It goes without saying that Texas Tech since Joey McGuire took over has been less-than-perfect on the road. 3-8 is a ghastly tally that has gotten worse and one that we have to look at each week that this team prepares to embark to someone else’s house. It is almost like this has become the unthinkable, an unfathomable task that the Red Raiders go on the road and put together a complete game and walk out with a victory.
Early in Joey McGuire’s second season at the helm, he went forth to newly-minted men’s head basketball coach Grant McCasland looking for advice on being successful away from home. In his six seasons in Denton, McCasland’s teams went 43-32 when not playing at The Super Pit– this included a 10-3 mark in McCasland’s final campaign with the team.
Tighter huddles. More self-manufactured energy. Things to that nature. This was the response that McGuire got from the basketball side of things on campus.
The Red Raiders went until the penultimate week of the 2022 season without winning away from The Jones before finally exorcizing this demon and taking down Iowa State in a rough game in Ames.
Last season, the wait was much shorter as Tech took down Baylor in the best road showing the team has put up since McGuire took over, 39-14. A real drubbing in Waco.
The Red Raiders again got some sense of road magic when they went into Lawrence and defeated a ranked Kansas side on a last second field goal from Gino Garcia.
Tighter huddles, more self-manufactured juice. And truly, some luck and a vicious deep ball in the final minute to help you win against the Jayhawks.
Still, though, Texas Tech has been largely unsatisfactory on the road and this sent McGuire hunting down answers again. This time he went to Dan Campbell’s door, now-fourth year head coach of the Detroit Lions. Last season, which saw the Lions finish 1st in the NFC North for the first time in God knows how long, Campbell led the Lions to a 6-3 record on the road, including wins over the Chiefs and divisional rivals, the Packers and Vikings.
Make practice as much of a pain as you possibly can.
I may be paraphrasing, but this was essentially the result of said discussions between McGuire and Campbell. Calling flags at the most inconvenient times, for either side of the ball, making up rules, doing whatever you can to try and throw off the rhythm. Simulating what to expect on the road and doing it like twenty steps further.
Goes to show that McGuire went searching for answers in the right places.
So far this year, Tech has only had to make one trip away from the confines of West Texas, a disastrous loss to Washington State where the now-remarkable Red Raider offense only managed 16 points. But when the dust settled from the affairs in Pullman, McGuire’s main message was more focused on being better defensively.
It seems like every time this team has to make a trip, we as a collective make it out to be some sort of spectacle. I say all this above to conclude that taking this show on the road and winning is not some gargantuan task. But, the object of winning and winning on the road will be a concern until it isn’t. Do we collectively make too big a deal about this team playing on the road?
It is obviously a major concern within the building and this is evidenced by McGuire’s relentless hunt to give his team any sort of psychological advantage when they’re on the road.
I don’t think anybody will argue that Tech is likely the more talented team when comparing it to Washington State. That night, no Tahj Brooks was detrimental and in the weeks since I think we’ve all come to realize even more how much his presence actually means to this offense.
Tetairoa McMillan and the various playmakers at both tight end and in the backfield are going to be a problem. I don’t see any way McMillan doesn’t have a monster game, especially if the secondary is without Bralyn Lux.
It's all going to boil down to if this offense can play clean football and if your physicality is going to be up to the bar that UA set when it took down Utah in Salt Lake City. This offense has played plenty efficient at home, and you're ultimately looking to see if this can translate on the road, even more so now since Brooks is back at full tilt.
Talking about road games around here is like some sort of taboo. And maybe that won’t change until there starts to be more success in that regard. I don’t know about you, but I’m ready for these kinds of contests to not be looked at under that gloomy umbrella.
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