This is my notebook. I literally take notes in the notebook each year that I don’t get to post. Now, I’m emptying said notebook.

• Keenon Ward’s interception really was terrific. It’s been a long time since we’ve seen Wad in front of the defense, not running behind a defender. He was right there and Ward getting up there to intercept the ball and have the body control to pull in the ball was terrific. Equally terrific was the 4 plays and 86 yards that the offense drove down the field. That will break a team’s back.
• Texas Tech completed 7 of 15 on third downs.
• Thought it was interesting to see the defense essentially line up with two down linemen and then two ends, sometimes just one end, standing up. Arizona State runs a 3-5-3 and Texas Tech was sorta in something similar to that. It will be interesting to see if that’s something that sticks this year of if it was a one-off for SFA.
• Kirby Hocutt was interviewed during the game and said that he would watch 23 games this weekend, that they would be condensed to 45 minutes for each game. What a job.
• SFA’s quarterback wasn’t really that good so take the passing stats with a grain of salt. He got better in the second half, but he struggled at times to hit open receivers. I don’t think you would be out of line to think that the secondary is the most troublesome of the defense.
• Corey Dauphine’s 27 yard romp through the line was like being shot out of a cannon. Just be patient on him. Dauphine apparently has issues picking up blocks, but at some point, he’ll force himself on the field with plays like that.
• Texas Tech had 758 total yards, which is ridiculous.
• On the penalty front, Texas Tech had way too many, more than their fair share on the offensive line. There were 7 penalties total for 42 yards, which seems impossible to have that few of yards on penalties, but the one holding penalty was half the distance to the goal when Texas Tech was backed into their own end zone and I think there was just one pass interference call, rightfully so, on Theirry Nguema.
• Texas Tech won the turnover battle again, gaining three turnovers, two of them interceptions, the aforementioned Ward and Nguema had a really nice pick and Zach Barnes had a terrific hit on Zach Conque while Malik Jenkins recovered.
• Freshmen that played: Desmon Smith, Jordyn Brooks, Douglas Coleman, Johnathan Picone, Zach Adams, Kevin Moore, Brayden Stringer, Bailey Smith, Travis Bruffy, T.J. Vasher and Joe Wallace.
• Redshirt freshmen that played: Terance Steele, Madison Akamnonu, Donta Thompson, Quan Shorts and Broderick Washington.
• I mentioned that I thought that he second defensive unit struggled initially, but I do really love the potential of Broderick Washington, Lonzell Gilmore and Joe Wallace. This is how teams are built, these guys are young and they’re still figuring thins out, but you can’t be respectable on defense without guys that stick with it and grow up in the system. Washington is going to be a player and so is Gilmore. Wallace looked significantly quicker than I thought he would be. And there was a point where defensive line coach was celebrating with Gilmore (I think) and even sacks in these sorts of situations mean something.
• Does it make anyone feel any better that David Gibbs and Zac Spavital helped build the foundation for that Houston defense? Kingsbury mentioned it after the game, that Gibbs finally has some of his guys and I think that sometimes we really underestimate how important that is to a coach.
• The secondary wasn’t really tested at all. Lots of zone coverage and keeping the ball in front of them. I think that’s fine play against SFA and I’ll be deeply interested to see how they play against Arizona State. I think they’ll play similar and try to let the line really make an impact.
• Texas Tech was 9 for 9 in the red zone.