Tale of two halves, maybe? After what was a spirited second quarter, which saw Kansas go down by 21 points and pull 17 back from out of nowhere, to what eventually turned into a disappointing 42-17 loss to the No.9 Texas Tech Red Raiders…there is a lot to talk about.
Remember when a car much cooler than yours would pull up beside you at a stoplight and you felt the need to exert how your handmedown that you (and no one else) believed could take down any incoming challenge. All of a sudden, the light flips green and you quickly realize your older car (while putting up its best effort) was no match for your opposition, who, to be completely frank, wasn’t even aware there was a 100-yard sprint in the first place.
In order to summarize the 60 minutes that took place on Saturday, you can just imagine that.
There were a number of things to focus your attention on when asking what allowed Texas Tech to pull mightily away with a shutout 21-0 second half.
Yet the biggest stat of all, which properly tells the story of the second stanza, was the sheer number of times Kansas quarterback Jalon Daniels fell under immense pressure by an aggressive Texas Tech front.
When all was said and done, the Jayhawks had given up nine sacks for a total of 92 yards, and just one of those came after Daniels was benched for backup QB Cole Ballard.
Those nine sacks are the most since Leipold took the job ahead of the 2021 season.
Outside linebacker David Bailey amassed the most sacks on the day with three, followed by Romello Height (2), A.J. Holmes Jr. (2), Jacob Rodriguez (1), and Terrell Tilmon (1).
While dealing with pressure from every angle, Daniels kept his calm for the most part, with 228 yards and two touchdowns on 27-33 passing, with two touchdowns to follow suit. As an offense, Kansas was outpaced 505-319.
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