Kliff Kingsbury: Bret Bielema just got his butt kicked twice in a row
Texas Tech coach Kliff Kingsbury is not a member of the Bret Bielema fan club.
Kingsbury didn’t hold back when talking about the Arkansas coach after his Red Raiders beat Bielema’s team 35-24 Saturday night in Fayetteville, Arkansas. It was Arkansas’ second-straight loss to an unranked non-conference opponent after Bielema’s comments about the superiority of the SEC’s conference schedule and the lack of strength of Ohio State’s within the Big Ten.
But it wasn’t necessarily Bielema’s pro-SEC comments that had Kingsbury riled up. Apparently the Arkansas coach had disapproved of the offensive style that Texas Tech and other teams play. Kingsbury, who played quarterback at Texas Tech under Washington State, is a pass-happy coach who loves to get as many offensive plays as possible.
Bielema prefers a slower-paced and ground-based attack. And Bielema had allegedly smack-talked the style opposite of his to high school coaches.
“That’s a program that prides themselves on being physical and the Texas high school coaches convention this summer, he stood up and said if you don’t play with a fullback we’ll kick your ass and if you throw it 70 times a game we’ll kick your ass and he just got his ass kicked twice in a row. And probably next week by A&M as well.”
Note the Texas A&M mention in Kingsbury’s comments. He served as A&M’s offensive coordinator before becoming Tech’s head coach in 2013. A&M also runs a similar style offense and Bielema is 0-2 against the Aggies.
Kingsbury on Bielema: “He’s a prideful guy, says what’s on his mind and it’s not working out for him.”
— Jarret Johnson (@JohnsonJarret) September 20, 2015
Kingsbury said he’s the son of a Texas HS coach and 90 percent of Texas runs the spread, so yes, he took Bielema saying that personally.
— Kurt Voigt (@Kurt_Voigt_AP) September 20, 2015
The win was likely a special case of revenge for Kingsbury too. His team lost 49-28 to Arkansas at home in 2014 as the Hogs ran 68 times for 438 yards and threw just 12 passes. Against Texas Tech on Saturday night Arkansas had 43 carries for 228 yards and threw 21 passes. Texas Tech averaged over 6 yards per carry on the ground.
Kingsbury didn’t reportedly shake Bielema’s hand after the game either.
Arkansas entered the season as a possible surprise contender for the SEC West. While the Hogs haven’t started the SEC portion of their schedule yet, Arkansas looks nothing like a team that will challenge Alabama, LSU and Ole Miss for the division and more like the team that lost 13 straight conference games to open Bielema’s tenure.
At 3-0, it’s still hard to figure out Texas Tech. The Red Raiders didn’t look too impressive overall in their first two wins. But we’ll have a pretty good idea over the next two weeks if Tech can be a threat in the Big 12 as the Red Raiders first two conference opponents are TCU and Baylor.
For more Arkansas news, visit HawgSports.com.
For more Texas Tech news, visit RedRaiderSports.com.
– – – – – – –
Nick Bromberg is the assistant editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
