McGuire satisfied with young players, gives clarity on quarterbacks
Texas Tech earned a tally in the win column Saturday night, defeating Tarleton State in uncontested fashion, 41-3. Following the win over the Texans, head coach Joey McGuire spoke to the media and dove into his thoughts of the game.
A key theme to the Red Raiders’ success against the Texans was the overwhelming number of players that Tech was able to play in the contest. Starters and depth options alike hit the field, but no other player got quite the reaction as redshirt sophomore Behren Morton did when he hit the field in the third quarter. McGuire acknowledged the nature of the decision to give Morton an extended run.
“I know everybody’s going to ask about the quarterback, so I’ll go ahead and tell you that was my plan from last week,” McGuire said. “That was going to happen no matter what. The only way Tyler (Shough) was going to stay in that game was if it was like 24-21 or something like that. It had nothing to do with Tyler or Behren, who was playing better or anything like that.”
Several elements McGuire had felt the team struggled with in its two losses to Wyoming and Oregon was a lackluster pass rush and an inability to force turnovers. Against the Cowboys week one, the Red Raiders were able to snag two takeaways but defensively were without one against the Ducks. The script was flipped in that regard against Tarleton however, with Tech picking off Texan quarterback Victor Gabalis three times in the contest. Malik Dunlap was on the receiving end of two of those interceptions, and his performance was not lost on McGuire.
“You know, we challenged our secondary because we knew (Tarleton) was going to come into the game and they were going to throw the ball,” McGuire said. “Probably not as many deep balls as we thought they were gonna throw. That’s the thing, Malik and Rayshad (Williams), they had a really good week at practice. I thought they played well against Oregon. They’ve got a lot of confidence right now. It was great for (Malik), we were in a zone and he broke off the football and showed how athletic he was with that touchdown return. That was a big second interception because they were driving right there and we came up with it… It was good to see because we’ve been frustrated as a defensive staff because of one, our pass rush lanes, and two, not taking the ball away.”
With the game so heavily in favor of the Red Raiders, it was easy for McGuire to roll out younger players that had not been able to play in the two weeks prior. Heading into Big 12 play next week, it might not be a recurring event for all of those involved but there are still several that will continue to grace the field.
“Well, Brenden Jordan, that was his third game. We did not expect to redshirt him, so he’s definitely going to stay in the rotation,” McGuire said. “I think that was (Chapman Lewis’) first game, he played really well, number 25. So I think we will still try to get his four games (to redshirt). Same way with Jordan Sanford. But I think just going through the last two weeks, the way Dylan Spencer is coming on. Not having Isaac Smith, he is starting to remind us a lot of Isaac, the way he just progressed. He is a very physical kid, so I will be surprised if he doesn’t start playing a lot more at outside linebacker. Those are the main guys that I can think of off the top of my head.”
