... Texas Tech face-planted this afternoon in Houston. It literally started with a face-plant, as a Red Raider defensive back tripped and fell while covering D.K. Metcalf, and 58-yards later Ole Miss would take a lead that it would essentially hold for the rest of the game.
... You can dice this up any number of ways, but Ole Miss did more with its 12 chunk plays (passes that go for 15-plus, runs that go for 10-plus) than Texas Tech did with its 11. Four of the Rebels' chunk plays went for scores - this doesn't include the kickoff return for a score - while the Red Raiders mustered just one touchdown off of big plays.
... You think you know things based on the offseason, coaches' comments, what happened last season and the like, but the offensive line and the run game were about the only things that I thought were as advertised Saturday. Texas Tech's defensive performance was, obviously, a significant disappointment (more later) and, collectively, the receivers were a non-factor.
... T.J. Vasher's first quarter catch is as good as you will probably see in college football this season. He can clearly high-point the football and had an overall encouraging performance this afternoon but he needs to be a more consistent presence in the offense if this passing game is going to be effective.
... My biggest takeaway from Texas Tech's defensive performance is that the Red Raiders never really made the Rebels earn it. They gave up a 58-yard touchdown reception on the second play of the game, a 39-yard touchdown run on 4th and 1 and a 65-yard touchdown run in the third quarter when it was a two-score game. Giving up 7.5 yards per run to what was thought to be a pretty pedestrian Ole Miss run game is alarming as well.
... Texas Tech had plenty of chances to get back into this game in the third quarter, down 10 at two separate points, but failed to capitalize on the opportunity. I feel like we've seen that script before over the last few seasons.
... For all of the experience that this team returns on both sides of the ball, there sure were a lot of dumb decisions. There's really no other way around it. De'Quan Bowman's decision to try and run out the kickoff after Ole Miss' first score did not strike me as the best call. You can argue about whether the rule makes sense all you want, but these players should absolutely know by now what the officials are going to call when it comes to targeting - Desmon Smith's hit and especially Vaughnte Dorsey's hit were terrible, no-good, very bad decisions. Seth Collins' inability to walk away without popping off more cost the Red Raiders 15-yards of red zone field position. Extremely poor decision-making all around.
... I thought Alan Bowman performed about as well as could have been realistically expected in relief of McLane Carter. I feel better about his showing today than I did about Carter's against Texas last season.
... Good to see Clayton Hatfield return to form. That is very positive news. I don't have anything else good to say about the special teams.
... Since starting off last season 3-0, the Red Raiders have now lost eight of their last 11 games.
... Kliff Kingsbury is 2-28 when trailing at the half as Texas Tech's head coach.
... You can dice this up any number of ways, but Ole Miss did more with its 12 chunk plays (passes that go for 15-plus, runs that go for 10-plus) than Texas Tech did with its 11. Four of the Rebels' chunk plays went for scores - this doesn't include the kickoff return for a score - while the Red Raiders mustered just one touchdown off of big plays.
... You think you know things based on the offseason, coaches' comments, what happened last season and the like, but the offensive line and the run game were about the only things that I thought were as advertised Saturday. Texas Tech's defensive performance was, obviously, a significant disappointment (more later) and, collectively, the receivers were a non-factor.
... T.J. Vasher's first quarter catch is as good as you will probably see in college football this season. He can clearly high-point the football and had an overall encouraging performance this afternoon but he needs to be a more consistent presence in the offense if this passing game is going to be effective.
... My biggest takeaway from Texas Tech's defensive performance is that the Red Raiders never really made the Rebels earn it. They gave up a 58-yard touchdown reception on the second play of the game, a 39-yard touchdown run on 4th and 1 and a 65-yard touchdown run in the third quarter when it was a two-score game. Giving up 7.5 yards per run to what was thought to be a pretty pedestrian Ole Miss run game is alarming as well.
... Texas Tech had plenty of chances to get back into this game in the third quarter, down 10 at two separate points, but failed to capitalize on the opportunity. I feel like we've seen that script before over the last few seasons.
... For all of the experience that this team returns on both sides of the ball, there sure were a lot of dumb decisions. There's really no other way around it. De'Quan Bowman's decision to try and run out the kickoff after Ole Miss' first score did not strike me as the best call. You can argue about whether the rule makes sense all you want, but these players should absolutely know by now what the officials are going to call when it comes to targeting - Desmon Smith's hit and especially Vaughnte Dorsey's hit were terrible, no-good, very bad decisions. Seth Collins' inability to walk away without popping off more cost the Red Raiders 15-yards of red zone field position. Extremely poor decision-making all around.
... I thought Alan Bowman performed about as well as could have been realistically expected in relief of McLane Carter. I feel better about his showing today than I did about Carter's against Texas last season.
... Good to see Clayton Hatfield return to form. That is very positive news. I don't have anything else good to say about the special teams.
... Since starting off last season 3-0, the Red Raiders have now lost eight of their last 11 games.
... Kliff Kingsbury is 2-28 when trailing at the half as Texas Tech's head coach.
