Takeaways: Tech pummels SFA 69-17, Kingsbury displeased with the offense

Texas Tech got after Stephen F. Austin on Saturday night, cruising to an easy 69-17 win where the Red Raiders got up 45-3 before halftime. Head coach Kliff Kingsbury spoke with the media afterwards and shared his thoughts on the contest...

-While the Red Raiders put up 45 points on the Lumberjacks in the first half before scoring a grand total of 69, head coach Kliff Kingsbury was not happy with the way the team got there. He thought the first team offense played too much backyard football, and he didn't believe the second string offense, which played the majority of the second half, executed well enough. His thoughts: "We didn't play very technical, kind of some street ball going on early and then with that second group, we've got to get better all the way around. Guys had an opportunity to play and didn't play very well. That's something to work on. We've got to coach better. We've got to coach from the bottom up and get those guys going."

-Tech didn't run the ball much at all, finishing with only 28 total carries for 125 yards on the ground. When asked about the run game as a whole in the post game presser, Kingsbury noted that it had to do with the game plan and the fact that SFA tried to take away Tech's running game: "Yeah, we didn't really try. They were taking the run away and I knew we could throw it, so we kind of poured that on. I probably should have done a better job calling more runs and getting that established. But they were loading the box a little bit and so we just kept throwing it around."

- Junior QB Pat Mahomes threw for 407 yards in the first half of the contest, finishing the night 30 of 43 for 483 passing yards, four touchdowns, and 57 rushing yards and two touchdowns. Kingbsury on his QB's performance after the game: "Yeah, I thought he was a little loose, kind of doing his own thing a few times. Probably could have made a couple different decisions early. But he's a talented kid, gets out, makes a lot of plays. So that's what he does. But I think as we get going in the season, he's got to tighten some things up and when things are there within the system, let's take it, and then when it's not, get out and work your magic."

-Kliff on how he thought the defense performed, after holding SFA to -6 rushing yards in the first half and 370 total yards and only 17 points by the end of the day: "Yeah, that was fun to see. I thought the guys up front really dictated that, got after it in the pass rush and in the run game, that front four. If we can continue to get better there, it's going to help. So I hope that was a sign of things to come."

-Kliff noted that receiver Zach Austin has a knee injury and will miss the entire 2016 season.

-The head coach also noted that senior cornerback Paul Banks has an undisclosed NCAA issue right now, which is why he didn't play tonight. When asked for a timetable, Kingsbury simply said Banks wouldn't be available against Arizona State, but they'd take it week to week.

-True freshman linebacker Jordyn Brooks earned the starting nod against SFA, and he certainly seemed to fly around to the ball throughout the contest. Kingsbury on the young LB: "I thought he did a good job. He's young, first game. In practice, he's been playing really well and I'll have to watch the tape to see exactly how he played but he's a good presence and he's not intimidated at all but I thought he ran around and made some plays for us."

-Texas Tech started redshirt freshmen Terence Steele and Madison Akamnonu at left and right tackle on Saturday night, and both seemed to play up and down at times throughout the contest. Kingsbury on the two young linemen: "They did okay. Not great. I mean, it's going to be a big step up in competition I think. Those two ends from Stephen F. are good, but we have to get a lot better in a hurry. Consistency and consistently doing the right thing fundamentally staying sound, I thought there's a lot of room to improve there."

-Kingsbury seemed to be visibly frustrated with the way his offense played on Saturday night, despite scoring 69 points. When asked about it, the head coach replied: "No, I've just seen what we've done in practice and I don't think we played to that level. I thought defensively we did. I thought they came in and dominated. I thought offensively we were just loose with it and that second group didn't play up to our standard at all. To me, it's on us as coaches to coach our bottom half up, and we'll start doing that tomorrow."

-The Red Raiders had a great night on special teams, especially junior punt returner Cam Batson, who averaged 19 per return with a nice 33 yarder in the first half. Kingsbury on the performance of Joe Robinson's special teams units: "Thought we covered kicks great all night. The one long return they had, that was all my fault really for not communicating to Coach Rob what we were going to do. But looked like those units covered well, and Cam had some great returns, which I thought he was aggressive in returning it. Last year, he probably would have fair caught those, and he caught some balls in traffic and made some plays."