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Texas Tech football: Morton injured as Red Raiders fall to Kansas State again

By Matthew Conner

LUBBOCK, TEXAS - OCTOBER 14: Behren Morton #2 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders runs with the ball during the first half of the game against the Kansas State Wildcats at Jones AT&T Stadium on October 14, 2023 in Lubbock, Texas. (Photo by John E. Moore III/Getty Images)
LUBBOCK, TEXAS - OCTOBER 14: Behren Morton #2 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders runs with the ball during the first half of the game against the Kansas State Wildcats at Jones AT&T Stadium on October 14, 2023 in Lubbock, Texas. (Photo by John E. Moore III/Getty Images) /
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Oct 14, 2023; Lubbock, Texas, USA; Kansas State Wildcats running back DJ Giddens (31) rushes against Texas Tech Red Raiders defensive end Ben Roberts (13) in the first half at Jones AT&T Stadium and Cody Campbell Field. Mandatory Credit: Michael C. Johnson-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 14, 2023; Lubbock, Texas, USA; Kansas State Wildcats running back DJ Giddens (31) rushes against Texas Tech Red Raiders defensive end Ben Roberts (13) in the first half at Jones AT&T Stadium and Cody Campbell Field. Mandatory Credit: Michael C. Johnson-USA TODAY Sports /

KSU bullied the Red Raiders on both sides of the line

Every year, regardless of who the head coaches are or who is on each roster, Kansas State seems to bully Tech at the line of scrimmage.  I don’t know why that is other than the consistency that the Wildcats have had at the head coaching position.

Going from Bill Snyder to Chris Kleiman was like giving a white building a fresh coat of eggshell white paint.  Not much changed in regard to philosophy and methodology in Manhattan and Kleiman’s teams look a lot like Snyders always did.

It is a program that has had stars like Deuce Vaughn or Tyler Lockett but which has always been built upon physicality.  That’s why KSU was able to turn to their true freshman QB and still have success on Saturday night via the QB run game.

Meanwhile, Tech tried to finesse its way through this game even when Morton was lost.  Physicality almost always beats finesse in football and Kansas State is always more physical than Texas Tech.  KSU ran the ball 47 times and threw it just 18 times.  Tech ran it only 30 times and threw it 49 times.

Also, one team laid the wood on defense and knocked the opposition’s starting QB out of the game.  The other could hardly lay a finger on the opposing QB allowing a true freshman to run wild and smile his way to a record-setting performance for a freshman KSU QB in regard to touchdown rushes.

Until Tech gets better and more physical on both sides of the line of scrimmage, games like we saw on Saturday are going to continue to turn into losses.  For the last two weeks, Tech was able to bully two awful Big 12 teams but the roles were reversed on Saturday and a familiar script was followed in this series.

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