Texas Tech football: The Good, the bad and the ugly of Jett Duffey’s performance

The Ugly: Duffey’s decision-making led to two interceptions

Kliff Kingsbury has been consistent when talking about what he wants in his 2018 quarterbacks. Throughout the offseason, he repeatedly said that protecting the football is what he wants most from his QB.

That is why McLane Carter won the starting job out of fall camp and why Jett Duffey began the year as the third-string QB. For everything that he brings to the table, Duffey’s critical flaw is in his decision-making.

He is a player wired to take chances. As is so often the case with athletic quarterbacks, he seems to have gotten away with risky plays so often over his career that he believes the can make even the most impossible throw.

But as he learned on Saturday, in the Big 12, decision-making gaffes will get your team beat. Duffey threw two interceptions, including a back-breaking pick-six in the 4th quarter as Tech was driving to potentially tie the game.

His first pick came on his first possession of the game. Trying to lead his team to points in a two-minute situation, Duffey lofted a pass into triple coverage leading to an easy interception.

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Certainly, this was a play that was costly but also understandable. Often times, QB’s are prone to mistakes when entering a game unexpectedly as the adrenaline kicks in after standing on the sidelines for an hour or more.

For example, recall Pat Mahomes’ first ever play as a Red Raider. Subbing for injured starter Davis Webb, the true freshman entered against West Virginia and proceeded to fumble the ball, recover it and throw an interception on his first play. Even the great ones are not immune.

But Duffey’s second interception was inexcusable. What’s more, it is almost impossible to figure out what he was doing on that play.

Despite having a wide open Ja’Deion High in the right slot, Duffey looked him off, turned to his blind side and lofted a lazy pass in the direction of Antoine Wesley. WVU defensive back Keith Washington picked the ball off and returned it for a TD to go back up 15 points with just 2:58 to play.

This was a perfect example of the type of decision-making lapses that have caused Kingsbury not to trust Duffey. In a critical moment, the entire Texas Tech football community got to see first-hand why Kingsbury did not go with Duffey as his starter this season.

Ultimately, a QB’s most important weapon is his mind. But Duffey appears to have less of a grasp of the offense than does Bowman or Carter.

The head coach’s comments following the game seemed to back up that assertion.

"“I needed to give him stuff he’s comfortable with and obviously those two [interceptions] were concepts he didn’t have a good feel for and I think he just forced it.” Kingsbury said in his post-game press conference."

In the team’s next three games, Texas Tech will see both TCU and Iowa state, which held the Red Raiders to 3 and 17 points respectively last year. Thus, it will be critical that whomever is at quarterback is making the right decisions.

So far, Duffey is tied for the team lead in interceptions despite playing in only two games. That type of carelessness with the football could ultimately cost him an opportunity to play as large of a role as most assumed he would when he arrived on campus.