1. Game Links:

Game Recap
Stats
Quotes – N/A
Highlights

2. Superb Effort. We’ll get to the third team stuff in due time, but the 1st and 2nd units were absolutely stellar. Huge effort on all 3 sides of the ball and I consider that those group of players were so dominant in the 1st half that the 2nd half was nearly meaningless says a little something.

• 41 offensive points
• 7 defensive points
• 326 yards for Texas Tech, 52 yards for Kent State
• 4 of 8 on 3rd downs for Texas Tech and 1 of 8 for Kent State
• 2 for 2 on field goals
• 2 turnovers
• 7.4 yards per play for Texas Tech and 1.7 for Kent State

Make no mistake that the effort is in those stats. I know that Shiel Wood says stats are for losers, but the eye test tells you that the first 2 units were terrific and they were playing some high-end football.

I think you also know why it’s so important to have Behren Morton play, which is that he’s really good and highly efficient. As good as Will Hammond will be, I don’t think he’s at Morton’s level. That’s not a knock, that’s a truth I believe. And Morton wasn’t as sharp as he was last week, those two throws near the goal line, behind a player and not exactly on target are the things that I hope drives him to be great. Those are not big things in the grand scheme of things, but they are fixable things.

3. Grades.

A	PASS OFFENSE
Grading on a whole, the group was 27 of 38 for 371 yards and I’m really impressed with the passing offense that Leftwhich is producing. It seemed as if they were content to be patient and he sort of waited to attack, but when he did, it was strike after strike and it was incredibly difficult for Kent State to recover. the receivers are catching nearly everything, I thought some of the drops in the first game weren’t the fault of the receivers in this game (maybe except for the Carter drop where he was by himself on the sideline).
A+	RUN OFFENSE
Adam Hill runs for 127 yards on 16 carries for nearly 8 yards a pop. The bummer was a Hill fumble, but that defender got his helmet on the ball just right, it seemed that Hill had it locked up decently, but not good enough. As a group they ran 42 times for 230 yards, 3 touchdowns and averaged 5.5 yards a carry.
A-	PASS DEFENSE
the pass defense did give up 165 yards passing, not a huge deal, and as a whole they only allowed Kent State to complete 44% of their passes. I think part of that is that Kent State isn’t a good passing team, so I don’t want to give the defense a ton of credit for something that I don’t think is a result of their play. Regardless, I thought that the group played really well and were it not for that 43 yard pass and the 29 yard pass, this is a pretty ugly game for the Golden Flashes.
A+	RUN DEFENSE
Don’t see how any other grade would be correct. Giving up only 64 yards on 34. carries for 1.9 yards a rush is impressive no matter how this is cut. The 2-deep for the defensive line is elite. Elite as of right now and two tomato cans for opponents (no offense).
B	SPECIAL TEAMS
McGuire mentioned after the game that one of the holding calls on one return was what they coach and didn’t exactly see it. Regardless, there were 3 holding penalties on returns and I’m sure that this will be fixed. Jack Burgess got a couple of punts in, which is great, 2 for 2 on field goals, and Kent State averaged about 15 yards a kickoff return. And add to it another blocked punt, this time by A.J. McCarty.
A	COACHING
Much like last week, there’s not much to coach when you’re up 48 points at halftime. If anything, McGuire said multiple times after the game that the 3rd string guys (and maybe some of the 2nd string guys) weren’t playing up to the standard expected. He was adamant about that as he walked off the field. The expectation was the expectation and those 3rd string guys didn’t control the 4th quarter at all. Now, I have no idea if the Kent State starters were playing or if that should even make a difference. I am sure there will be coaching decisions that have to be made as the season progresses, but right now I’m not sure.

4. Thicc Six. We’re all talking about the Thicc Six touchdown from Skyler Gill-Howard and it was an amazing bit of athleticism, from the pressure by Lee Hunter, the tip by A.J. Holmes, which sort of begs another question. How about those 3 guys in the defensive line rotation at the same time, three 300+ pound defensive linemen getting pressure like that. SKH is coming from the left defensive end spot with John Curry also coming on the rush next to him and Romello Height dropping into coverage on the right defensive end spot with Holmes and Hunter inside. And I have to disagree with McGuire, there is no way that Kent State receiver was going to catch Gill-Howard and punch the ball out. The block by Curry was appreciated, but SGH was making that play with or without that block.

5. Offense Clicking. I do think that Morton has a leg up and he wasn’t perfect either yesterday. The short throws at the goal line weren’t great and as mentioned above, those are things to correct. There isn’t one receiver who caught more than 59 yards, meaning the ball is going to multiple guys. And I think that the offense is definitely more vertical than it was last year, which is not a knock on Kittley. Everyone is a bit different, but this definitely feels more big play oriented. And that carries with it sometimes some risk in a close game. And I didn’t have an expectation that the offense was going to roll in the 4th quarter the way that it was in the first 3 or so. Texas Tech ran the ball 18 times in the 1st half, compared to 26 passes, and then in the third, it was 8 runs to 7 passes and then by the 4th quarter, 16 rushes to 5 pass attempts.

If I had a single concern about the offense, it would have been to punch the ball in at the goal line and the 4th down denied. There was not maximum effort being given in a couple of those situations and not the imposition of one’s will upon the opponent.

6. Defensive Backs Won’t Be Tested. I sort of wish there was more opportunity for the defensive backfield to be tested more than what’s happening, but I just don’t think we’ll see that before Utah. Statistically there weren’t just a ton of passing yards given up by the 1st string guys, but as mentioned above, Kent State isn’t some big passing team that will test these guys. The defensive line is so good, it’s nearly impossible for these lesser teams to get a pass off at all. If I had a concern about the team overall, it would be this.

7. Stats.

• Texas Tech had the ball for a total of 6 seconds more than Kent State. And in the first half it was 15:29 for KSU and 14:31 for TTU.
• Texas Tech was in passing downs only 26% of the time, which as we discussed last week was an indication of 1st down success. Not being forced to be in passing downs is a good thing.
• Texas Tech was just 6 of 13 for 3rd downs. Not great, the average distance was 6.7 yards and was 0 for 3 on 3rd and long, while just 3 of 5 on 3rd and short. On 3rd down, Texas Tech ran 5 times and gained only 4 yards. That’s what I’m talking about not imposing one’s will.
• Third down passing did have tremendous success, 6 of 8 for 126 yards.
• On 1st down, Texas Tech had 5 touchdowns. The average gain on 1st down was 7.2 yards compared to 3.9 for Kent State. I’m sure the 1st and 2nd half splits would tell an even bigger disparity.

8. Idle Thoughts.

• Roy Alexander is someone that I think I’d play a bit more. I don’t know what it was about him, but at the end of the game, he was solid and I know that Coy Eakin is very good, I think that Alexander should be the next man up at that spot.
• The leading tackler was Ben Roberts with 6. Up next was John Curry with 5 and a quarterback hurry.
• Romello Height had 3 QB hurries all by himself and a sack with Holmes having 2 QB hurries.
• Jayden Cofield had 2 tackles for a loss.
• We are at two games and haven’t even seen Caleb Douglas break out for a game and I think his day is coming. I don’t know if defenses are trying to pick their poison and doubling Douglas, which is part of the reason why Virgil and Eakin are so wide open, but Douglas’ day is fast approaching.
• Leftwich is using the backs a bit more, J’Koby Williams had 3 catches for 35 yards and Cameron Dicket had 2 for 10. Dickey didn’t have a great day, 8 for 10 yards, but he was also asked to try to punch the ball when the line may not have been giving full effort. Williams getting the start was nice, 9 for 54 is a good day. Hill was asked to carry the load, 16 rushes for 127 yards, averaging 7.9 yards an attempt. He’s a good runner.
• This is the second straight week where I’ve been so impressed by the quality of the production. The pre-game stuff was apparently terrific and I caught glimpses of it on social media. I don’t watch pre-game shows as I typically find them a waste of time. The in-game production was great and for the 2nd straight week enjoyed the announcing team.

9. Coach Comments.

Usually after a game the quotes are transcribed and that didn’t happen yesterday. Maybe we’ll get quotes later but nothing now.

10. Tortilla Tossin’ Players of the Game.

A 70% completion percent with meat still left on the bone for Morton, 258 yards and 3 touchdowns. That’s a pretty good day.

Going to go with Adam Hill. I hate that he fumbled, but Hill is more than a 3rd stringer. I do think the line opened up some huge holes for him to run through so credit given there.

Skyler Gill Howard gets all 3 stars for himself. Huge day for him, in addition to the thicc six, 4 tackles to go along with 6 points.