Q&A: Get To Know Texas Tech and Coach Bro

Seth Jungman of Staking the Plains was kind enough to answer our questions this week. You can see my answers to his questions at his excellent Texas Tech website. Hope you guys enjoy!

1. Coach Kliff Kingsbury has a lot of similarities to OSU Head Coach Mike Gundy (offensive background, coaching at his alma mater, former quarterback). What are thoughts so far in year four of the Kingsbury era?

These last few games, except for the TCU game, have been rough for me personally. It seems as if there’s some regression in some key areas and the defense really doesn’t show improvement at all. Mahomes is falling into some old bad habits and that’s caused the offense to have significant lapses.

The problem is that we all want Kingsbury to succeed because, as you mention, he’s one of us and we really want nothing more than for him to succeed. For me, I need to see some improvement, tangible and consistent improvement and I don’t think Texas Tech is going to win this game, but it would be nice to see some consistency.

2. Coach Kingsbury talked about how he challenged the team after the loss to West Virginia and the team looks to have answered the call with a great win at TCU and close losses to OU and Texas. What have been the biggest improvements in the upturn in the 2nd half of the season?

It’s funny that you look at it that way as lots of fans, me included, that there hasn’t been a huge improvement the second half of the season other than the win on the road against TCU, that there’s been a lot of bad that’s gone along with the two closes losses to OU and UT.

The epically bad defense against OU and poor results for the defense again against UT (over 600 yards of offense and 400 yards rushing) plus an offense that becomes stagnant has led to an some frustrating results for each of those games.

If I had to guess as to the positive aspects, the team apparently amped up practice after that game, actually hitting rather than more walk-through stuff.

3. There seems to be a youth movement on the defensive side of the ball with Jordyn Brooks leading the team in tackles and Douglas Coleman’s incredible play last week against Texas. What would you say are the strengths of the unit and how the Cowboys would be best off attacking the defense?

Oh, jeez. Well, there really isn’t a spot that the Cowboys can’t attack. There’s really not strong point to the defense. Teams have run at will for most games and the same thing with the passing game.

There are bright spots, young bright spots, as you mentioned Brooks has played well as well as can be expected and Coleman has played well for two weeks in a row, the fumble return last week and he had an interception in TCU’s end zone the week before. Malik Jefferson has played well as of late and against TCU, Ondre Pipkins played well at nose tackle.

4. Coach Gundy compared Patrick Mahomes to Dallas Cowboy quarterback Dak Prescott — can you tell us more about Mahomes and what he brings to the table, and maybe what famous quarterback(s) he most compares with?

I think Prescott is as good a comparison as any. Mahomes isn’t really a runner, he’s mobile and a bit elusive, but he’s not fast like a lot of other quarterbacks.

Mahomes has a big arm and the problem recently is that he’s had trouble finding open receivers when teams drop seven or eight in coverage. It’s been a significant problem and it’s stalled the offense to the point where they won’t score for five straight possessions.

That’s not normal for this offense and Kingsbury and Mahomes have to figure it out because I can almost guarantee that Oklahoma State will attempt the same thing as Texas and TCU.

5. What matchup(s) interests you most heading into Saturday’s game?

I’m interested as all get-out in how OSU plays the game defensively against Texas Tech. Traditionally, OSU is a 4-3 defense, but if what’s given Texas Tech fits is a 3-3-5 and what worked particularly well for Texas in the second half was Malik Jefferson shadowing Mahomes for the entire second half.

It’s time for Kingsbury and Mahomes to figure this out and I hope it’s against the Cowboys, but I’m not betting on it.

6. Four years in, Coach Kingsbury is still nearly the youngest Power 5 coach (I believe just barely second to new conference peer Matt Campbell), does he seem to operate differently than more experienced coaches and do you have any interesting stories about you can share?

Maybe the most interesting thing is that the “coach bro” narrative is played out. Yes, he’s good looking and all of that, but he’s also a hard worker. His dad is a Marine, his mom passed away when he was in college.

He gets to the office at 4 a.m. and he doesn’t leave until late. His hobby is binging on Peaky Blinders and Narcos when he has the time in the offseason. The persona isn’t really what he actually is, which is a hard-working individual.

7. Texas Tech is 2nd in the nation at converting third downs (55.1 percent), to what do you attribute such great success?

It’s really be at the arm of Mahomes more than anything. There are times where he completes a pass on third down that most quarterbacks just can’t do. That percentage has fallen off as of late and the big reason for that has been opposing defenses.

Plus, Texas Tech has some terrific receivers, who have been his go-to for a lot of those opportunities. Jonathan Giles is terrific, Cameron Batson, Ian Sadler, Keke Coutee, Dylan Cantrell and Derrick Willies have been incredibly solid pass catchers.

8.  While things seem to have died down on the expansion front, what do you gather to be the general sentiment from Texas Tech fans on whether or not to expand and who they would like to add?