The Red Raider defense had one spotlight of a day as they recorded five turnovers (two fumble recoveries and three interceptions) on their way to a 45-35 victory over the Oklahoma State Cowboys.
The win secured the first win against a ranked opponent at home for Texas Tech since 2013. In addition, the victory marks back-to-back wins over the Pokes.
Opening Statement:
“Really proud of our team. This was a tough week. It was an emotional week. Nobody was happy about the way we played last week (against Oklahoma), embarrassed, and I thought they responded. Tremendous amount of guts, especially late in the game. You look out there, we lose (Desmon Smith) early in the game. He’s scheduled to play half the game at one of the corners. He’s a three-team special teams starter, and you look up you got a true freshman safety and a true freshman corner just battling their tails off. (Broderick Washington, Jr.) and (Jordyn Brooks). A tremendous performance by Jordyn Brooks. Just individually very, very heroic, I mean, all the TFLs and sacks that he had. Just propelled our defense. (Douglas Coleman) had a great game, and then offensively, really good drive in the fourth quarter. I think that shows heart. It shows character, guts, especially by our O-lineman, our running backs, our tight-ends. (Jett Duffey) played well. Stingy with the football and almost 600 total yards of offense and no turnovers. Tremendous job and just proud of our guys for the way they responded coming off last week.
The juice
Texas Tech head coach Matt Wells took the stage postgame and talked about the team’s win and more.
Right off the bat, Wells talked about the energy and what we called “the juice” the crowd brought in today’s game saying, “We fed off of it. I think it goes back and forth, but third down, the energy was really, really good in there today. We’re going to do everything we can to make the Jones the hardest place to play in the Big 12. I understand our team’s a big part of that but so is the fans, and I just appreciate all of the coming out and supporting out guys.”
Jett flying high
An incredible performance in front of a packed Jones AT&T Stadium for quarterback Jett Duffey, who finished the game 26-44, 424 yards and five total touchdowns. Duffey, who had taken over for Jackson Tyner last week against Oklahoma, paced the offense to help post 45 points, which matches the season high. Duffey took to the podium after the game on his thoughts after the game.
After only scrapping out a field goal on the first drive after recovering a Cowboy fumble, Duffey and the offense found their rhythm, scoring a touchdown in every quarter, including two in the third to wide receivers T.J. Vasher and Dalton Rigdon.
“At the beginning of every game,” Duffey said, “you want to get in that rhythm to where you're just playing, you're not thinking. You're just going through everything that you've practiced all week. During this game I just felt confident from the beginning. From the get-go I felt confident in our game plan, I felt confident in my teammates.”
Duffey looked comfortable in the pocket as the offensive line only gave up one sack and one quarterback-hurry. Duffey credited the O-line for their performance in allowing his mobility and time in the pocket.
“First off, Bruffy, he is amazing,” Duffey said. “He's hard on himself. But the O-line, they blocked their butts off. They did everything that they were supposed to do. Even whenever they told me sorry, I was like, hey, man, it's all good. We're out here fighting, we're out here battling. I've got them like they've got me.”
The statement win says a lot about the character of the team. Duffey talked about the response the team had just as Wells said in his opening statement.
“We're relentless,” Duffey said. “Just because we take a loss doesn't mean we're going to take many losses. We just fight and focus on the next game.”
Coleman and the defense
The Tech defense came up with more takeaways today (5) than what they had in their season total (4). Safely Douglas Coleman came up with two interceptions today, one in the first half and the other to seal the deal in the fourth quarter.
On the first Oklahoma State drive, the Red Raider defense recovered a fumble and set up the offense in Cowboy territory. That drive is what set the tone for Tech and the game as Tech never turned the ball over, while OSU quarterback Spencer Sanders threw for three interceptions and fumbled the ball twice, both recovered by Tech.
“When the D-line gets going,” Coleman said, it just helps the back end a whole lot more. Like, the more time you give the quarterback to make a play, it kind of hurts because the longer we have to cover. When they’re on that thing, then the back end does good.”
After a Smith injury, true freshman Dadrion Taylor went in to pick up the empty slot and also had a great outing. Coleman was appreciative of the true freshman’s performance as well as Alex Hogan.
“They played great to me,” Coleman said. “I feel like Alex Hogan and Rabbit, what we call him, they stepped in and played great. Alex made a PBU and I was really proud of him.”
In addition, today’s five turnovers were the most against a Big 12 team since 2008.
The Red Raiders will use the momentum to carry themselves into a matchup visiting the Baylor Bears next weekend set for a 3 p.m. kickoff.
