Texas Tech defensive coordinator Keith Patterson held his weekly press conference with the media on Tuesday to discuss the Red Raiders’ upcoming game against Kansas State and discussed last week’s contest against the Jayhawks.

Patterson had nothing but good things to say about Kansas State running back Deuce Vaughn and mentioned how he does a nice job coming out of the backfield and catching the football. He was asked about his approach to slowing Vaughn down in the passing game.

“You’ve got to make sure you’re smart in coverage but obviously it begins with the run though,” Patterson said. “You’ve got to stop the run just so they can’t keep you off balance with the run and pass. That’s the biggest key, then just being aware of where he’s located.”

“They’re smart with (Vaughn). They’ll go empty and line him up at multiple positions and run the jet sweep with him. You just have to know where he is because they have a nice little package of getting him the ball and getting people spread out sideline to sideline. It’s not just knowing where he is, you can know where he is but when he comes out of the backfield, the problem is now you’ve got to cover him. He’s explosive and quick, has a nice set of hands, and does a great job catching the ball out of the backfield.”

Patterson noted that one of the main issues with his defense the past few weeks has been consistency.

“There’s times when we execute and we look really good and there are times when we don’t execute at a high level and when you’re playing good teams it gets exposed,” he said. “I think that’s the biggest thing is just developing consistency and learning how to stack success and manage that through your preparation each week. Continue to do the things that you did well the week before and improve on that the next week.”

Patterson talked about how having new people on the field every week due to injuries forces coaches to adapt to the players who are available and mentioned this week will be no different. Patterson said knowing your opponent, your personnel, and having a foundation that allows you to be multiple, yet simple, to where you can execute, dictates how the coaches adapt the game plan in a given week.

“You can’t just totally revamp everything you do; injuries are a part of the game, so it’s got to be that next man up mentality, plug them in and let them go.”

With Tony Bradford and Troy Te’o out last week against Kansas, Patterson talked about how the defense was forced to play with two down linemen and four linebackers at times and thought they held up well.

Patterson said he thought Devin Drew played well in their absence, “probably one of his best performances.”

“He was semi going home, so I think he had a little extra juice in the tank and was fired up and played well,” Patterson said. “Big Cheetah (Jacob Morgenstern), I thought he played extremely well. We put him in a completely new position, and he stepped in there and was physical.”

Patterson summarized last weekend’s defensive performance as a group effort and said he thought they really played together well as a unit.

Patterson described Dadrion Taylor-Demerson as the ultimate competitor, having rushed for over 5,000 yards in high school as a running back and winning four state championships for Carl Albert High School in Oklahoma City. Demerson was also the leading rebounder on his high school basketball team at 5-foot 10-inches and won a state championship in hoops, as well as a 200-meter state champion in track and field.

“I think he (Demerson) has six state championships in his high school career, and I don’t care who you are, if you rush for over 5,000 yards that’s impressive,” Patterson said. “He’s the ultimate competitor, he’s fast, and I’ve told him honestly, your skill set it very similar to Tyrann Mathieu. (Demerson) may run a little bit better, he’s extremely fast but he has the same type of body and same type of skillset. He’s just a natural in a lot of ways.”

Outside of Vaughn, Patterson said the K-State offense starts with quarterback Skylar Thompson who’s the senior leader and makes their offense go. Patterson was also complementary of the top two Wildcat receivers, Malik Knowles and Phillip Brooks, referring to both guys as “good players” and mentioned Knowles as being a dangerous player in the return game. Patterson also said the Wildcats have three good sized tight ends that demand attention and their offensive line is a big and well-coached unit. Patterson noted the importance of raising the level of physicality early in this week's game and letting the offense know that “we’re here to play” and try to make them one dimensional.