It was a very frustrating night in Provo for the visiting Red Raiders. Starting a true freshman quarterback on the road in a hostile environment went exactly as anyone would imagine. Head coach Joey McGuire watched his team fight hard all night, but simply couldn’t make any winning plays. The Texas Tech offense never found a true rhythm at altitude as BYU dominated by a score of 27-14.
Texas Tech Offense Sputtered All Night
After last week’s strange play calling by offensive coordinator Zach Kittley in a loss to Kansas State, there was zero doubt what the game plan had to be. It was going to have to be a Tahj Brooks-heavy game. Especially once it became clear freshman Jake Strong would be making his first start at quarterback for Texas Tech. Well, the Texas Tech offense took the field after the Cougars took the opening drive down the field for an early 7-0 lead. The first seven plays of the drives were rushing plays. It appeared the offense would not make the same mistakes again.
Only one slight problem; the Red Raiders started making execution errors. On the 15th play of the opening drive, Texas Tech faced a fourth-and-one on BYU’s four-yard line. Strong fumbled the exchange resulting in a turnover on downs. This drive seemed very appropriate to describe the 2023 Texas Tech experience. Even when they appear to be doing all the right things, they have always found a way to come up just short. Strong did struggle for most of the game, finishing with a completion percentage of just 51.35% on 37 attempts. Brooks got his touches. He finished the game with 34 total touches (31 rushing) for 120 yards of offense. So why did the Red Raiders only finish the game with two touchdowns?
BYU Controlled All Aspects
Basic statistics might suggest this game was much closer than the final score was. Texas Tech finished with 389 yards of offense while BYU had only 277. Texas Tech, even with a true freshman quarterback, had more passing yards than the two-time transfer quarterback. The Red Raiders also won the time of possession, which would suggest the ground game was controlling. So where did it all go wrong? The first thing major aspect of the game that the Cougars controlled was the turnover margin. If the opening drive fumble wasn’t a gut punch enough, the next drive, a Red Raider fumble was scooped up and ran back for a touchdown. Texas Tech turned the ball over five times to BYU’s zero turnovers.
Another area of the game that BYU was decidedly better at was in the penalty department. Texas Tech had nine penalties for 80 yards while BYU only had four penalties for 24 yards. BYU’s quarterback Kedon Slovis was under zero pressure from the Red Raider defense all night. The Texas Tech defense finished the game with only two tackles for loss and zero sacks. Even with the lack of pressure on the BYU offense, the Texas Tech defense only allowed 20 points. So tip of the cap to Tim DeRuyter’s unit for trying to keep the Red Raiders in it. Especially with them being placed with a short field to defend frequently
Is The Texas Tech Season Done?
Any team is going to struggle when they get down to their third-string quarterback and only have a wide receiver as an emergency backup quarterback. So, while the struggles by the Texas Tech offense were frustrating, it’s hard to say they were surprising. The coaches never made any major in-game coaching errors. In fact, a surprise fake punt in the third quarter which the Red Raiders converted, is typically a play that gives a team life. However, the drive ended up stalling.
This game was a reminder of how far the Red Raiders still have to go in accumulating quality depth. The team is playing a lot of young players, and that will prove to be valuable. But it’s clear at this point that the 2022 team overachieved in McGuire’s first year. This team is not getting the same bounces it got last year. Dropping to 3-5 on the season essentially means this team must be perfect against TCU, Kansas, and UCF if they are going to make a bowl game. Texas Tech goes into the bye week with more questions than answers with four games remaining in the season.
