ The offense wasn’t scoring but we weren’t worried,  we knew that they were going to score eventually. Every down that we’re out there, we just had to keep tackling and tackling and eventually the opposing offense will throw us the ball and they did. It’s a trust game. When I’m out there, I have to trust 10 other guys and then trust 11 guys on offense. You just have to do your job because the moment you try to do too much, you make more mistakes and that’s how you lose games.”

Texas Tech senior DL Branden Jackson                                                            
On the defense stepping up late:
“A lot of the time offense is the focal point of this team, they make so many explosive plays. It just feels good to get out of here with a win and know that the defense had an impact on that.”

On fumble in the end zone:
“I got a hold of the ball first then Breiden (Fehoko) was coming in, it’s kind of hard to slow down that 300-pound body down. He dove on me, stripped the ball from me, then Kansas was then able to get on it and make a play.”
 
On his frustration of not recovering the ball and his thoughts afterward:
“Just always get to the sideline or the next play and clear it from your mind. I told myself to calm down and go on to the next play. That kind of gets me going, I clear it and then (go on to the) next play.”
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