Maybe you were in Memorial Stadium that day last season when Texas Tech rolled into Lawrence touting the best receiver and the best offense in the Big 12.

Maybe you stood in the stands, screaming, prodding and hoping for a stop that never really came. First down. Second down. Third down. Repeat.

Maybe, and most likely, you remember the masterfully orchestrated art in passing put on by Graham Harrell, Michael Crabtree and seemingly every other skill player listed on the Red Raiders’ roster.

The lesson woven into the game’s fabrics, the one you witnessed on the field? No pass rush equals no ability to slow the spread.

After a 63-21 dismantling — and after taking the field to an empty-looking stadium in the fourth quarter on Oct. 25, 2008 — it’s a concept both you and the Jayhawks understand well.

“One thing in this league, I’m a firm believer that to be a good defense, you have to be able to get pressure without blitzing people,” an assistant coach in the Big 12 South said. “And KU was an example where a lot of times they had to blitz people to get pressure.

“They didn’t have enough down lineman on the edge to get pressure by themselves. When they did that, they put themselves in some tough situations in the secondary.”

There’s little argument that having an adequate pass rush without blitzing is a key ingredient to experiencing success in the Big 12. But creating a definition for that success is far more difficult.

Sure, interceptions and sacks often reflect the productivity of a team’s pass rush. But a pass rush can also simply disrupt timing, force incomplete passes and prevent big plays. And there’s no statistic to mark such occurrences.

Coach Mark Mangino’s squad lacked many of those eye-test qualities last season when Kansas ranked 10th in pass defense in the Big 12. The Jayhawks surrendered 273.6 yards per game through the air.

“A d-line is nothing without a secondary. If the secondary can’t cover for at least three to five seconds, the quarterback can get the ball off every time,” senior safety Darrell Stuckey said. “And a secondary is nothing without a d-line and a pass rush. Nobody can cover anybody for seven seconds.

“You can chase a rabbit all day. It doesn’t mean you’re going to catch it eventually.”

Without a natural pass rusher off the edge last season, the Jayhawks were often forced to blitz to create pressure ­— a trend that often left them vulnerable against the Big 12’s pass-heavy attacks.

But Mangino said there is room for optimism with Kansas’ 2009 defensive unit.

Junior college transfer Quintin Woods enters as a player expected to help cure Kansas’ pass rush ailment immediately. Woods, a 6-foot-5, 230-pound defensive end, will share time with junior Jake Laptad and senior Maxwell Onyegbule.

“Filling that pass-rushing position was a priority for us and Quintin really caught our eye,” Mangino said. “When you can put pressure on the quarterback like that, it really forces the other guys to step up more. It was very important that we have that element on our team.”

Here’s a slightly different perspective.

Oklahoma State offensive lineman Russell Okung is a man well versed on the troubles of slowing a pass rush. Okung is a preseason All-American candidate and a large contributor for one of the most potent and feared offenses in the Big 12.

And when Okung and the rest of the Cowboys notice an opposing defense blitzing in order to create pressure, they don’ t blink.

“To me, when you blitz you’re pretty much telling the other team, ‘I can’t stop you playing my base defense so this is what I’m going to have to do,’” Okung said. “It makes me feel better knowing that you have to blitz us to stop us.

“To me, that says you can’t handle us up front and that our front guys are better than yours. And I’m cool with that.”

And then there’s Ndamukong Suh, Nebraska’s ultra-talented defensive lineman, who earned All-Big 12 first team honors a year ago. Last season Suh almost single-handedly disrupted the Jayhawks’ offense.

With Suh as the centerpiece, Nebraska’s defense ranked second in the Big 12 against the pass, while also ranking third in sacks. Kansas ranked sixth in sacks with 26.

And Suh is a firm believer that creating pressure without blitzing is key in the Big 12.

“That’s huge and that’s one thing we as a front four took pride in,” Suh said. “When you have a front four that can do that, that takes so much pressure off the secondary. Then they can just fly around and go make plays.”

— —Edited by Megan Morriss