On the Gridiron

Since I didn’t do a write-up after the game, I wanted to dig into some numbers that I normally dig into after a game.

• The rushing game wasn’t necessarily a problem, 5.5 yards per rush.
• Of all things, Texas Tech solved 3rd downs, going 10 of 19, while Washington State went just 3 of 13. Doesn’t make a lick of sense. To dive a bit deeper, Texas Tech had 19 3rd downs and of those 5 were 9+ yards and Texas Tech went 1 of 5 on those. The 3rd and shorts were just 5 of 8 and think that should be a higher percentage. Oh, and Texas Tech averaged, yes averaged, 8.1 yards per carry. That’s way too high. Texas Tech was successful passing the ball on 3rd down, 9 of 13 for 137 yards. And to further this, Texas Tech averaged 9.2 yards a rush and gained 4 1st downs running the ball.
• Washington State had 10 quarterback hurries and just 1 sack. Texas Tech had 4 and a sack. Texas Tech was under pressure for 11 of their 60 passing attempts, which is more than 10% of those attempts.
• Texas Tech had 270 yards after catch compared to just 47 for Washington State. Of course they had 300 yards rushing and wonder how may of those yards were after after a hit.
• 32% of Texas Tech’s plays were 2nd down with 8 yards to go.
• That means that 68% of those plays were non-passing downs.
• Only 29% of plays for Texas Tech were run in Washington State’s side of the field, while 57% of Washington State’s were run on Texas Tech’s side of the field.
• Texas Tech had an offensive success rate of 29%, where below 40% is below average. Of all things, WSU was 32%.
• Deep passing was just 3 of 12, which is 15+ yards and 8 of 21 in medium passing, which is 5-14 yards. Where Texas Tech made their money was on short passes, 24 of 27.
• Of Texas Tech’s 10 penalties, 2 were on offense and 8 were on offense. Of those offensive penalties, 3 of them were holdings penalties, 3 of them were false starts, 1 was an illegal formation, and 1 was a personal foul. To go back to the 10 hurries and 1 sack, plus add the holding and false starts (lots of times because a lineman is trying to get back into pass protection), that’s perhaps 17 plays affected by a penalty or a pass rush.
• Catch rates (with more than 3 catches): Josh Kelly 69%; Coy Eakin 42%; Cam Dickey 83%; Caleb Douglas 50%; Jordan Brown 100%; Drae McCray 60%.

On the Court

[REPOSTING FROM YESTERDAY] Texas Tech volleyball will be on the road in Edinburg to take part in the UTRGV Tournament starting on Thursday and will play the Vaqueros as well as Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Houston Christian.

On the Pitch

Texas Tech soccer will open up Big 12 play on Thursday at TCU with game details below:

INSIDE THE MATCHUP:
MATCHUP: Texas Tech (5-2) at TCU (4-2)
DATE: Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024
LOCATION: Forth Worth, Texas (Garvey-Rosenthal Soccer Stadium)
TIME: 7 p.m.
STREAM: ESPN+