Bradford, Baskerville detail second half shutout against Houston
The story of the game was a flip of the script in the second half for Texas Tech against Houston. What started as a shootout between the Red Raiders and the Cougars ended swinging in the favor of Tech, 49-28. The two sides traded scores throughout the first two stanzas, the Red Raiders taking a 35-28 lead into halftime. Houston struggled to find a rhythm in the second half, punting four times in the process.
“It was really just us realizing that the only way they were doing it was just by us beating ourselves,” Tech’s CJ Baskerville said following the victory. “Blowing coverages on the back end, not reading our keys. Coming in, we’re realizing that at halftime, kind of locked in to the second half and did our job.”
It was a game highlighted by the return of Donovan Smith, a former signal caller for Tech and the now-starter for the Cougars. Smith played a fine game, for one half at least, finishing with 335 yards through the air with four touchdown tosses. There is no bad blood between Smith and the Red Raiders, he and his former teammates and coaches greeting each other before and after the game. His return, however, was not all smiles and handshakes when the game kicked off.
“He was an enemy,” defensive tackle Tony Bradford said. “It’s nothing personal, but business is business, and if you don’t have our jersey on, we don’t like you, it’s just that plain and simple. Now, outside football and everything, we wish him well, wishing the best for his career, but it’s personal when you try to come back into our home and try to defeat us in The Jones. We’re always going to do our best to protect The Jones. It's just that simple. If you’re not in our jersey, there’s no respect towards you.”
It was a small milestone on the season for Tech, its first win in the Big 12 season. The win meant even more to Baskerville, who had a bounce back game after a lackluster performance a week ago in Morgantown. A seven-tackle night against the Mountaineers, yes, but it was costly penalties on Baskerville’s part that hurt the Red Raiders. Going into Saturday’s game, Baskerville was a man on a mission.
“I felt like last week, I didn’t play as well as I could’ve, helping on the run,” Baskerville said. “So I texted coach (Joey) McGuire, ‘My presence will be felt this Saturday,’ and I got receipts for that… Today, I just felt free and thinking less. When you think less, things are a lot more simple for you. Just doing my job. Do your job, plays are going to come to you.”
The Tech defense had been the backbone for the team through the first four games of the season, and despite the slow start defensively Saturday, Tech was able to sort through everything and keep the Cougars off the board in the last 30 minutes.
“We just made some adjustments, which allowed us to play more freely,” Bradford said. “I still think sometimes we get out there and we dip our toe in the water instead of just jumping in and actually knowing that we have one of the best defensive coordinators and defensive staffs in the country. We just gotta trust them and do everything that they coach us to do. It’s unfortunate that it took us pretty much the entire first half to figure it out, but once we did, as you can see, it works.”
The Red Raiders continue the season drive when they hit the road to take on Baylor in Waco next week. The Bears and Tech are set to kick off at 7:00 p.m. on ESPN2.
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