Texas Tech football dominates Lamar for first win of 2018

Behind true freshman quarterback Alan Bowman, the Texas Tech football team dominated the Lamar Cardinals 77-0 Saturday at Jones Stadium for the team’s first victory of the young season.

What a difference a week makes. Facing a Lamar team that began the 2018 season with a 70-0 win over Kentucky Christian, the Texas Tech football team turned the tables on the Cardinals with a 77-0 win Saturday at Jones Stadium.

The Red Raiders dominated in all aspects of the game as they looked to put the week-one 47-27 loss to Ole Miss in the rear-view mirror by taking their frustrations out on a hapless FCS opponent. True freshman QB Alan Bowman made his first career start a game to remember as he passed for 282 yards and two touchdowns on 22/25 passing before giving way to sophomore QB Jett Duffey at halftime.

Duffey was also impressive in his first extended action at Texas Tech going 7/9 for 93 yards and rushing for 82 yards and a touchdown on six carries. The backup, who has become a fascination for the Texas Tech fan base, led the team in rushing but also threw an interception, which was the Red Raiders’ only turnover of the day.

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In all, the Red Raiders ran for seven touchdowns including two apiece from Demarcus Felton, Ta’Zhawn Henry and Sa’Rodorick Thompson. On the day, Kliff Kingsbury’s offense racked up 683 yards of total offense as it executed to near perfection. Three Red Raider quarterbacks (Bowman, Duffey and Colt Garrett) combined to go 30-35 though the air for 419 yards.

But while the Red Raider offense was nearly flawless, the Texas Tech defense was even better. In recording the program’s first shutout since a 62-0 shoutout of S.E. Louisiana in September of 2006, defensive coordinator David Gibbs’ defense surrendered just 181 total yards.

Lamar averaged just 2.4 yards per play as quarterback Darrell Colbert Jr. was just 8-25 passing for 69 yards and an interception. The Red Raiders intercepted three Colbert passes with two coming from redshirt freshman Adrian Frye (who returned one 40 yards for a touchdown) and the third coming via senior safety Vaughnte Dorsey.

Sophomore linebacker Riko Jeffers led the team with 9 tackles (4 for loss), while senior linebacker Tony Jones added seven tackles and a sack. It was the kind of defensive showing the team needed after giving up yards in chunks to Ole Miss.

Of course, this win does not mean that all of the problems that plagued the team last week have been fixed. The Red Raiders were expected to dominate this game and in doing so, they proved nothing other than showing that they still have the talent to overwhelm one of the worst FCS teams in the nation.

Still, this was a nice step forward for the Red Raiders in advance of a crucial non-conference showdown with Houston next week in Lubbock. That game will reveal far more about the 2018 Texas Tech football team than Saturday’s blood-letting.

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However, this game could prove to be critically important as young players like Alan Bowman, Ta’Zhawn Henry and a host of other inexperienced players being counted on to contribute right away, received invaluable experience. Now, the team must take the momentum gained from this win and use it as a spring board for what will be arguably the biggest non-conference game of Kliff Kingsbury’s tenure as head coach.

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