Takeaways: Offense talks Kansas, consistency and more

These are the drive results from the Iowa State game: punt, punt, punt, punt, touchdown, field goal, punt, touchdown, field goal, punt, touchdown. Kind of a weird sequence by the offense, but there were plenty of missed opportunities that could have made that drive sequence look a tad different.

Texas Tech offensive coordinator David Yost harped on one thing his offense needed to get better at, and that is consistency. Yost talked about the ability to get the ball after stops on defense but not converting on the opposing end.

“We kind of did that to ourselves last week,” Yost said at Tuesday post-practice. “We were able to put four drives together of 11-plus plays, and then you come away with points. Against a defense like Iowa State, that’s what they’re going to do. They’re going to make you earn every yard, every first down. We had some other opportunities, I mean you give them credit for what they’re doing and how they do it, but also there was more self-inflicted stuff than what should’ve been and could’ve been for us and everything. That’s what we kind of what we got to be able to be is consistent, efficient, take care of the football, do all the right things…”

Yost said on Monday the first thing they did was address the issues in their meeting.

“Guys care, it’s important to them,” Yost added. “They don’t want to put that on video. They don’t want to do that for their teammates, and that goes a long way. There’s a lot of buy-in, there’s a lot of investment from guys, you can see it.”

“It’s just keep working through it and everything. You’re going to have mistakes in the game, and then when those things do happen, how do you overcome it? When you have a dropped ball, how do you… someone’s got to make a play. When you jump offsides, guess what: we got to get five more yards. That’s all it is. We’ve overcome a lot of those this year.”

Center Dawson Deaton has played a key role in filling in for Jack Anderson, who is out for the season, and Deaton has made that know with PFF Second-Team All American honors, but Yost put much praise on the young center in his play on the offensive line.

“He’s graded out really high for us,” Yost said. “through the first seven games. What he’s done up at that center for us as a new center, as much as we kind of put on that position, he’s done a tremendous job kind of running the show up front and everything. I mean, he’s been graded up in that upper 80, mid-low 90s in all three other categories I mean in technique, assignment and effort. He’s been a great spot up on that offensive line for us.”

Backtracking from awards and back to the field and the rough possessions, Deaton talked about the improvement needed on the offensive end, especially when the defense puts the O in a great position to convert and put points on the board.

“I mean, we just need to put it all together,” Deaton said. “The offense and defense, (head coach Matt Wells) has been saying this, we need to actually play together, like when the defense forces a turnover, we need to be able to play like that. We need to improve on that.”

Another thing has been the slow starts. Tech has struggled to throw the first punch and land it, and Deaton said it all comes down to simply getting ready for the game.

“Sometimes it just comes down to preparation,” Deaton said. “Knowing what your opponent’s going to do the first snap, just knowing the job in your head, just visualizing what you’re going to do. Sometimes just comes down to things like that. I believe that could be some of the problem with that.”

Running back Armand Shyne also visited with the media post-practice on Tuesday and talked on what he expects to see from the Kansas defense.

“They got some good DB’s,” Shyne said. “They got a good pass rush around that edge, and the DB will just come down and hit. That’s going to be a good time.”

Shyne has been battling a couple injuries this season, including a hamstring earlier in the season and now both ankles, as he was seen stretching and taking off his thick wraps and braces after practice. Shyne said he is close to 100% and has been running better, also saying he is around 90%, saying his injured left ankle has been like that “for a minute.”

From a lineman’s view, Deaton said the KU defense has been running something a bit unique, something different than they have seen.

“They’ll hit us with some three-down, four-down,” Deaton said. “They have some different blitzes they run. So, I mean, they mix it up a little bit on defense, but we’ll get after them.

Deaton talked about playing center his junior year of high school as well as guard his senior year. While at Frisco High, their offense ran the triple-option, which put Deaton in a four-point stance. Since then, he has had to make the switch to a shotgun-ran style of offense.

As talked about before, Deaton has a brother also playing college football at Army. Deaton also talked about trying to see his brother play.

“It’s just usually how his schedule ends up working out,” Deaton said. “with finals. Last year, I couldn’t make it because of finals, but this year, we’ll be in a bowl game. So, I won’t be able to go, but I’ll try to make it out to one of his games somehow.”