close
close

first Drop

Com TW NOw News 2024

    • How Texas Tech Football Went Down Hard at Washington State
    news

    How Texas Tech Football Went Down Hard at Washington State

    Vaseline Posted on

    Things started to get ugly early, and the Texas Tech football team couldn’t recover after a 37-16 loss to Washington State on Saturday in Pullman.

    Behren Morton was erratic and couldn’t throw much beyond the line of scrimmage. Head coach Joey McGuire’s wish for the Red Raiders to perform better on foreign soil was not fulfilled, Texas Tech lost several key players to injuries during the game and lost star running back Tahj Brooks before kickoff.

    Texas Tech committed four live-ball turnovers and four more on failed fourth-down conversions. The offense never found a rhythm and the defense was unable to contain John Mateer as the Cougars quarterback ran for 197 yards.

    This stood out even more in the game.

    Sloppy, sloppy first half for Texas Tech football

    The Red Raiders couldn’t even get possession of the ball before their first giveaway. Washington State lost the opening kickoff and recovered the fumble. Chapman Lewis made an interception to get the ball back to the Red Raiders.

    Things didn’t get much better after that. Josh Kelly was chased off the ball on a short pass route that took the Cougars back to the 2-yard line and they scored one play later. Tech also failed to convert on two fourth-and-short situations, one of which led to a 43-yard TD run by Wayshawn Parker on the next play.

    Morton had a pass sail on him that led to an interception. The Cougars took advantage when Kyle Williams completed the tip drill for a 20-yard score in the final minutes of the first half.

    In total, Texas Tech had three turnovers for 13 points (excluding the fourth-down fumbles) and was penalized six times for 55 yards in the first half.

    Where has Texas Tech’s offense gone?

    Some might say that Brooks’ absence is a major problem, and that’s not insignificant, but that doesn’t explain the ineptitude of Texas Tech’s offense in the first half.

    Texas Tech tried to get around Brooks’ out by calling more passes. It didn’t really work out that well. Morton completed only one pass that was more than two yards in front of the line of scrimmage, and that went about six yards. Everything else was on or behind the line on screen plays. Kelly and Caleb Douglas were able to convert some of those passes into big gains, but the majority were for minimal gains.

    Morton was 16 of 33 in the first half for 144 yards, an average of nine yards per completion. Add in the 62 yards lost on plays broken by Douglas and Kelly (which came on the last play of the first half), and Tech gained 82 yards on the other 14 completions (an average of 5.8 yards).

    HOW WE GOT HERE: Texas Tech football vs Washington State score today: Cameron Dickey scores his first career TD

    This was a stark difference from the offense that had a 300-yard passer, 100-yard rusher and 100-yard receiver against Abilene Christian.

    Oh, and what about those other running backs? They had 11 total carries for 64 yards, an average of 5.8 yards per attempt. So no, it wasn’t Brooks’ injured arm that was plaguing the offense.

    Drae McCray is neutralized

    Drae McCray was one of the best kick returners in the country last year, averaging 55 yards per attempt against Abilene Christian. But McCray only had three of those attempts as the Wildcats got smarter and started kicking away from him.

    Washington State must have gotten the memo, too. The kickoff that was called off was just the first time the Cougars completely avoided McCray, either by kicking it short or bombing the ball out of the end zone.

    Teams will likely continue this trend of keeping the ball out of McCray’s hands in the open field. How will the Red Raiders adjust?

    Texas Tech still can’t handle quarterbacks

    It doesn’t matter who the head coach or defensive coordinator is, it seems. Texas Tech, no matter how hard they try, just can’t handle a mobile quarterback.

    Mateer needed just 13 carries to reach 117 yards after a 32-yard sprint all the way around the Red Raider defense extended Washington State’s opening drive of the half. By comparison, Mateer had just 15 pass attempts, completing seven of them, for 61 yards when he reached the century mark on the ground.

    HOW DID WE DO? Texas Tech football visits Washington State: Scouting report, Week 2 game predictions

    Injuries and bad vibes pile up early in the season

    Texas Tech began releasing an availability list every Monday and 45 minutes before each game. The list of players on the Monday roster is usually longer than the Saturday roster, and that will certainly be the case again this week.

    In the third quarter alone, Texas Tech saw four different starters, two on each side of the ball, go down with injuries. Maurion Horn was able to return, but left guard Vinny Sciury had to be carted out. Left tackle Sterling Porcher and defensive tackle Quincy Ledet Jr. both headed to the locker room. Add in the already out Brooks, plus a few other depth players on defense, and the ejection of Chapman Lewis for targeting in the first half, and the absentees start to pile up.

    Like the bad vibes. After the Abilene Christian game, the finger was pointed at the defense. Now, the same finger is being pointed at the offense and the coaching staff as a whole. McGuire preached about the need for Texas Tech to start the season better than in previous years, the need to win away and play complementary football. The Red Raiders accomplished none of those things against Washington State.

    What initially seemed like an easy first five games of the season now seems to have become more difficult. Not because the opponents seem better than they were in early August, but because of the Red Raiders’ performance in the first two weeks.

    Next

    Texas Tech begins a three-game home stretch by hosting North Texas on Saturday. The game is scheduled to kick off at 11:00 a.m. and will be televised on FS1.

    Vaseline
    View all posts

    You Might Also Like