Advertisement
Published Sep 18, 2021
Texas Tech 54, FIU 21 | How they scored
Randy Rosetta  •  RedRaiderSports
Editor

FIRST QUARTER

FIU – D’vonte Price 3 run (Chase Gabriel kick), 6:27

DRIVE: 9 plays-88 yards-4:58

KEY PLAYS: The Panthers mixed bruising inside runs by Price with deep passes by Max Bortenschlager to keep the Red Raiders on their heels. Two chunk plays fueled the march: Bortenschlager to Tyrese Chambers for 34 yards and then to Rivaldo Fairweather for 30 more to convert a long third down. FIU 7, Texas Tech 0

TEXAS TECH – Marquis Waters 72 interception return (Jonathan Garibay kick), 3:18

DRIVE: None

KEY PLAYS: The Red Raiders nearly handed FIU a huge break when Adrian Frye inexplicably ran up and tried to scoop up a short punt and lost the ball. But Waters bailed Tech out when he swiped a Bortenschlager pass and found daylight on the left sideline for the game-turning pick-six. FIU 7, Texas Tech 7

SECOND QUARTER

TEXAS TECH – Travis Koontz 4 pass from Tyler Shough (Garibay kick), 12:14

DRIVE: 7 plays-80 yards-2:29

KEY PLAYS: Xavier White took over at tailback for a change of pace and was effective, but the big strike came on Shough’s picture-perfect bomb to Kaylon Geiger for 48 yards on a sideline fly. Texas Tech 14, FIU 7

FIU – E.J. Wilson 69 pass from Bortenschlager (Gabriel kick), 10:51

DRIVE: 3 plays-75 yards-1:23

KEY PLAYS: On third-and-4, Bortenschlager diagnosed a multi-faceted Red Raider blitz and floated a pass to Wilson, who was wide open 10 yards downfield out of the backfield. Wilson turned on the jets and no defender ever got close during his 69-yard jaunt. Texas Tech 14, FIU 14

TEXAS TECH – SaRodorick Thompson 1 run (Garibay kick), 9:38

DRIVE: 3 plays-75 yards-1:13

KEY PLAYS: Texas Tech came out firing, with Shough dropping two passes downfield, including a perfect strike to Dalton Rigdon on a deep post for 59 yards to the 1-yard-line. Thompson took it from there, punching into the end zone on his first carry of the season. Texas Tech 21, FIU 14

TEXAS TECH – Trey Cleveland 28 pass from Shough (Garibay kick), 4:48

DRIVE: 6 plays-68 yards-2:42

KEY PLAYS: Shough was 4-for-4 on the series and capped it with a well-delivered third-and-10 toss to Cleveland, who hauled the pass in the end zone with a defender draped on him. Texas Tech 28, FIU 14

TEXAS TECH – Koontz 1 pass from Shough (Garibay kick), :05

DRIVE: 12 plays-61 yards-2:52

KEY PLAYS: Shough finally got the ball to star receiver Erik Ezukanma with a pair of connections and a costly substitution penalty (12 men on the field) stung FIU and gave Tech a first down from the 13-yard-line. Two plays later, Shough flipped a waggle pass to Koontz for the TD. Texas Tech 35, FIU 14

THIRD QUARTER

TEXAS TECH – Garibay 21 FG, 9:08

DRIVE: 11 plays-72 yards-5:52

KEY PLAYS: The Red Raiders picked up right where they left off, triggered by Tahj Brooks’ 19-yard ramble to begin the drive. Shough hooked up with five different receivers, the last to White but it was short of a first down to force the Garibay kick. Texas Tech 38, FIU 13

FIU – Nate Jefferson 2 pass from Bortenschlager (Gabriel kick), 3:16

DRIVE: 9 plays-53 yards-4:01

KEY PLAYS: Bortenschlager found Chambers for a 37-yard pickup on third down to get the ball at the doorstep of the end zone and then dumped the TD to Jefferson after Texas Tech stuffed Price two tines from the 2-yard-line. Texas Tech 38, FIU 21

TEXAS TECH – Mason Tharp 25 pass from Shough (kick failed), :55

DRIVE: 6 plays-75 yards-2:21

KEY PLAYS: Tharp put his stamp on the game in emphatic fashion with back-to-back receptions for 25 yards to gobble half the field. Texas Tech 44, FIU 21

FOURTH QUARTER

TEXAS TECH – Garibay 28 FG, 10:56

DRIVE: 10 plays-65 yards-4:27

KEY PLAYS: A Shough-to-Kaylon Geiger pass got just enough to convert a third-and-11 to keep the drive in motion and a defensive pass interference infraction flipped the field enough to get Garibay in range after one more first down, courtesy of Myles Price’s 15-yard reception. Texas Tech 47, FIU 21

TEXAS TECH – Henry Colombi 19 run (Garibay kick), 5:47

DRIVE: 7 plays-55 yards-3:41

KEY PLAYS: With the starters done for the night, Colombi came on and engineered the final scoring drive that was almost exclusively on the ground. Besides Colombi’s 22 yards, three other backups toted the ball. Texas Tech 54, FIU 21

· FINAL SCORE: Texas Tech 54, FIU 21