All eyes on Texas, Tennessee & Kansas in week 4's edition of Social Scorecard

Whenever we sit down to plan these newsletters, we start with a Friday meeting where we go through that week’s football schedule and try to pick which games we should cover. As we know, it’s usually impossible to predict what happens in college football but we couldn’t have anticipated what we saw last weekend. Let’s start with the thrilling, field-storming finale of what could be the last Texas Tech-Texas showdown for quite some time.

As we do each week here at Social Scoreboard, my colleague?Matthew Barry?and I go inside fan conversational data from the world of sports using the?Talkwalker Consumer Intelligence platform. Powerful artificial intelligence analyzes fan conversation across social media, message boards, chat boards, news sites, podcasts and blogs to deliver insight into trends, themes, demographics, sentiment and more. If you like this kind of content, please?consider subscribing to our Social Scorecard newsletter?and share with likeminded connections.

The Red Raiders’ Final Word:

Texas and Texas Tech have a long -- albeit lopsided -- rivalry with the Longhorns leading the series 54-18. However, this rivalry may be seeing its final game for the foreseeable future as the Longhorns prepare to join the Southeastern Conference in two years time. While this series is in question, Texas Tech wanted to make sure that it had the final word if we are entering in the final days of the Battle For The Chancellor's Spurs. Here’s how the Red Raiders' 37-34 comeback victory was seen by Talkwalker's real-time sentiment tracker …

4 - 4:15 PM: Tyree Wilson and Tony Bradford Jr contributed for a key sack early on

4:15 - 4:30 PM: Tahj Brooks scores an early touchdown for the Red Raiders

4:30 - 4:45 PM: Reggie Pearson gets an interception for the Red Raiders

4:45 - 5 PM: Xavier Boyd gets a score for the Longhorns

5 - 5:15 PM: Bijan Robinson puts the Longhorns up 24-14 going into halftime

5:30 - 5:45 PM: Eventual hero of the game, Trey Wolff, makes his first FG of the game to make the game 24-17

5:45 - 6 PM: Bijan Robinson scores his second touchdown of the day

6 - 6:15 PM: SaRodorick Thompson helps the Red Raiders keep pace with the Longhorns

6:15 - 6:30 PM: Trey Cleveland get a massive catch for the Red Raiders?

6:30 - 6:45 PM: Baylor Cupp helps tie the game up at 31

7 - 7:15 PM: Trey Wolff gives the Red Raiders the lead before Texas scores to send the game into overtime

7:15 - 7:30 PM: Texas Tech upsets Texas in overtime for their first win against the Longhorns since 2008

Of course, Texas Tech fans rushed to log on and send their congratulations to their Red Raiders for the big win. Everyone from former players like Davis Webb to Keenon Ward tweeted their praises for the team. However, the big theme that was shared after the game was the post game speech that Coach Joey McGuire gave. More than 31 percent of posts mentioned either the phrase “gonna break” or “country’s gonna,” key parts from his speech.

Two States, Two Parties:

It's hard to imagine two states that enjoyed a better college football weekend than Kansas and Tennessee. In the Big 12, Kansas is to 4-0 for the first time in 13 years after knocking off previously unbeaten Duke 35-27 while rival Kansas State stunned previously unbeaten and sixth-ranked Oklahoma 41-34. In the deep South, Tennessee beat Florida 38-33 for the first time 2016 and surged into the top 10. And the upset of the weekend probably was the ease with which Middle Tennessee State took care of then-No. 25 Miami 45-31 in Miami.

How did the conversation break down in the state of Kansas? We used Talkwalker to explore this Saturday, using geolocation to look at conversation mentions across social media, blogs, websites and more. As we look at Kansas from afar, it’s clear that the Jayhawks’ undefeated start is the top topic in the state of Kansas with 4,400 mentions in the state compared to K State’s 2,800 mentions.

Zooming into the state, Topeka was the hotbed for Kansas mentions followed by nearby metropolis Kansas City. As we go through the rest of the state, the little pockets of conversation seem to lean heavily towards the Jayhawks compared to the Wildcats.

What about in the state of Tennessee? Well, under normal conditions, the talk is almost always going to be dominated by the Volunteers, and Saturday certainly was cause for celebration with one of the biggest wins in years happening in a national showcase game on CBS. Meanwhile, MTSU of Conference USA is typically not on the radar.

But do something like upset Miami and that will change a bit, even on a day when the Vols are a big national story. Notice the Blue Raiders getting proportional mentions not only in Tennessee here but also in South Carolina, North Carolina and Kentucky.

Across the state however, the big story outside of MTSU's home base of Murfreesboro was the Volunteers’ victory and ascent in the national rankings. No surprise there. It's a big deal on Rocky Top for UT to be back in the national spotlight, of course, and it is reflect in the chatter Saturday across the state as the map illustrates.

In comparing the two states, Tennessee clearly has the advantage just by doubling the amount of mentions of the two schools in the state of Kansas. This exercise of comparing your victory to other schools in your area can help see who your fans are truly talking about and assist in targeting potential areas to focus promotional efforts.

NIL Profiles: Jalon Daniels and Adrian Martinez

The two kings of Kansas right now are the quarterbacks in Lawrence and Manhattan, Jalon Daniels and Adrian Martinez. One just led his team to a 4-0 start and is starting to drum up Heisman buzz, and the other just led his team into Norman, Okla., and stunned the Sooners by accounting for five touchdowns. How do these two capitalize on their performances?

It’s clear there’s an audience for both of these players as everyone from across the country talked about their performances this past weekend. Both share a similar makeup in an audience trending largely male aged 18- 34. As we’ve seen, something as simple as sending a tweet after a big win can have a seismic impact on engaging with your fans. Just look at how this one tweet performed for Jalon Daniels after his win against Duke …

For Adrian, he has a different approach on how to engage with his fans. Coming from Nebraska to Kansas State, he already had a fanbase that he’s engaged with and celebrated with in Lincoln.

If you like this kind of content, please?consider subscribing to our Social Scorecard newsletter. And if you'd like to learn more about how Talkwalker can be utilized to gain real-time conversational insights that lead to action and impact, contact Tim Stephens at [email protected].