It is wild to me to think about where we were on this team almost a month ago when Texas Tech got its season rolling against Abilene Christian.
When I left the stadium a week ago after the Arizona State game, I was wildly unsatisfied with the team’s lack of a killer instinct and inability to pull away. Now again last night, the Red Raiders had a chance up 14 to keep their foot on the gas. Cincinnati found a way to keep it interesting. However, I think the Bearcats are a much better team than the Sun Devils and I found myself much more impressed with Tech’s showing last night, especially considering the slow start.
Defensively this group continues to improve, but I still think we’re a long ways away from the final product of what they can be by the season’s end.
That’s the beauty, though, behind these McGuire-led teams of the last few seasons. As the season wears on, they have consistently improved and I don’t see that changing with this team. We’re already seeing it happen.
You would certainly like to see more consistency in pass rush and that would in turn help out this young secondary. But what is undeniable about this defense is they create havoc in times where they need to most. Brendan Sorsby entered the game last night without an interception and Cincy was one of the best teams in the country in time of possession.
By the end of the night, AJ McCarty had put a “1” in Sorsby’s “INT” column of the stat book, and a fumble to start the second half when the game was tied at 24 could not have been any more perfectly timed.
Sure, Cincinnati still ended up winning TOP and the game came down to the last second, but think of how much different the complexion of the game would have been had Cincinnati gone down and scored coming out of half. How much different it makes your offensive approach if you're again playing from behind, and not from a clean slate. There's plenty of reasons to complain about the defense but in my eyes, they're wrecking shop when it matters the most and that has made a monster difference.
The issue with teams that are so young is not only are the players trying to learn how to simply be in the right positions and make the right plays on the field, but the mental game of knowing how to win is another part of that battle. I think we’re seeing in real time these young players continuing to both learn how to play, and most importantly, how to win. It showed last week in the three fourth down stops, and it showed last night with the two turnovers and the final defensive stand to limit Cincy to a 51-yard attempt.
Credit on offense goes first to Behren Morton, who really impressed me last night. I’ve been critical of Morton. I’ve been critical of his pocket presence, his downfield accuracy and placement. A good deal of us have. What is undeniable, however, is Morton has played extremely efficient at home and zero turnovers inside of The Jones so far has made a tremendous, tremendous impact on the winning football.
The 28-yard scramble reset bomb in the 4th quarter to Josh Kelly was the highlight of the game for Morton, in my opinion, but there were several other passes that he made where he gave the receiver the best chance they could have to bring it down, it just didn’t work out. Morton made good reads all night, especially in the RPO game, where I think he has had a lot of success this season.
And of course, I can’t go without mentioning Tahj Brooks. There is not really anything I can say about him that hasn’t been said already. Just know, I am acknowledging his greatness.
Now it’s time to get ready for the Arizona game, a real focal point on the schedule as the first Big 12 road test and it will be anything but easy in Tucson. If I had to guess, I’d be willing to say the chunk of us have a grasp on what gives us pause about this Red Raider team this week and moving forward. We can dive more into those gaps as the week wears on and we prepare for the Wildcats. But for now, you and I can appreciate that this team is finding ways to win and that is not something we were saying early in the season last year.
This was a gutsy performance and I can safely say my confidence in this team is rising.
