News and Notes leading up to this weekends matchup...

The Good Guys...

• Jake Sharp battles injury in attempt to continue to contribute.
• Everyone's a little puzzled when it comes to the Big12 North.
• Jayhawks land a commitment this week in St. Louis area linebacker Ed Fink.
• Kansas looks to refocus on the running game.
• Reesing and the Kansas offense fighting to get out of a rut.
• Opurum the Equalizer?
• Tech no pushover.
• Reesing retains his confidence.
• Kansas v Tech preview.
• Young secondary in for a serious test in Lubbock.
• A look at Jayhawk strength coach Chris Dawson.

Denver's Take...

Well I'm done guessing scores and outcomes as this season has gotten pretty crazy and it's hard to draw much from a team's performance week to week because it appears to have no bearing on the current week.

All I know is Tech is a winnable game but the Jayhawks are going to have to do something different than they have in recent weeks.  The Red Raiders will look to turn this in a shootout because quite honestly their defense has nearly as many concerns as the Jayhawks.

Kansas needs to avoid the early mistake and ensure themselves the chance to actually execute a gameplan for the first time in three weeks.  Problem with both CU and OU is that the moment you go down early with a defense that you don't have a lot of confidence in the tendency is to scrap whatever you wanted to do and try to go with your strengths.  Problem is those strengths haven't been as much of a slam dunk as we once thought.

Run the ball, keep the offense balanced and on defense avoid the big play.  Sorry Labba I'm with Bowen on this one.  Tech has a young quarterback and some inexperienced offensive lineman.  Let's give these guys a little room to work underneath and try and pressure the QB into mistakes.  This one for a variety of reason very likely could be the shootout you'd expect and the one who blinks first might just lose. 

Rock Chalk Jayhawks, let's get this train back on the tracks.

More Notes and Things to Look for After the Jump...

KU-TT SERIES -- Texas Tech leads the all-time series 10-1, including a 4-1 advantage in games played at Lubbock. The Red Raiders have won three straight in the series, including last season's 63-21 victory at
Lawrence. KU's lone win the series was a 34-31 double-overtime victory at Lubbock in 2001. The teams played four times (1965, 66, 69 and 70) before the formation of the Big 12 Conference in 1996.

KU-TT LAST YEAR -- No. 6 Texas Tech's offensive firepower was too much for No. 19 Kansas as the visiting Red Raiders posted a 63-21 victory at Lawrence on Oct. 25. Texas Tech scored touchdowns on nine
of its first 11 possessions, while stopping KU's 13-game home field winning streak. The teams were tied at 14 after the first quarter. However, the Red Raiders scored 49 unanswered points before KU scored a touchdown with 3:52 remaining in the game. Texas Tech ran up 556 total yards, while KU managed just 315, its fewest in the previous 27 games. KU turned the ball over five times on the day, including on three straight possessions to start the third quarter.

KU-TT LAST TIME AT LUBBOCK -- Texas Tech built up a 20-0 halftime lead en route to a 30-17 victory on Oct. 1, 2005 in the last meeting at Lubbock. The Red Raiders had 380 yards of total offense, while KU managed just 271. Jon Cornish ran for 111 yards for the Jayhawks, while Brian Luke threw for 109 yards and Adam Barmann threw for 45 more. KU fumbled six times, but only lost one in the game.

KU'S ONLY WIN IN THE SERIES WAS A THRILLER -- As mentioned earlier, KU's only win in the series was a 34-31 double-overtime victory at Lubbock on Oct. 6, 2001. The teams traded rushing touchdowns in the first overtime before KU's Johnny Beck nailed a 37-yard field goal on the first possession of the second overtime. KU LB Marcus Rogers intercepted B.J. Symons in the second overtime to seal the victory for the Jayhawks. KU trailed 24-13 before Beck hit a 44-yard field goal with 4:11 left in the game. KU forced a Red Raider punt and then drove 63 yards for a touchdown pass from Mario Kinsey to Termain Fulton with :21 left. The two-point conversion (a Reggie Duncan rush) sent the game into overtime. Duncan rushed for 227 yards for KU, which put up 310 rushing yards and 404 total. Texas Tech had 358 yards.

KU-TT CONNECTIONS -- KU Head Coach Mark Mangino and TT Head Coach Mike Leach were on the offensive staff at Oklahoma in 1999... Kansas boasts 35 players on its roster from the state of Texas.

THINGS TO LOOK FOR AGAINST TEXAS TECH

• WR Kerry Meier (1,958) needs just 42 receiving yards to become the fourth Jayhawk in school history to record 2,000 career receiving yards.
• Meier (16) needs one more touchdown catch to tie for second on the KU career touchdown receptions list.
• Meier has caught at least four passes in 10 straight games, at least two in 28 straight and at least one in 29 consecutive games.
• Reesing (9,782) needs 218 passing yards to become the fifth player in Big 12 history to record 10,000 career passing yards.
• WR Dezmon Briscoe (2,634) needs 189 receiving yards to break into the Big 12 top 10 for career receiving yards (Jordy Nelson of Kansas State had 2,822).
• Briscoe has caught at least four passes in 10 consecutive games and at least two in 25 straight games.
• Since missing his last two field goal attempts at UTEP, PK Jacob Branstetter has made six consecutive field goals.
• DB Ryan Murphy has been in on a turnover in two straight games and in three of the last four (two interceptions and a fumble recovery).

DID YOU KNOW? -- PK Jacob Branstetter's five longest field goals of his career have come in his last five attempts. Against Colorado he made a 37-yarder to establish a career long. That did not last long as later in that game he made 43 and 42-yarders. Last week against Oklahoma, he drilled a 39-yarder and then booted a 57-yarder. His previous long was a 34-yarder vs. Missouri in 2008.

DID YOU KNOW? -- LB Justin Springer made a career-high nine tackles against Oklahoma, while three freshmen - D.J. Beshears, Lubbock Smith and Huldon Tharp - were the next leading tacklers for KU with seven each.

YOUTHFUL DEFENSE -- In its last game against Oklahoma, the Jayhawk starting defense included four freshmen, one sophomore, three juniors and three seniors. The freshmen starters included DT John Williams (two season starts), LB Huldon Tharp (three starts), CB D.J. Beshears (one start) and FS Lubbock Smith (two starts).

DID YOU KNOW? -- The Kansas defense has just four players who have recorded 100 career tackles in SS Darrell Stuckey (256), FS Justin Thornton (202), CB Chris Harris (174) and LB Arist Wright (115).

DID YOU KNOW? -- Twenty different players have started on defense this season.