Texas Tech football: Loss to Kansas State is worst of Kingsbury era

The Texas Tech football team’s 21-6 loss to Kansas State on Saturday was arguably the worst loss of the Kingsbury era, which might be coming to an end very soon.

On a day that saw the wind chill in Manhattan, Kansas dip into the teens, the Texas Tech football team turned in its most uninspired performance in a game that it desperately needed to win.  The Red Raiders did not score a point after a 42-yard Clayton Hatfield field goal put them up 6-0 with 1:26 to play in the first quarter.

After the offense was able to move the ball effectively on its first two possessions of the game, Tech was unable to muster any life racking up just 181 total yards, the fewest in the Kingsbury era, and turning in the ball over three times in the second half.

Tech’s showed a stunning lack of urgency throughout the game playing with zero passion and almost as much discipline in limping towards its 4th-consecutive loss.  And a case can be made that this is the worst loss of the Kingsbury era, and there have been plenty to choose from.

Last year, Tech managed just 327 total yards in a 27-3 home loss to TCU and  336  yards in a 31-13 loss to Iowa State inside Jones Stadium.  But, TCU finished 11-3 and played for the Big 12 title and Iowa State was an 8-5 team and one of the surprise teams in the Big 12.

On the other hand, Kansas State team entered this game with a record of just 4-6 and still needs a road win at Iowa State next week to earn bowl eligibility.  This is the worst Bill Snyder team in a decade and yet, it had its way with a Texas Tech team that on paper, had a talent advantage at nearly every position.

Speaking of the Cyclones, they handed the Red Raiders another thumping in 2016.  In the 66-10 loss, also played on a bitterly cold midwestern day, but that game did not carry with it the same significance for the overall fate of the program that this game did.  Today, the players had to have known that their head coach is coaching for his job and yet they played like a team that wanted nothing more than to crawl back into the locker room and curl up beneath a cozy blanket.

Kingsbury’s most lopsided loss came in 2014 when his team was humiliated 82-27 by TCU in Ft. Worth.  But that too was a very good TCU team that went 12-1 on the year.

But what happened today in Manhattan is as inexcusable as it is incomprehensible.  Tech consistently allowed the worst third down offense in the Big 12 convert on third-and-long as the Wildcats covered 7-16 on third down.  That simply can’t happen when facing a team that entered the game converting just 37% of the time on third down and featuring the most impotent passing attack in the conference.

And throughout the game, Kingsbury simply paced the sideline, his hands in his pockets, a look of resignation on his face.  He didn’t coach like a man trying to save his job and his team did not play like a team trying to save its season.

Now, the Red Raiders must beat Baylor next week in Arlington to qualify for a bowl birth, which seemed like an inevitability just four weeks ago when a win over Kansas had the Red Raiders sitting at 5-2 on the season.  But if the way the Texas Tech football team played against Kansas State, it is fair to wonder if this team is even interested in playing any more football beyond next week.