Texas Tech held their weekly press conference yesterday and in addition to head coach Kliff Kingsbury was receiver Antoine Wesley and linebacker Jordyn Brooks. As far as the injury updates, Alan Bowman is officially out for this week. Kingsbury said that he would be overly cautious. With Dakota Allen, he’s day-to-day and they’ll make a decision late in the week and Ta’Zhawn Henry has two turf toes, which sounds terrible.

This is something that I’ve been thinking about and so I’m glad that someone asked it:

Q. The 2015 team had a similar situation, kind of a crossroads, 5-5 and finished out with two big wins against Kansas State and Texas and seemed like talking to those players they said they rallied, they recognized where they were at in the crossroads and that was the difference. What’s the team moral right now?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: I think really good. I think they understand three tough losses but they understand we’re more competitive than we’ve every been here, and we still have a long way to go in finishing and doing things right to make the plays necessary to actually win those big games, but I think moral is really high and they know what we can be when we play well.

Kingsbury was also asked about playing in Manhattan and playing well on the road:

Q. Coach, you talked about Manhattan earlier on, game day, what makes it tough for this team to win for this season and just in the years past? The passion they have there or what makes it so tough to win there?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: It’s a great home field advantage for them. They show up, they’re loud, the players feed off of it and you’re dealing with Coach Snyder who is a legend, makes great coaching decisions and has a tremendous staff. It’s a number of things.

Q. You guys went to Stillwater, won at TCU. We have heard this team has a road warrior mentality. Is there something different about this team on the road or how they come together?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: I think it’s a close-knit group, so when they’re on the road and it’s an us against everybody mentality, they thrive off that and play really well and come out with great intensity in the all the opposing stadiums we’ve been in, and hopefully that continues.

Kingsbury also discusses the play of receiver Antoine Wesley:

Q. Antoine Wesley, we ask you about him every week, it seems. He is a finalist for the Biletnikoff Award, and he’s a guy last year what had NFL receivers ahead of him, and he had the opportunity to take advantage of this year and crushed it. Do you think he sets a good example for other guys who have just someone above them that can take that opportunity?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: No question. He’s a guy who I think we only played him one game his freshman year and burned his redshirt, which is unfortunate. Last year had him out of position, moved him around inside, outside, he just kept working. He never complained, never pouted, just kept working. This spring had a good spring, got injured, instead of getting down and pouting, he kept working and has come back and had a monster year so he’s a great example for those guys about determination and perseverance.

Q. Going off Wesley and touching that receiving core, it seems like on some of these key and screens that, you know, they sent to the outside, how much of those, like, blocking aspects do they work on? Seems like these huge blocks give way to the awesome runs for these guys?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: They take a lot of pride in that. That’s one of the things I have noticed about this offense is they’re selfless. They don’t care who gets the credit; they’re playing hard for each other, and that gives them a chance. I’ve commended them this year on their effort, playing without the football.

And remember when Desmon Smith had that racemask that was totally away from the play on 3rd and 33 that gave Texas a critical first down down? Well . . .

Q. What can you do as a coach? That seems like it’s a recurring deal. What can you do as a coach to make sure on third and 33 a guy be doesn’t get a penalty on the other side of the field?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: I wish I could fine them, but we can’t do that. Playing time is something you have to threaten them with. We’ve got to be better. As a staff we’ve got to be better at playing with more discipline and not hurting our team.

And since Texas Tech is playing Kansas State, Kingsbury discusses what Billy Snyder has meant to the Big 12 and letters. The letters that Coach Snyder wrote to Kingsbury when he was a player and the letters that Kingsbury has written to players himself.

Q. Coach, I know you did mention this on Sunday but would you mind repeating again what Coach Bill Snyder has meant to the Big 12 Conference and to yourself, personally?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: A legend in the game, and for him to be in our conference and to be able to compete against him not only as a player but as a coach has been a complete honor for me in my career. He was always great to me, wrote me letter that really meant a lot to me after my sophomore year. I have always had a tremendous amount of respect for the way he does things, the amount of success he’s had, and the man he is.

He’s been a great part of college football for a long time and we’re very lucky to have him here in our conference.

Q. Kliff, you’ve gotten positive attention not for writing letters but just for commending players on opposing teams after games. Can you kind of detail a little bit why you want to do that?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: I think sometimes when you’re in it you’re a little bit close to the fire as a player to know how people view you from the outside. So anytime you get a chance to see those young men — it always meant a lot to me when opposing coaches would recognize what I was doing or thought that I played hard or did certain things well, so if I see players and I appreciate the way they are and the type of talent they are, I do my best to try to let them know that.