1. Game Links:

Game Recap
Stats
Highlights

2. “It’s Tough to Win a Game With 5 Turnovers.” That was Joey McGuire’s initial quote from the press conference above. If we’re being kind, it was 4 turnovers with 1 interception being at the end of half. We could quibble with the whether or not the right play was called at a particular time and I am sure that you will, but big picture, it was the turnovers.

3. McGuire Isn’t Happy With the Turnovers Either. When asked how Jake Strong did, McGuire said that it’s tough to evaluate a guy with that many turnovers. McGuire also sounds as if Jake Strong was responsible for the lack of ability to hand the ball off and give the ball to Tahj Brooks when it was appropriate. The 4th and 1 inside the 5 in the first half McGuire said would have been a touchdown had the ball been handed off and I believe that. I’ve listened to a lot of post-game pressers and McGuire sounds as upset as I’ve ever heard him. Or unhappy. He normally praises pretty much anyone, but this sounded like one of those, if you don’t have something nice, then don’t say anything at all. Would it surprise me that Brady Boyd gets the start after the off-week if Behren Morton can’t go? Nope, I think at this point McGuire would prefer that.

4. Expect Downtime. This is a decent time as any to advise you that I’m going to attempt to fix the blog this week with the bye week coming up. I need to install a new theme and I don’t expect things to go smoothly because I’m generally wired to expect the worst. This is a good time to tell you to maybe save or bookmark Staking the Plains on Tumblr, which is a free blogging platform and if the main site is down, you can still read there. I’m actually quite anxious about trying to fix things, I’ve always felt that STP is a spiderweb and messing with one thing affects everything. T’s & P’s for me.

5. The Game Was Winnable. But for the turnovers, I think Texas Tech wins this game. Strong throwing passes directly to defenders or just making poor decisions is largely the reason why Texas Tech lost, I think. I am generally not a person that dogs a player and I don’t think that stating the obvious does that for Strong. There are plenty of freshmen quarterbacks that are able to perform without throwing picks and I think that’s all that McGuire and Kittley are asking. That’s 8 turnovers (7 if we are being kind with the pick at the end of the half that didn’t affect much except that there could have been a field goal attempt) in two weeks for the true freshman and as much as you want a player to be good, it’s clear why the game was lost, at least to me.

6. Adjusted to Running. Texas Tech ran the ball 43 times to 37 attempts. I did think that in the 2nd half, BYU definitely sold out to stop the run and I tend to think that Kittley had to back off of being so run dominant in the 2nd half. If you’re looking for totals, in the 1st half there were 25 rushing attempts to 19 pass attempts and 18 run and 18 pass attempts in the 2nd half. The yards per play went from 5.3 in the first half to 4.3 in the second, so yeah, to lose an entire yard is pretty big. And it’s not as if the average was significant, the yards per rush was 3.3 in the first and 3.9 in the second, it was effective, but not explosive for sure. The other main problem was that in the 1st half, Texas Tech was 7 of 10 on 3rd downs and 2 of 8 in the 2nd.

7. Advanced Stats Stuff (If You Care). I’m sort of filling time here because it’s 10 Things. Texas Tech had a rushing success rate of 42, which is in the good category and an offensive success rate of 26, which is bad. The actual run vs pass breakdown was 54 to 46, adjusted for sacks. Texas Tech had 30 1st down attempts and ran on 18 of them, while passing for the other 12. Of those 8 completions, Texas Tech gained 44 yards, which is 5.5 yards per completion and 3.2 yards per running attempt.

8. Idle Thoughts.

• Strong threw his 3 interceptions all on 2nd downs. 2nd and 5, 2nd and 20, and 2nd and 4 to go.
• Coy Eakin having 2 penalties as a receiver is frustrating.
• I love watching Myles Price compete.
• I haven’t even talked about the defense, but I should. The defense allowed 199 yards in the 1st half and 78 in the 2nd. Maybe that’s why McGuire was so upset, which is that the defense pretty much shut down BYU in the 2nd half, allowing just 3 points and 2.6 yards per play. BYU ran the ball 20 times for 63 yards, 3.2 yards an attempt and only had 15 passing yards total. The game was there to be won.
• The Texas Tech offense was 0-5 on 3rd downs in the 3rd quarter. Handing the ball to Brooks on 3/10 for 3 yards, incomplete pass on 3/9, 10 yards for Cam’Ron Valdez on 3/13, and incomplete pass on 3/17, but there was a Brooks holding penalty that was declined.

9. Coach Comments.

Via Lubbock Avalanche-Journal’s Don Williams:

“Even though it’s four quarters and you’ve got a lot of plays to make up for it, those two plays are going to stick out,” Tech coach Joey McGuire said. “When it comes to snap, catch the ball, mesh (between quarterback and running back), hand it off or pull it, those two were big plays.”

/snip/

“I think we really tried to establish the run,” McGuire said. “But again, the fourth-and-1 and the touchdown we give up, we’re running inside zone. You’re reading an end man. Everybody in the nation runs the play, and we mishandle the mesh twice. … Miscommunication between the quarterback and the running back.”

10. Tortilla Tossin’ Players of the Game.

Brooks had 105 yards on 31 attempts, with a touchdown. Sometimes I don’t know how Brooks gets up, but he does every single play.

I normally wouldn’t have two offensive players, but Xavier White with 3 catches and 98 yards including a 72 yard touchdown and Myles Price with just 2 catches for 27 yards, but had some incredible punt returns, one of which was called back.

The 2nd half defense was really unbelievable and will get lost in this game. BYU is not a good offensive team so factor that in the equation, but regardless, they stepped up. In fact, in the 4th quarter, the defense allowed 27 total yards, 11 rushes for 19 yards. Ben Roberts had double-digit tackles again, 10 and Bryce Ramirez had 7.