Texas Tech Football: 5 Team Statistical Goals For 2017
As the Texas Tech football team continues its preparation for the 2017 season, here are five goals that the team should strive for to ensure a successful campaign.
The agonizing wait for the return of football season is nearing its end. In just 19 days, the Texas Tech football team will take the field at Jones Stadium for the 2017 season opener.
This year, there are a myriad of question marks surrounding the upcoming season. And both the Texas Tech offense and defense have room for improvement on last year’s performance.
Of course, it is easy to sling daggers at the 2016 Texas Tech defense. David Gibbs’ unit was the worst statistical defense in the country as Tech allowed at least 40 points to eight opponents last season.
However, the Texas Tech offense was not perfect either. The magical play of quarterback Patrick Mahomes was able mask a number of huge flaws in Kliff Kingsbury’s offense meaning that this year’s team will be forced to be a better overall until with Mahomes now in the NFL.
Statistics do not tell the entire story of a football season but they are a good place to start when analyzing the quality of a team. Here are five statistical goals that the Red Raiders should strive for in order to show marked improvement this year.
4.5 Yards Per Carry
Casual observers have come to view the Texas Tech football run game as an afterthought. After all, the program has spent almost two decades near the top of the NCAA passing categories. However, astute fans understand the importance of the ground game in Kliff Kingsbury’s offense.
The Texas Tech offense must have the ability to keep opposing defenses honest. If the Red Raiders are without a running attack that threatens the defense, opponents will have the luxury of sending pressure at Nick Shimonek in relentless waves. A healthy ground game could force the defense to think twice about selling out to stop the pass.
While he is a good athlete, Shimonek is not an escape artist like Patrick Mahomes. He will need a clean pocket and time to throw the ball.
What’s more, the ground game could help the passing game by making defenses take a defensive back off the field for the sake of adding a third linebacker which Texas Tech could exploit in one-one-one match-ups with a slot receiver.
The 2016 Red Raiders featured the most anemic rushing attack of the Kingsbury era. Tech ranked just 124th of 128 teams in the country with 3.2 yards per carry.
Kingsbury’s previous teams put up 3.6, 5.2 and 5.6 yards per carry in 2013, 2014 and 2015 respectively. The two seasons in which Tech put up over 5.0 yards per rush were when the ground game revolved around DeAndre Washington who poster back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons.
There does not appear to be a workhorse like Washington on the team this year. Returning backs Demarcus Felton and Da’Leon Ward combined to put up just 782 yards as a tandem a season ago.
Senior Justin Stockton has never rushed for more 396 yards in a season and had a disappointing 2016 with 154 yards on 53 attempts. JUCO transfer Desmond Nisby is turning heads in fall camp but is yet to prove his worth at the FBS level.
Thus, it would seem a stretch to ask the Texas Tech offense to surpass the 5.0 yards per carry mark this year. A more reasonable goal would be 4.5.
Rushing for 4.5 yards per carry last year would have ranked Texas Tech tied for 58th in the nation. More importantly, reaching that goal in 2017 would mean that the Red Raiders can threaten teams on the ground and in the air. That would make the 2017 offense more balanced and potentially more effective than the unit that averaged 43.7 points per game last season.