Takeaways: Stockton, Kingsbury discuss second loss of year, moving forward

On Sunday, Texas Tech DL Broderick Washington, RB Justin Stockton and coach Kliff Kingsbury met with the media. The three Red Raiders discussed the late collapse on the road in West Virginia.

Here are some notes and what they each had to say about the matchup and moving forward.

Opening the game, the Red Raiders scored quick. And by the time halftime approached, Texas Tech was out in front, 28-17. Then the 3rd quarter began with the Red Raiders extending the lead to 35-17. But the wheels fell off after that.

The Mountaineers scored 22 unanswered points in the fourth quarter thanks to their offense coming alive and the Red Raiders failing to respond on offense.

Kingsbury said the first three drives to start the fourth came to fruition because of a lack of execution.

The Red Raiders were forced to three straight three-and-outs that led to a momentum shift for the Mountaineers.

“They kind of cranked up their intensity and we didn’t match it,” Kingsbury said. “We missed a couple of things that we hadn’t missed. But like I said, in the end you got to give them credit. They stepped up when they had to, made stops and we didn’t make the play we needed to.”

Kingsbury said that the decision to pass three consecutive times on one of those three-and-outs has to do with how the Red Raiders operate.

Kingsbury mentioned that West Virginia is not a team that you can back off of and that you have to try to score.

This brings up the final fourth and one situation near the end of the first half that resulted in one of three missed field goals by K Michael Barden.

Kingsbury thought about going for the touchdown but felt the need to add to the lead. But instead, Barden pushed it wide.

“Thought once we took the delay it was a great opportunity to just knock it through,” Kingsbury said. “We didn’t execute it but I felt like it was the right call at the time.”

Barden wasn’t the only kicker available though going in. K Matthew Cluck and K Michael Ewton were suited up, but Kingsbury said he made the decision to go with Barden during the week. And after halftime, he decided to continue forward with Barden although he missed.

Kingsbury said offensively that he felt QB Nic Shimonek played well but could have made better throws whenever the team needed him to.

“He started really hot and then there’s a couple of throws we have to be able to make there,” Kingsbury said. “When they’re coming back we gotta be able to get some first downs. We had been executing when we got that first first down and being able to get into our tempo. We never got into in the fourth quarter.”

Regarding the Mountaineer offensive outburst led by QB Will Grier, Kingsbury said it shows how the Big 12 works and that any team can make late surges to take a game.

“I think every has the capability, like you saw, to get hot throwing the football,” Kingsbury said. “It’s a league where you have great WRs, great QBs. When they get hot like that it’s hard to stop. In this league you gotta continue to score, you gotta continue to try and finish people off because if you don’t that’s what’s going to happen to you.”

Stockton said despite the loss that the running back committee has been something positive the last two weeks.

Against the Mountaineers, the Red Raiders scampered for 190 yards on 33 rushing attempts.

“I’m truly proud of each running back that gets an opportunity to continue to prove that we can run the ball when we need to,” Stockton said. “But unfortunately, we gotta get better – as a unit, ourselves, and then as a team as well.”

OL Jack Anderson was the best upfront in Kingsbury’s eyes. This loss might not have been what Red Raider fans wanted, of course, but the offensive line played well.

Kingsbury said the unit is young, but is gelling together. His silver lining, too, is that a majority of the big guys will be here for another two-three years.

As far as the defense goes, Washington said the team emphasizes stopping the run each week.

Against West Virginia, they were able to hold them to 44 rushing yards on 29 attempts.

“Really, our main focus as a defense is to stop the run,” Washington said. “No matter who it’s up against – whether it’s the best running back in the league or the worst. We try to keep them at as (few) rushing yards as we can.”

Relaying back on offense, Stockton said the quick start to games for Texas Tech translates to quick momentum out of the gate.

Yet, when it gets late, he and Washington both said the Red Raiders struggle with finishing off teams. This, according to Stockton, happens because of a mixture of losing momentum and focus combined with the opposing team figuring out ways to halt them.

“Probably just a little bit of both,” Stockton said. “We just gotta finish. We start off fast – 17 points up. We let one slip.”

Stockton did give credit where it was due though saying that the Mountaineers were impressive and are a good team.

He added that the environment and it being West Virginia’s homecoming added to the atmosphere the Mountaineers had on their side.

“West Virginia is a great team,” Stockton said. “They have a great defense, a great strategy that they run. When the play is called for each running back, and throughout the field as players, we get the call and go with it.”

Another thing that hurt the Red Raiders quite a bit were the penalties.

Combined between both teams, there was 25 accepted penalties that tallied up to 252 yards total.

16 of those flags that added up to 159 yards were called on the the Red Raiders

“It was very disappointing,” Kingsbury said. “We had two the week before and to have 16 you’re not going to beat a team on the road doing that. 150 yards, I think that’s the most I’ve seen. That was a huge factor in us losing that game and we got to correct that.”

With a record of 4-2 with both losses coming in Big 12 play, Stockton said he feels as though the Red Raiders can match any team in the nation.

Both losses by the Red Raiders on the year have come by way of fourth quarter rallies by the opponent or by Texas Tech not finishing the game. And, the team coming in this Saturday is Iowa State, which has defeated Oklahoma and Kansas the previous two weeks.

Stockton’s mindset isn’t diminished though as he believes this team can go toe-to-toe with any program.

“Oh yeah, no doubt,” Stockton said. “I feel like we can play with anybody in the country. We just got to stay focused and stay hungry. Continue to get better every day and when it’s time for game day, finish all four quarters.”

Regarding a pregame skirmish, Stockton said it happened whenever the Red Raiders were stretching and a few of the Mountaineers approached them.

He said it was an intense game as both sides were getting into it, but he felt as though they handled the situation a lot better than they did last year.

Kingsbury was asked if it would disappoint him if the pregame antics were fixed, but he said it’s gamesmanship with a coach that he’s known a long time, referencing to West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen.

“I’m not sure. We haven’t had that happen anywhere else,” Kingsbury said. “You don’t like to see things like that happen. So I’m not sure how that all went down but we’d like to avoid that moving forward. You know, it would just be gamesmanship. I’ve known that coach for a long time. I don’t know what it was, but as a coach you don’t like to see your team get into a fight before the game.”