After having day to think about it I am still not certain how the coaches are still confident in Tyler Shough being the quarterback for the season. The only other thing that I can think of is that they have similar concerns about Behren Morton or maybe they think that these were two tough games and they have to keep the faith in the quarterback that you’ve invested in all year. I dunno, but I am pretty resolute in thinking that looking at Morton wouldn’t be a bad thing.
I also want to write that there’s no part of me that’s not proud of Texas Tech or this team and I get the sentiment that Texas Tech took a very good team to basically the last possession of a game. None of that is coloring my thoughts about Texas Tech or the effort or the quarterback play. I’ve never thought that Joey McGuire’s teams don’t give full effort and they did keep pace with a top 10 or so team, but I think they could have won without the turnovers.
Texas Tech soccer returned from the state of Arizona still undefeated, tying Arizona last week and beating Arizona State yesterday 1-0 thanks to a shutout from Madison White and a goal in the 72nd minute from Hannah Anderson. The ladies will host Houston on September 14th.
Luboock Avalanche-Journal’s Don Williams writes that Texas Tech will have to look inward for improvement:
They were their own worst enemy, though. Given a two-score lead to protect, a Red Raiders defense playing shorthanded, already hit by early season injuries, allowed 17- and 10-play scoring drives. Maybe they were shortchanged a Malik Dunlap interception at a key time, though Joey McGuire acknowledged afterward the officials probably got the call right.
Tyler Shough, Tech’s best weapon with 101 yards rushing and 282 yards and three touchdowns passing, offset the good with four turnovers, not all on him.
McGuire, too aggressive for his own good perhaps, went for two early in the game, went for fourth-and-2 in his own end late in the game and had both backfire. Being tied or one point behind early in the second quarter doesn’t matter. It mattered, though, when a Camden Lewis field goal gave Oregon a 31-30 lead with 1:10 left in the game. The Red Raiders would’ve had overtime as a fallback had they kicked that PAT.
Tech’s failed two-point conversion came with the Red Raiders trailing 15-13.
Luboock Avalanche-Journal’s Nathan Giese has 5 observations from the Oregon win over Texas Tech:
About that whole less running from Shough thing
Before the season, offensive coordinator Zach Kittley said Shough’s running ability would be used less frequently than last year. Part of that reason was to mitigate potential injury to the starting quarterback.
We’ve been hoodwinked. Bamboozled. Led astray.Shough had 23 rushing attempts against Oregon, while the running backs combined for eight (receiver Xavier White added an attempt as well). This did, however, open up the offense for the Red Raiders, forcing the Ducks defense to honor Shough’s ability to tuck and run.