After yesterday’s 42-17 loss to the No. 7 Texas Tech Red Raiders, there is room left for lots of improvement, the biggest? Kansas’ rush defense.
Against the Jayhawks, sophomore running back Cameron Dickey rushed for 263 yards, the fifth-most yards in program history.
Things started off poorly as on Dickey’s first touch of the game, the Austin, Texas, native took it 71 yards to the house in what were the first points in what was a 21-0 opening run for the Red Raiders. On the day, Dickey had six rushes that went for 10+ yards and two massive touchdowns. The first was the aforementioned 71-yard gain, the second a 55-yard touchdown with the score very much in the balance, with a Texas Tech 28-17 advantage in the third quarter.
On the day, Dickey averaged 12.5 yards per carry on his 21 carries. As it stands, Texas Tech ranks 18th in the country in rushing yards per game, averaging 210.2. Against Kansas, the team rushed for 372 yards and compiled 505 total yards. ESPN later reported that it was Tech’s highest amount of rushing yards for a single player since 1996 (287).
What allowed for this onslaught?
Things have to be accounted for between both sides for the Red Raiders’ dominance. For one, Texas Tech is simply elite. Heading into Saturday, a fact we sprinkled in several times was how Tech had averaged a monster 568 yards per game. Admittedly, many thought the chunk of the yards would come from quarterback Behren Morton, but after his second-quarter injury, things had to shift, and they did without a hitch.
That being said, this is already the third time this season Kansas has given up 500 yards (Missouri: 595, Cincinnati: 603), all but proving this is no one-off, and the playcalling has to get better as West Virginia and UCF are the only two Power Conference games where Kansas hasn’t given up over 500 yards. The combined record between the Mountaineers and the Golden Knights? 5-7, with a 0-6 mark in conference play.
Kansas will now host its second and final bye week of the season, before the highly anticipated Sunflower Showdown is set to take place on October 25th.
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