Texas Tech has had disappointing games this season, but none of them involved blowing a lead or being shut out in the second half.
That changed Saturday as the Red Raiders lost to the Kansas State Wildcats 25-24 at Jones AT&T Stadium in Lubbock.
The Red Raiders fell to 5-3 on the season, and the schedule does not get any easier with Oklahoma, Iowa State, Oklahoma State and Baylor left to play.
Kansas State got their first Big 12 win of the season and improve to 4-3 overall. The Wildcats have won the last six meetings versus the Red Raiders and 10 of the last 11.
Tech Starts Hot in the First Half
It took just two plays from scrimmage for Texas Tech to score on the very first drive: a pitch to senior wide receiver Kaylon Geiger for 30 yards, and a jet sweep by junior wide receiver Erik Ezukanma for 45 yards and a touchdown.
On the next kickoff, Tech junior linebacker Tyrique Matthews forced a fumble from Kansas State kick returner Malik Knowles to give the Red Raiders a short field.
Tech scored six plays later on a 23-yard drive to go up 14-0 just two minutes and 29 seconds into the game.
Kansas State sophomore running back Deuce Vaughn scored a rushing touchdown early in the second quarter after a 10-minute, 14-play, 78-yard drive.
Tech fired back with a 10-play drive that ended with junior running back SaRodorick Thompson’s second rushing touchdown of the game.
A field goal in the final seconds of the first half gave Texas Tech a 24-10 lead at halftime.
Tech Offense Falls Flat as Kansas State Comes Back
The last time Texas Tech was shut out in the second half was November 7, 2018, in a 21-6 loss to Kansas State.
The Wildcats brought that back as they held the Red Raiders to just 102 yards in the second half, including just 26 in the third quarter.
The comeback started when a Kansas State punt was allowed to roll all the way to the Tech 4-yard-line. On the next play, Thompson was tackled in the endzone for a Kansas State safety and two points.
Vaughn scored another rushing touchdown on the next drive to cut the Tech lead to five points.
Tech continued to stall on offense, but the defense was holding strong. Midway through the fourth quarter, Tech junior defensive end Tyree Wilson sacked Kansas State senior quarterback Skylar Thompson twice to force a 3rd and 34.
Tech senior Devin Drew was called for illegal hands to the face on that play, and Kansas State was gifted a first down.
Five plays later, they turned it into a touchdown. Vaughn got his third total touchdown of the game, this one on a reception, to give Kansas State their first lead of the game, 25-24.
Texas Tech had one last drive, but 10 plays later, they failed to convert a 4th and long, and the Red Raiders found a way to lose a game where they led for almost 54 minutes.
Comments About the Loss
Tech head coach Matt Wells said the Red Raiders played well defensively despite the loss.
“There’s times where it would’ve been nice to keep [the Tech defense] off the field a little bit and extend some of those drives on [Tech’s] offense, and we didn’t do it,” Wells said. “You got to play complementary football in games like that, and we’ve done it before. We didn’t do it in the second half.”
SaRodorick Thompson said the playcalling was not an issue, and he and the players just did not execute on offense in the second half.
He said he did not think momentum played a huge part in the loss, saying that Kansas State only scored one more time after the initial second-half touchdown, and it was in the middle of the fourth quarter.
Senior safety Eric Monroe said the defense just needs to focus on plays they did not execute properly and stick together as a unit.
SaRodorick Thompson said the offense needs to move on from this game because it was so uncharacteristic.
“I feel like, as an offense, we just got to let this one go,” SaRodorick Thompson said. “We can’t really dwell on this one too much ‘cause we know, that’s not us. Like, all year, going back to even the Houston game, we’ve been a second-half team, and we came out fast in the second half and outscored opponents in the second half [in previous games], and it’s just, this wasn’t us.”
Up Next
Texas Tech will try to bounce back against the No. 3 Oklahoma Sooners in Norman, Oklahoma, October 30 at 2:30 p.m., with TV coverage on ABC and radio coverage on the Texas Tech Sports Network.
Tech is one win away from punching a ticket to their first bowl game since 2017, but every team left on Tech’s schedule is either currently ranked or was at one point.
Quick Hits
- Vaughn was involved on all three of Kansas State’s touchdowns.
- In the first half, Skylar Thompson only had one incompletion on 15 attempts as he threw for 189 yards and a touchdown.
- Although he had a 45-yard rushing touchdown, Ezukanma had just one catch for three yards, his lowest receiving production since September 7, 2019, in a win against UTEP.
- Kansas State committed 12 penalties, while Texas Tech only committed five; however, three Tech penalties were in the fourth quarter.
- This is the first time Tech has been shut out in the second half at home since a 27-3 loss to TCU on November 18, 2017.
- Kansas State now has three straight wins in Lubbock for the first time in series history.
- With two touchdowns Saturday, SaRodorick Thompson has eight touchdowns this season, matching his total from last season.
Rankings from AP Poll on October 17, 2021
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