Head Coach Joey McGuire

• Go back to the game last week, how proud I am of those guys, things happening in that game that was frustration and fought against a good football team. had a great practice yesterday.
• Behren Morton is out; Ty Buchannan rolled up an ankle as well and is out.
• Trey Cleveland, Monroe Mills and Landon Peterson are all back.
• Ty got his first collegiate start, see how hard he’s working.
• Kansas team was bowl eligible last week. After we played last year, Lance Leipold reached out and he was good friends with Coach Rhule, he and I have texted a lot, sent him a text after they became bowl eligible and congratulated him. Pretty impressive what he’s done. Offensively they play 2 quarterbacks, both create plays with their feet, they don’t run them as much as true triple-option so that they are a threat. Bean has great speed, from Mansfield Lake Ridge, has legit track speed. Running back had 228 yards last week. Defensively they do a great job and aggressive up front and opportunistic. Good to be back at home and our guys are excited. Very proud of our guys how they responded yesterday. Game being 17-13 with 1:05 left in the 3rd quarter.
• With Tyler Shough and Donovan Smith, both of them split reps yesterday, wish I could tell you if 100% with either, it is a deal where we know how important this game is and we’re going to focus on being 1-0 this week, go through the week and split reps, they both know that. We expect both of them to play for different reasons. We really won’t have a starter until Thursday, whoever gives us the best chance to win.
• We’ve done that a couple of times, we’ve audibled during the game, once we get into it, it is frustrating, it is 20-17 and 3rd and 2 and I go back and think about being focused on 1st downs and I talked to Zach if we’re at the number when we feel good about it I want you to be aggressive on 3rd down, that was my call and we talked about it as a staff and if we punt and will tell you on the headset I second guessed myself, told myself to punt, felt we had a good play, I know what Donovan was doing, there was an option on the play, Tahj was in the flats and wish it was spit out to him, he would have been fast enough to score there. That’s on me, parts of the game, do you punt it, if you punt, we were elite at covering kicks and punts, except it was a touchdown, if you punt and give up a touchdown, everyone is pissed that we punted. At Texas, everyone is telling us we have intestinal fortitude, it is the nature. Kenny Perry and I had a conversation about the feel of the game, talked about the analytics don’t take into account the weather and how close is the game and how we’re playing, probably should have stuck with my gut there and changed my mind.
• We are in the process of, the staff goes above and beyond understanding officiating, only 2 head coaches were in attendance for meeting with officials, on bye week Harrison Hannah went to the review center to understand things. Every single week we turn in plays, to understand the officiating better. We turned it in and are waiting to get that back and will decide where we move on. Parts of that game were tough to deal with.
• Coming from where I was at, the level of recruiting for Kansas, Coach Perry went back and watched Baylor and the size of their offensive and defensive line and I think that one thing that has changed in college football, the previous coaches could not get to 85 scholarships, could never get a full roster, now with the transfer portal, you can get to 85 scholarships and that has made a big difference, same with Kansas and have done a good job of transfers that affect that program. lance is a program builder, did it at D-3 and Buffalo, a really good football coach.
• It is all situational football, continue with that and try to stick to messages we believe in and there are programs that have different messages each week. We don’t want to do that. Definitely something we talk about in our position meetings and throughout practice, try to find something at the end of practice and try to address that and get ready for the 4th quarter because this game will come down to that. Went to West Virginia and beat them, will be a 4th quarter game.
• It is going to be interesting, I think you could compare what Bill Snyder did, but Snyder did it for such a long period of time. I had a bunch of players on that 2008 Orange Bowl team, I saw what Mangino did and what 4 coaches after that did. Five years from now, it could be the 2nd biggest turnaround in college football, don’t see how K-State could not be the biggest turnaround.
• I had a great conversation with Reggie Pearson and told him the tough thing is that when you have a goal, I don’t have a Plan B until we have to have a Plan B. We were talking about this game and what we have to do to win this game, for me, I talked to our young guys yesterday, just how hard these guys are playing and the mentality of not giving up and the differnece of the effort and the next part is retain the guys we have, and recruiting that’s happening. Our staff meeting, this is the time of year when schools come in on guys that they missed or are just now evaluating, we have to stay in contact and have a really good class. There is a bright future, Behren and I were talking, guys that played in that game, Morton, Bradley, Jacoby Jackson, all played in the game, Tharp, all young, Cam’Ron Valdez. There are vets holding this together and young guys who are playing well at a high level.
• Road win is big, don’t talk about it too much because we keep the same routine, were not in the same routine this week, proud of our guys how they handled that situation. Part of building a championship program and have to win everywhere. This is the only conference I’ve been in and it is tough to win on the road, especially the ones I’ve been in and continue to learn and grow up. Have to finish out strong, the guys deserve that.
• Mentally take care of the football and get us in the right plays, first throw to X you can see the rust, continue to push him in practice, just have to let it rip, can’t be cautious, have to be smart, but have to have confidence in it. This is a big week to see where he’s at. Donovan is healthy, mentally there is no doubt he’s there.
• Cam’Ron Valdez, the nature of football, that’s who we thought he would be and I think Tahj and SaRodorick, they have a better feel of pass blocking, we stuck with those guys with blitz pick-up, he’ll play earlier this week and will paly all 3, he can get small and burst out, there were a couple like that. He’s a one-cut vertical guy. Really proud of him and good for him.
• Jerand Bradley, trying to get a feel, he’s not back or out, working through the process. A tough hit he took, when that happens, you have to be careful. Drew is really careful, the Big 12 does a great job. He didn’t practice ,he went through lifts. Have enough days to get back, would say he’s in concussion protocol, we have enough days to get him back. We’ll see.
• We have to get this one on Saturday. There’s no magic dust you just have to come to work. I’m trying to make sure they’re okay, Jesiah Pierre, he’s sitting in front of me, he comes back to me and he says we’re going to be okay coach. I guess I was wearing it on my face, we’re going to come out and play well and I keep challenging everyone in this building to look in the mirror and try to be the best version of yourself.
• We tried to leave earlier in the day than what was planned, but it was crazy and I know Southwest flew out when they said we couldn’t. We were on the plane and ready to go at 12:00 and we ended up flying into Meachum, our pilot said we could do that at 12:00 and flew into Meachum at 8:00. We went straight to dinner and get these guys into bed. After that wish we had a later kickoff.
• Watched a couple of movies, Rabbit woke up and had a 2 hour nap and asked why we were still on the plane and still in Lubbock. We were happy to get off the plane and go through a mobility stretch. Leaving at 9:00 am were were waiting on hotel, we were being told that if we could get there by this time then we could take off and we never did.
• We were probably close to 12 questions on officiating, making sure the definition of the rule and I’m reading it right. I don’t know if I’ve ever been in a game where I wasn’t frustrated, but what you want is to calm them down and this is what the rule is and to stay focused on what we can control.
• We don’t have the same video they have, they have TV and producer copies, we have the time of the game and and ask “is this a face mask” and we can add comments and we get it back and are waiting to get everything back with my boss. I watched it 3 times, graded it 2 times. We put it in late last night and will get it some time today or early tomorrow morning, they do a good job of getting it back quickly.

Each week I’m too spent to try to do the coordinators (30 minutes is enough non-transcripting), thankfully Red Raider Sports’ Justin Apodaca recaps the coordinators, Tim DeRuyter and Zach Kittley.