“Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in.”
Michael Corleone, Godfather III
Didn’t we do this once before? Hadn’t Texas Tech’s defense gotten this kind of game out of its system and fixed the problems that were so glaring two weeks before?
Apparently not. And for the second time in three weeks, what was expected be a stout, veteran defense got exposed by a Big 12 Conference team that seemed vulnerable – seemed beatable – but instead delivered its best offensive game of the season to this point.
What transpired Saturday night in a 52-31 loss to TCU at Jones AT&T Stadium was equally as flabbergasting as the Red Raiders’ performance two weeks prior in Austin.
TCU lined up and simply steamrolled Texas Tech by using a different – but equally as effective – version of bully bull. The Horned Frogs ran over, through, by, around … hell, they ran any which way they wanted on the way to a performance that is just hard to figure.
“We played cruddy defense,” Texas Tech coach Matt Wells succinctly said.
“Whether its schematical or effort or it’s just flat technique and not being able to get off (blocks) or were they just that much better than us or is it a little bit of everything. Credit to them. Their backs ran well, and their o-line blocked well. We did not get off blocks very well. When you can see a back getting through all the way to your linebackers very, very quickly, that’s fairly evident."
The 394 yards that TCU racked up were its most in five years and not far off the top 10 single-game performances the Horned Frogs have produced on the ground in a long and proud history. For Texas tech, that’s a shift in the wrong direction from the 336 yards that Texas gashed the Red Raiders for two weeks earlier on the way to a 70-35 triumph.
The similarities between the two blowout losses are painfully eerie. The Red Raiders gave up yards in chunks at times, teased with some stops that set up third downs, then regularly buckled in those situations – all adding up to a damning inability to get the other team’s offense off the field.
Like the Longhorns, TCU hung touchdowns on the scoreboard the first four times it had a chance. Also like UT, the Horned Frogs’ defense mixed in a pick-six to dump some salt in a gaping wound.
The difference between the two dismal outings: Texas did the damage with a Heisman Trophy-caliber running back and an offensive line full of pick-of-the-litter type players, while TCU came at the Red Raiders with two talented but less heralded runners and were even better despite playing without both starting guards and two of the offense’s top receivers on the shelf.
Had Texas Tech been able to, TCU’s offense was primed for a tough night because the chance was there to force quarterback Max Duggan into throwing to a depleted receiving corps with a revamped line in front of him.
Instead, defensive miscommunication was again featured on the menu and, even more head-scratching, were wave upon of wave of missed and run-through tackles. There were tons of instances when Texas Tech defenders seemed to be in position for a stop for a minimal gain and just … missed.
As Wells noted, all credit to TCU backs Zach Evans (17 carries for 143 yards) and Kendre Miller (12-185), who ran so well that Duggan only threw 10 passes all night. He ran for 43, including a tone-setting 32-yar scramble on a third-and-8 play in the first quarter that was a harbinger of the rest of the night.
Miller exploded for a career-best night after he took over when Evans aggravated a foot injury late in the first half and didn’t step on the field again. When the Red Raiders started chipping away during a strong second-half offensive performance, it was Miller who answered with two big-play daggers -- 75- and 45-yard touchdown runs.
“After I saw Zach come in and I broke a pretty good run, I was like, ‘This is going to be a pretty good day,’” Miller said. “I could tell our offensive linemen were motivated.”
The Red Raiders didn’t lack for motivation after a gritty road win at West Virginia. Saturday was a chance to start constructing the kind of season-changing momentum that Texas Tech so desperately needs in the third season under Wells.
For whatever reasons, though, motivation didn’t match up with the execution that was needed – at least not for a defense that has been so good at times in a rollercoaster season.
And now, with the 2021 season halfway done, the Red Raiders feel like they have backtracked to square one.
“Not a very good performance by the Red Raiders,” Wells said. “We're not at the point in this program where we can stack success. That's something that we've got to continue to keep getting over the hump.”
The Turning Points: TCU vs. Texas Tech
Three Takeaways: TCU spoils Texas Tech’s homecoming with 52-31 win
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Randy Rosetta is the Managing Editor of RedRaiderSports.com
Contact him at (806) 407-0188 or RandyRosetta67@gmail.com
Follow on Twitter | @RandyRosetta or @RedRaiderSports
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