Preview: Red Raiders return home to host Kansas

LUBBOCK, Texas – Texas Tech returns home this Saturday to face Kansas for its second-to-last game of the season at Jones AT&T Stadium. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m. with broadcast coverage provided by Big 12 Now on ESPN+.

Courtney Lyle will have the play-by-play duties alongside analyst Ryan Leaf while Tori Perry will be reporting from the sideline. The stream can be accessed from any desktop or laptop computer, any personal cellular device and television streaming services using the ESPN app. Registration for the subscription service can be found at ESPNPlus.com.

Texas Tech Sports Network will also broadcast the game over 46 affiliates throughout the state of Texas and New Mexico as Brian Jensen will have the call alongside analyst John Harris and sideline reporter Chris Level. The radio broadcast can also be heard on SiriusXM channel 158 or 200, as well as on the Varsity app.

WE'RE IN THE HOME STRETCH

Kansas represents the first of two home games to close out the 2022 regular season schedule. The Red Raiders, who will make a trip to Iowa State in between home games with Kansas and Oklahoma, will close the regular season with two of their final three games at home for the fourth-consecutive season. Texas Tech was able to win two of its final three games in 2020 when Tech edged both Baylor and Kansas and narrowly fell at No. 23 Oklahoma State.
With a win on Saturday, the Red Raiders can ensure one of their best seasons at home in recent memory as Texas Tech is 4-1 at Jones AT&T Stadium entering this weekend. Texas Tech, which closes the season with two of its last three games at home, has not secured five or more home wins since the 2009 season when the Red Raiders finished 6-1 in front of their own fans.
The Red Raiders have historically dominated the series with the Jayhawks as Texas Tech is 21-2 all-time versus Kansas, which includes a 41-14 rout in Lawrence a year ago.

ONE OF THE TOUGHEST SCHEDULES IN AMERICA

Texas Tech has arguably faced one of the most challenging schedules in college football this season as TCU represented the Red Raiders' sixth ranked opponent already through nine games. The Red Raiders are now 2-4 against ranked opponents and 0-2 against Top 10 opponents this season. Tech earned wins over then-No. 25 Houston and No. 22/19 Texas and have losses in all four road trips to No. 16/12 N.C. State, No. 25 Kansas State and No. 7 Oklahoma State and No. 7 TCU.
Texas Tech is one of only two schools thus far this season to face at least six teams ranked in the top 25 of the Associated Press poll at the time of the game, joining Tennessee.

RED RAIDERS LOOK TO CONTINUE DOMINANCE IN KANSAS SERIES

Texas Tech and Kansas will meet for the 24th time in school history Saturday in a series that has historically been dominated by the Red Raiders. Tech is 21-2 all-time against the Jayhawks with wins in 14 of the past 15 meetings.
Kansas snapped a 12-game losing streak to the Red Raiders in Texas Tech's visit to Lawrence in 2019 as the Jayhawks rallied from 13-points down to kick a game-winning field goal at the end of regulation. The win was Kansas' first all-time at home over the Red Raiders as Texas Tech was previously 10-0 in Lawrence.
Kansas' only other win in the series spoiled Homecoming for the Red Raiders in 2001 as the Jayhawks used overtime to shock the Jones AT&T Stadium crowd behind a 34-31 victory. It is one of two overtime games all-time in the series as the Red Raiders used double overtime en route to a 41-34 victory in 2012.
Over the course of its 12-game winning streak over the Jayhawks, Texas Tech won 10 of those games by a double-digit margin. In fact, the Red Raiders averaged 22.5 points per victory during the winning streak over the Jayhawks, which ran from 2004-18.
The Red Raiders have scored at least 30 points in all but two of the 19 previous meetings during the Big 12 era. The lone exceptions came in a 17-7 victory at home in 1997 and then a 16-13 victory to conclude the 2020 campaign.
This will be only the third time in the history of the series that Texas Tech and Kansas have met in the month of November or later. The two schools have faced each other once in November, which came in a 41-34 double-overtime victory for the Red Raiders at home. Kansas' last visit to Lubbock came on Dec. 5, 2020, which ended in a 16-13 victory by the Red Raiders.
The two schools have met four times outside the Big 12, which came in home-and-home series in 1965-66 and 1969-70. The 1965 game served as the first contest in college football history to utilize instant replay technology.

TEXAS TECH, KANSAS CONNECTIONS

Texas Tech wide receivers coach Emmett Jones will see several familiar faces on the opposite sideline this weekend as he spent the previous three seasons in a similar role with the Jayhawks. Kansas represents one of two collegiate stops for Jones, who was originally on the Texas Tech staff from 2015-18 before moving to Lawrence. Graduate assistant coach Trent Vasey was also a GA for the Jayhawks a year ago.
Texas Tech associate head coach and special teams coordinator Kenny Perry spent four seasons in Lawrence as he was the co-defensive coordinator and cornerbacks coach for Kansas from 2015-16 before moving to be the special teams coordinator and recruiting coordinator from 2017-18.
Texas Tech head strength and conditioning coach Lance Barilow also spent a year at Kansas as an associate director of strength and conditioning. Barilow departed Kansas following the 2020 season to take a similar role with Baylor.
Texas Tech sophomore wide receiver Jordan Brown was previously on the Kansas roster prior to transferring to Texas Tech this past January. Brown saw action in two games during his time as a Jayhawk, which came during his 2020 true freshman season against Oklahoma State and Iowa State. He caught one pass for four yards against the Cyclones.
Texas Tech does not have any Kansas natives on its roster but does have four players who played in the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference in senior offensive lineman Ethan Carde (Coffeyville C.C.), sophomore offensive lineman Matt Keeler (Coffeyville C.C.), junior linebacker Krishon Merriweather (Garden City C.C.), sophomore running back Xavier White (Dodge City C.C.).

NEWS & NOTES HEADING INTO KANSAS

Texas Tech will look to win at least two of its final three games to become bowl eligible for the second-consecutive season and the 40th time in school history. Texas Tech is looking to return to a bowl in back-to-back seasons for the first time since the 2012-13 campaigns.
Texas Tech entered the month of November at 4-4 overall for the first time since 2017 and the sixth time during the Big 12 era. In the previous five occurrences, the Red Raiders have won at least two games in November to reach bowl eligibility four times (1997, 1999, 2010, 2017) with the lone exception coming in 2016.
The Baylor loss snapped Texas Tech's previously perfect 4-0 record at home this season. A victory over either Kansas or Oklahoma over the month of November would mark the Red Raiders' most home victories in a season since Texas Tech finished 6-1 inside the friendly confines of Jones AT&T Stadium in 2009.
The loss to Oklahoma State snapped a streak of six-consecutive wins for the Red Raiders when scoring at least 30 points that dated back to early in the 2021 season. Texas Tech is 3-1 in such games this season after its victory over West Virginia.
Texas Tech has had 40 different players start a game this season, which currently ranks tied for seventh nationally in the FBS and third among power-five schools. The Red Raiders are tied with the likes of Arkansas State, Kentucky and Hawaii as New Mexico leads the FBS with 48 different starters already this season.
With three regular-season games remaining, Texas Tech has only had one true freshman play more than four games thus far in defensive lineman Joseph Adedire. He has appeared in eight of nine games thus far, recording nine tackles defensively, including 1.5 for a loss. Fellow true freshman Bryson Donnell has played in three games to this point as well, one shy of the maximum to protect redshirt status under NCAA rules.

WILSON TURNING IN ALL-AMERICA YEAR

Tyree Wilson is turning in an All-American type season for the Red Raiders this season as he enters this weekend with 14.0 tackles for loss and 7.0 sacks despite often being the primary target for opposing blocking schemes. Wilson had 2.5 tackles for loss in the TCU game alone as he currently leads the Big 12 and ranks fifth in the FBS for most tackles for loss per game (1.6).
Wilson enters this weekend as one of three power-five players to rank in the top 10 of the FBS for tackles for loss per game as well as the top 20 for sacks per game where he is currently 18th in the FBS.

PLENTY OF EXCITEMENT FOR MCGUIRE ERA

Through five home games, Texas Tech has been at 97.0 percent of its capacity, which ranks 23rd in the country and fourth in the Big 12 Conference. The Red Raiders are averaging 58,661 fans per game, which is also the third-highest total currently in the Big 12.
The excitement over Joey McGuire's hire has been felt across Texas Tech Athletics since last November as the athletics department saw significant increases in ticket sales heading into the season opener. Texas Tech boasts more than 7,000 new season ticket holders this year, pushing its total to more than 28,000, which ranks in the top 10 all-time in school history.
Texas Tech announced a sellout for its win over Texas as 60,975 fans enjoyed the Red Raiders' victory over their in-state rival. That attendance number marked the fourth-highest in Jones AT&T Stadium history and its highest all-time in the series versus Texas. It was the first sellout for Texas Tech since doing so in back-to-back weeks late in the 2018 season against Oklahoma and Texas. Texas Tech recorded its second sellout of the season against Baylor as 60,705 fans packed Jones AT&T Stadium.

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Preview: Red Raiders return home to host Kansas

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