The Texas Tech Red Raiders were able to get a full lopsided win over the Oklahoma State Cowboys in Lubbock. It’s generally never a bad thing for a team to go out and beat its opponent 42-0. This was a shutout! It was great!
Well, kinda.
There were a few things that just didn’t seem to be all that great about this 42-point shutout victory over a conference opponent. In fact, I find myself a little concerned from a few different stats that we saw in Texas Tech’s win over Oklahoma State.
Let’s take a look at them.
2.2 – The yards per carry that the Red Raiders averaged against Oklahoma State
Yeah, look, there’s nothing good about that. But do you want to know what makes it extra concerning? You want the additional context on this one that makes me really worried about the way Texas Tech’s offense is operating right now?
It’s the fact that Oklahoma Stae was giving up 4.6 yards per carry prior to this game. It’s the fact that the Cowboys’ defense was getting gashed for 172.3 rushing yards per game. It’s the fact that Oklahoma State just isn’t good at slowing down opposing rushing attacks.
And they did a decent job today against Texas Tech in Lubbock.
I don’t love that.
3 – The number of sacks allowed to an Oklahoma State defense that really doesn’t have a great pass rush
Texas Tech’s offense needs some help. Truly. It does. The Red Raiders aren’t operating the way they were at the beginning of the season. And I think there’s a few different reasons for that that we could discuss. The biggest thing that I’m concerned about right now is a potential breakdown in the communication between the offensive line and the quarterback.
And given how there’s been a little bit of an issue at quarterback lately, I think this is certainly plausible. It’s a little worrying that Texas Tech gave up three sacks against Oklahoma State today. The Cowboys, entering this matchup, were averaging 1.86 sacks per game.
With the way the offense was whirring at the start of the season, I didn’t think sacks would be an issue. I more or less assumed that the Red Raiders would be able to not only protect their quarterback at the offensive line, but also I kind of guessed that Texas Tech would have enough of a quick passing game to compliment the vertical passing that they want to do and also to neutralize any sort of aggressive pass rush.
But that didn’t happen here.
71 – The total yardage for Texas Tech in the second quarter
Texas Tech’s offense ran 20 plays in the second quarter. The Red Raiders averaged 3.6 yards per play in the second quarter. That’s not ideal! It’s like Oklahoma State figured out how to neutralize the Red Raiders’ offense as soon as Texas Tech got away from scripting plays in the early drives of the first quarter.
And maybe that’s what happened, maybe it’s not. I don’t know. I do know that it’s not a good sign for a team that wants to compete in the college football playoff this season to struggle to consistently produce an offense against an inferior opponent that might just be the worst team in the country this season.
And for that to be a problem at this point in the game? That’s concerning to me.