10 Things: Texas Tech 24, UCF 23

1. Game Links:

2. Bowl Eligibility. I am still traveling and didn’t get a chance to watch the game, so my thoughts are based on highlights and press conferences and stats. I did hear Joey McGuire say that Dadrion Taylor-Demerson had a groin issue that didn’t get loosened up and Jaylon Hutchings did not tear his ACL and everything is intact and hope to have him available for Texas. Those seem like really important injuries and for Texas on Friday.

But I’m burying the lede here in that Texas Tech is now bowl eligibility, in a season where it seemed a bit lost after starting 1 of 3 and to get to bowl eligibility seemed like a lost cause. Joey McGuire and this team kept driving and secured a winning Big 12 record, something that hasn’t happened in ages (since 2008 and 2009) and now Texas Tech has a bowl streak.

3. Tahj Timed Them Out. With 5:30 remaining, Texas Tech needed to run the clock out and UCF had 3 timeouts remaining. That last drive there were 10 plays (basically, 2 were kneel downs so there were 12 total) and Brooks ran 8 of them, a total 34 yards and there were 3 first downs, helped a bit by a UCF penalty. Texas Tech wore UCF down, of the 190 or so rushing yards, Teas Tech had 110 of them in the second half and simply wore the Knights down. A career high of 182 rushing yards for Brooks on senior night. Absolutely fitting.

4. Defense Stood Tall. I had significant concerns about UCF’s ability to score and it wasn’t pretty in the first half, 302 yards allowed, but only 14 points were given up and in the second half, the Texas Tech defense gave up just 185 total. Not only that, but part of the first half issue was UCF was 7 of 10 on 3rd downs and that changed to 2 of 5 in the second half.

5. Missed Opportunities. Not for Texas Tech, but for UCF. A missed opportunity at the end of the first half for points and couldn’t punch the ball in the end zone or even get a field goal off, maybe because of clock mismanagement, before time expired. In the second half, a missed field goal and a Dooda Banks blocked extra point, the most routine of all plays resulted in a Texas Tech win. Maybe that’s the deal, there are no routine plays and every play is an opportunity. Don’t give up the bit until the game ends.

6. Stat Things.

Texas Tech ran the ball 29 times, averaging 6.6 yards per rush and had 35 pass attempts completing 21 of 35 for 60%.
Texas Tech really only had 20% of their downs as passing downs, which are 2nd downs with 8+ yards to go or 3rd/4th downs with 5+ yards to go. That means that Texas Tech was in pretty good position most of the evening.
On 3rd downs, Texas Tech was just 1 of 6 passing.
Strangely, Texas Tech averaged 4.7 yards to go on 3rd down and that usually doesn’t result in a 3 of 9 on 3rd down. Texas Tech was just 2 of 4 on 3rd and short and that’s where UCF feasted, going 8 of 10.
Texas Tech’s offensive rushing success rate was 69 (nice) which anything above 50 is great.
Texas Tech averaged 8.3 yards per rushing attempt on 1st down. That’s pretty insane.
UCF’s lone turnover came on 1st down.
Texas Tech’s 3 touchdowns all came on 1st down. That’s the definition of shooting your shot.

7. Special Teams Special Again.. Is this yet another game where special teams not only matters, but wins the game on a handful of levels? Texas Tech averaged 47 yards per punt and there were only 2 punts and Austin McNamara pinned both inside the 20 and had a long punt of 53. Texas Tech was 1 of 1 on field goals, a 51-yarder no less, no easy task. Texas Tech had 3 kick returns, including a 54-yard return from Drae McCray. And defensively, Banks getting a hand on the extra point sealed the win (along with Brooks).

8. Idle Thoughts.

Behren Morton was good, 21 of 35 for 256, 2 touchdowns and 1 interception. He was also the only other person that ran the ball, 3 times for 10 yards and he didn’t get sacked.
Jacob Rodriguez will sit out next week for Texas to preserve his redshirt, finished the day with 12 tackles, leading the team.
Drae McCray finished with 4 catches for 55 yards and a touchdown.
Both McCray and Coy Eakin were 4 of 7 for catches to targets. Jordan Brown was 100%, Mason Tharp was 75% and Xavier White was 60%.

9. Coach Comments.

Opening statement:

“I’ll tell you what, the last two weeks have aged me. I just can’t say enough about the team. I thought the defense was kind of on their heels early in the first quarter but were able to settle down. We gave up the fake field goal — what’s crazy about that is something like that happens, then you turn around and you’ve got Dooda (E’Maurion) Banks blocking that extra point to keep it 24-23 and win the game. Just the resiliency of this team — starting off 1-3 and having the injuries that we’ve had. Again tonight, Rabbit (Dadrion Taylor-Demerson) has a groin issue that we couldn’t get loosened up, so we’re playing a true freshman (Chapman Lewis) and he makes some huge tackles. Jaylon (Hutchings) with his knee, and you have Dooda Banks step up and have a huge pressure on the quarterback that translated into an interception by C.J. Baskerville. Man, it just seems like that’s what’s happened all year long. The other thing is if Behren Morton starts a game and finishes the game, good things happen, and he did it again tonight. And what can you say about the offensive line and Tahj Brooks finishing the game by rushing the football and being able to get in the best formation in football, the “Victory” formation. I can’t say enough about these guys. UCF is a really good football team, very explosive on offense, and I thought our guys settled down and played well besides one blown coverage at the end. It’s exciting. Whenever I first got this job, I asked the players to understand that the floor of this program is to be bowl eligible. Tonight was a big part of continuing to build this program and having this mindset of “what’s next?” and get to where we want to go.”

On what E’Maurion Banks was able to do tonight in place of Jaylon Hutchings…

“I’ve been really proud of him since he’s come back. He’s really growing. Him and Tre (Trevon McAlpine) are a little bit different than Boog (Jaylon Hutchings) and Tony (Bradford Jr). Boog and Tony, they’re block hitters. They just freakin stay in there. Dooda (E’Maurion Banks) is really long. There’s more get off the football and penetration. Again, he had a huge pressure, he gets in the quarterback’s face, he can hit the quarterback’s arm. That’s why C.J. (Baskerville) was able to get that interception. And then throughout any of the field goals or extra points, he got pressure up the middle. There was a couple of times that we thought we had it blocked. Even on the one that went off the post, we thought he had it blocked. The great thing about him is he just keeps getting better.”

10. Tortilla Tossin’ Players of the Game.

Gerald Garcia is getting a tortilla, not an opportunity for the entire game and has to hit a 51-yarder for what would end up being the game-winner.

Tahj Brooks gets two of these for himself, 24 rushing attempts and 182 yards along with a touchdown. Huge play from Brooks.

C.J. Baskerville had 7 tackles, 2nd highest last night, and also a heck of an interception, his first of the year. Add in Dooda Banks, who subbed in for an injured Hutchings, finished with 2 tackles, a tackle for a loss, a quarterback hurry and a blocked extra point.