In the midst of a blackout homecoming crowd, Texas Tech football squared off against Kansas this past Saturday, winning 42-17 to improve to 6-0 this season and 3-0 in Big 12 Conference play.
It was once again another blowout win, but this game didn’t lack adversity for the Red Raiders as at one point in the game the Jayhawks scored 17 unanswered points.
Those points were all in the second quarter and were after key injuries to starting quarterback Behren Morton and starting defensive tackle Skyler Gill-Howard.
Kansas seemingly had all the momentum at halftime, but the Red Raiders turned that upside down by shutting them out in the second half and scoring 21 unanswered points.
“I was really proud of the way our guys responded. In the first half, once again we kind of shot ourselves in the foot and we had to kick a couple of field goals and defensively, we blew a couple of coverages and that’s how they got in the end zone,” Texas Tech Head Football Coach Joey McGuire said. “We came in at halftime and asked the guys to take a deep breath and hydrate, and let us make adjustments, and they adjusted. When Coach Wood and Coach Mack came in saying ‘hey, this is where our eyes need to be’ on defense and on offense saying, ‘we’re going to run the football and run the football’ and those guys had some really good runs. It’s funny, the first couple of weeks everybody asked about how these guys were going to respond because they haven’t had any adversity. We’ve had adversity in the first half of the last two weeks, and we’ve responded really well. It was great to go 1-0 this week and get to 6-0.”
Overall, on the night, the running game was special as the Red Raiders rushed for 372 total yards, which was led by sophomore running back Cameron Dickey.
Dickey and fellow running back J’Koby Williams normally split reps, but Williams came into this game banged up so Dickey saw an increased workload and boy did he make the most of it.
Dickey rushed for 263 yards and two touchdowns on 21 carries, and noteworthily those two touchdowns were on explosive plays that went 71 yards and 55 yards, which he credited to his offensive line.
“The boys made it easy, and we had a great night, so put it all on them,” Cameron Dickey said. “Coach was taking care of J’Koby this week and I got a few more reps in practice, and I feel like that really helped out for the game.”
The rushing success for not only Dickey, but the team is no coincidence as Coach McGuire stated they game-planned to lead with a rushing attack after seeing Kansas struggle to stop the run against their previous opponents.
Their offensive gameplan flourished, which Coach McGuire praised his offensive staff and obviously Dickey for, but he also gave credit to the offensive line for the huge holes they were creating in the defense.
It was unfortunate that starter Behren Morton suffered an injury, but when backup quarterback Will Hammond came in, he added the threat of the quarterback run, which Kansas wasn’t prepared for.
Hammond had eight rushes for 61 yards and two touchdowns, which really left the Jayhawks defenseless as they couldn’t key in on Dickey.
And as superb as the offense played, the defense even might have been better on the night.
They tallied nine sacks, fourteen tackles for loss and a fumble recovery, and to this point in the season an opponent is still yet to score more than 17 points on them.
Senior edge rushers David Bailey and Romello Height led the way as Bailey had three sacks, three tackles for loss and a forced and recovered fumble, while Height had two sacks and two tackles for loss.
Junior defensive lineman A.J. Holmes Jr. and senior linebacker Jacob Rodriguez also joined in on the fun as Holmes Jr had two sacks and two and half tackles for loss, while Rodriguez recorded 14 total tackles, one and half tackles for loss and a sack.
The Red Raiders completely shut down Kansas’ run game, holding them to 74 yards on 38 carries, which put the Jayhawks in obvious passing downs, allowing the pass rush to tee off.
“First off, you’ve always got to stop the run if you want to go get after the Q,” Romello Height said. “So that was the main thing, stopping the run first and then we can get out to the Q and go get money.”
It’s safe to say that the defense got their money’s worth as a one-dimensional offense stands no chance against the historically good unit.
It was an all-around stellar performance for Texas Tech, and the crazy thing is, they believe they have a whole other gear. This team is special and has a chance to be the best in school history, which is something the fans are loving.
Coach McGuire and several players spoke on how loud and amazing the blackout atmosphere was, but just as the team has another gear, McGuire also feels the same way about the crowd.
While he loves their energy and wants them to keep making a bigger impact, Coach McGuire did express agitation towards the fans for drawing two 15-yard penalties for disobeying the rules surrounding the tortilla toss.
“We’ve got to find a way to do a better job, all of us. We’ve got two weeks to have a better plan and get the point across of what the rule is because it’s going to catch up with us,” Coach McGuire said. “It’s frustrating because it’s kind of like when I talk to the guys, ‘you know make it about the football.’ If you have any extracurricular penalties, you made it about you. So, if you’re throwing tortillas more than once, now it all becomes about you. Is that a Red Raider? You came to this game, and you love this team and you’re passionate about this team, but yet you’re going to throw another tortilla when you know it’s against the rules?”
The school and fanbase will look for some sort of solution for the next home game, but before then the Red Raiders head on the road this week to Arizona State.
The Sun Devils are 4-2 overall and just suffered their first conference loss against Utah, albeit their starting quarterback was out with an injury.
Texas Tech comes into the matchup ranked seventh in the country and it should be a fun game as they look to stay undefeated against the reigning Big 12 Champions.