As the Texas Tech football team’s matchup with Kansas State draws near, let’s look at where the Wildcats rank in the Big 12 in some critical statistical categories.
There was a time when the Texas Tech football team owned Kansas State. In fact, up until 2009, the Red Raiders led the all-time series 8-3.
But as is the case with most of the series against Big 12 programs these days, this series has gotten away from Tech. That’s because, since 2011, the Wildcats are 8-1 versus the Red Raiders.
Currently, KSU owns a four-game winning streak in this conference rivalry. And it’s been a rather frustrating run of futility for Tech fans during that time given that all four of those games could have gone the way of our team.
In fact, three of the four games were decided by seven points or less. Meanwhile, the fourth, 2018’s 21-6 KSU win in Manhattan, was up for grabs well into the fourth quarter until the Cats pulled away.
In that game, Tech’s starting QB, Jett Duffey, had to play most of the game on a bum knee limiting his ability to move in the pocket as well as his ability to get any velocity on the football. As a result, Tech totaled just 181 yards for the game.
Speaking of the QB position, this game will be the second-straight in which Red Raider QB Alan Bowman will be facing a Big 12 opponent for the first time in his career. But for his first meeting with Kansas State to be a victory, he will have to stop turning the football over.
Dating back to his final two games of last season, Bowman has now been picked off in four consecutive games. What’s more, in six of his last seven games against Power 5 programs, he’s been picked off at least once.
It will be an interesting QB battle this weekend. Bowman leads the Big 12 in total yards from scrimmage with 391 per game while KSU quarterback Skyler Thompson is fourth in the league with 305.
What’s made Thompson’s start so interesting is the fact that he’s not had to rely on his legs as heavily as he has in the past. In fact, so far this year, he’s run for a total of just 17 yards. That’s surprising for a player who averaged 31.1 yards per game on the ground last season.
But Thompson’s early-season performance isn’t the only surprising aspect of the Kansas State football team’s start to 2020. So let’s go inside the numbers to examine how this year’s KSU team is playing to begin the seasonb.