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A week after Texas Tech set a school record for total yards in a game, they came out and looked absolutely sluggish and sloppy. If you look purely at the box score it looks like the Red Raiders had a pretty good day, but if you watched the game you would know that the offense who took the field Saturday against Kansas was not the same offense we've seen this season.
Overall Grade: C
The Red Raiders had 359 yards through the air and 217 yards on the ground. As I mentioned above, if you looked purely at those stats you would assume that Texas Tech had a good game but that isn't the truth. There were overthrows, indecisiveness, dropped passes, penalties, and sacks.
Quarterback Grade: C-
Last week I mentioned that Patrick Mahomes looked like he was on fire straight out of NBA Jam. If I were to use that same reference now, it looked like he was throwing up 40-foot three pointers and not even hitting the backboard this past Saturday against the Jayhawks. We've come to know Mahomes as a play maker who extends the play and comes up big in clutch situations. This past Saturday Mahomes looked rattled and indecisive. He was overthrowing receivers on passes in which he's usually money on and also waited around in the pocket which led to him getting sacked multiple times. Last week Mahomes eluded Iowa State defenders and then threw a bomb for a TD. Against the Jayhawks there was a very similar situation but instead of a TD, Mahomes threw an interception in the endzone. Mahomes will be looking to bounce back against Oklahoma which will probably be hyped up as "Mahomes vs Mayfield" heading into the weekend.
Running Back Grade: B
As a team the Red Raiders ran for 217 yards with DeAndre Washington having 152 of those yards. Washington was just about the only Texas Tech running back to have any success running the ball. Justin Stockton carried the ball 5 times for a measly 17 yards. Mahomes also ran the ball 13 times but only had 29 yards on the ground. The team averaged 5 yards a carry on the ground which isn't bad, but in the previous week they averaged 8.4 yards a carry and even against a dangerous defense like Baylor they averaged 4.4 per run. The Jayhawks defense is absolutely not on par with Baylor which is why I see the 5 yards a carry as a bit of a disappointment.
Wide Receiver Grade: C
The drops showed back up against Kansas. The Texas Tech wide receivers have had a roller coaster year when it comes to drops. They'll go one week and have maybe 1 drop and then have 4 or 5 the next. The receivers and Mahomes didn't seem to be on the same page either, I'm sure not all the overthrows were purely his fault and some could be accredited to route running. Zach Austin led the way in catches and yards, ending the game with 8 catches for 80 yards. Reginald Davis also had a big play, hauling in a 45 yard TD pass on a go-route.
Offensive Line Grade: C-
The offensive line once again had some senseless penalties, especially with Jared Kaster picking up a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. Going into the game against Kansas the offensive line had only surrendered 2 sacks all year. I'm not exactly sure when those two sacks happened because I truly don't remember any sacks happening but apparently two occurred before the Kansas game. But as you can see, the offensive line had been pretty solid all year against some good defenses. Then somehow, the offensive line gave up 5 sacks against a defense who is now 0-6. Once La'Raven Clark went down with an injury the offensive line seemed to unravel. We'll know more regarding Clark's injury when Kliff and company hold the Monday presser.