Texas Tech head coach Kliff Kingsbury, defensive end Eli Howard, and receiver Ja’Deion High were at this week’s press conference. The only two injury updates were on fullback Connor Killian, where Kingsbury said that he would be a game-time decision, and running back Tre King, who they are still working some things out.

The big focus was on quarterback Alan Bowman, who Kingsbury said would need pick himself up:

Q. What have you been working on with Alan to get him more comfortable in the offense?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: Yeah, just more experience, more reps. You can’t simulate those game reps. He’s a young player, had some growing pains on Saturday. I expect him to be better, learn from it and move forward.

Q. Have you noticed any players being vocal to help him out?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: No. I mean, at that position you’re kind of on your own. If you have a bad game, you have to get yourself back up and get back after it. I talked about it after the game. I didn’t have a good plan. We couldn’t run the ball. You don’t want to throw 60 times against that defense, that team. I put him in a bad spot all game. I thought he competed really hard. We just have to clean some things up moving forward.

And Kingsbury is asked about the outside receivers who can help Bowman.

Q. How much does it help Alan to have receivers on the outside that he can throw the ball up to, help his confidence and development as a player?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: Yeah, it’s huge. Those guys are a safety blanket. When he likes what he sees out there, he gives them a chance. They’re proving him right on a lot of those throws. We have to keep working as an offensive unit, be more consistent.

There’s a lot of young guys playing with us that have years left to play. Just have to keep getting better every week.

And Kingsbury has a lot of confidence in Bowman being able to bounce back:

Q. How do you think Alan handled mentally on Saturday when things were not going well?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: I thought he was really good. I watched a guy who is favored to be the MVP of the NFL go up there and have a really, really rough day, as well. It really came down to us as an offense not executing the game plan the way we wanted to. We got into a pass-heavy game, put a lot on his shoulders. They were giving different looks. Obviously he had a couple throws he’d like to have back.

He’s a kid who doesn’t blink. Got that ball back at the end, expected to win the game. It didn’t work out. He’ll come back and play better than he has is my expectation for him Saturday.

Kingsbury was asked about the running game:

Q. The difficulty that you had running the football on Saturday, given the experience of your offensive line has been one of your strengths, what does that say about them? What is your maybe disappointment level?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: I think if you look at what they’re doing defensively right now, they’re playing just at a really high level. We still needed to be better, there’s no question. But I got to give them a lot of credit. We tried different things, just weren’t able to get anything going at all.

Probably could have hammered it in there a few more times. Being in second-and-long, third-and-long, that was tough on Alan, tough on us. We were trying to get just balls in space in different ways, screens, some trick creation, bells and whistles to try to move the football.

I think it says more about their coaching staff and defensive players. You saw what they did a couple weeks before to West Virginia, shutting down their ground game as well. They’re playing at a high level, taking away the run.

/snip/

Q. When it comes to the running game, where is the running game right now with health of everyone?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: Not very good judging on our last game. That’s something we have to get going again. We’ve had moments where I thought it was pretty good. Last week was nonexistent. We’re not built to play that right now with a true freshman quarterback. We got to get better.

One of the topics discussed was those bullsh roughing the passer hits and if Kingsbury is concerned about the defensive players over-thinking things:

Q. Do you ever worry a little bit about guys trying to overthink tackling with the hits that have caused ejections?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: Yeah, I don’t think they overthink. You’re going to play, cut is loose. Some of those are pretty subjective. You just have to live with it. You want to coach it as well as you can, hit them below the shoulders, different techniques. When it’s moving that fast, they’re moving, you’re moving, things happen. We don’t want them to play soft or timid because of that.

Kingsbury was asked about what Kyler Murray does for the Sooners and how Lincoln Riley does it as an offensive coordinator:

Q. What about Kyler Murray makes him so dangerous?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: I mean, what doesn’t is the question. When you look at him, I watched him, I’ve said it from sophomore in high school on, never seen him have a bad game. Always poised, always in control. He can beat you from the pocket like a seasoned veteran, then if he gets out of the pocket, he can scramble, be the fastest player, quickest player on the field, extend plays, keep his eyes down the field, find guys down the field.

I don’t know how you stop him. Nobody has figured it out however many years it’s been since he’s been playing quarterback. He’s a talent.

Q. (Question about Lincoln Riley.)
KLIFF KINGSBURY: Just that he continues to adapt. He does a tremendous job adapting to his personnel. Lost a bunch of great players last year. These young guys stepping up are carrying the load. He’s putting those guys in position to be successful. Each week he game plans new wrinkles, things. He’s a tremendous offensive mind.

And Kingsbury was asked about what Ruffin McNeill has done defensively:

Q. What do you see differently on film of their defense since Ruffin took charge?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: It’s hard to say. There’s a small sample size. But I think at times they’ve been more I don’t want to say base, but just lining up and playing football, maybe not trying to disguise things as much, making sure guys know where to be, then just cutting them loose. They’re playing fast, they’re not thinking, they’re flying around.

I think, if anything, that’s what I would say has shown up, is them lining up saying we got really good players, we’re going to attack and play things we know how to play, play fast.

And what about playing a top 10 opponent at night at Jones AT&T Stadium:

Q. The opportunity obviously to play a night game at the Jones against a top 10 opponent, from your perspective?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: Yeah, just excited for our players, excited for our program, our student body, our fans, our alumni. What a great showcase. It will be rocking. We take a lot of pride in that home-field advantage. As a program, we need to put our best foot forward, have an awesome night in Jones Stadium. Be a great showcase for our entire community.

And to mix things up, I’ll take one quote from Howard and one from High. This is from Howard on the penalties:

Q. Is there a frustration level that ever grows when you have a couple penalties that don’t go your way?
ELI HOWARD: Absolutely. It takes a lot of momentum away, especially when it’s second-and-long or third-and-long, you get a roughing the passer, as I did. It takes a lot of momentum away. Iowa State went down to score a touchdown on that drive.

It’s something that needs to get cleaned up. We got to do a better job as players of trying to play more aware, more conscious, even though you know it’s full speed for everyone out there. It’s something that the defense needs to look at and try to get better at this week. I think we took a good step today in practice.

And from High on Bowman’s play:

Q. What were the biggest takeaways for you from Alan’s performance on Saturday?
JA’DEION HIGH: I guess we expected him to play at least there would be one game he came out that way. He’s still young. He had a lot to learn from. I think he took a lot of stuff from it, gained some experience from what he faced.

Q. Anything in particular you told him?
JA’DEION HIGH: I just told him to move on from it. I told him it was going to happen eventually. As a freshman, somebody is going to come out and get you at one point.