Texas Tech football: What we learned about defense, depth and Duffey from TCU game
Kliff Kingsbury finally has enough depth on the roster to survive the rigors of Big 12 play
For far too long, Texas Tech football fans have come to dread the team’s annual swoon in the second half of the season. Fans have mockingly come to refer to the team as the “Red Faders” as each season under Kingsbury, Tech has struggled down the stretch.
Only once in Kingsbury’s tenure (2016), has Tech managed to avoid a losing record in its final six games of the regular season (and that season the Red Raiders went just 3-3). And while the TCU game was the final game of the first half of the 2018 campaign, it gave us reason to believe that this year could be different over the final six games.
That is because this is by far Kingsbury’s deepest team. And that depth was heavily called upon Thursday night.
Against one of the most talented defenses in the Big 12, if not the country, the Red Raiders had to play without five starters on the offensive side of the ball. Everyone is aware that starting QB Alan Bowman missed the game forcing Jett Duffey to make his first career start.
But Tech was also without starting center Paul Stawarz and it would lose receiver T.J. Vasher and left guard Travis Bruffy in the first half. Additionally, Madison Akamnonu, who has started every game this year at right guard, played only on special teams as a family situation that has recently emerged made the coaching staff feel like he was not the best option against the Frogs.
What’s more, week one starting RB Da’Leon Ward carried the ball only three times and QB McLane Carter re-aggravated the high ankle sprain that had kept him out of action since the season opener. But somehow, Texas Tech managed to win.
The backups were far from perfect. Duffey was inconsistent and backup center Bailey Smith was flagged on multiple occasions as he struggled with the snap count. Likewise, backup tackle Dawson Deaton was beaten for a sack and Vasher’s backup, Dalton Rigdon we unable to come up with any receptions.
Still, how many previous versions of the Texas Tech football team would be unable to overcome the loss of five starters? For instance, recall the 2014 game against Texas in which backup QB Pat Mahomes had to make his first career start.
When Mahomes was knocked out of the game in the first quarter, Tech had to rely on third-string QB Vincent Testaverde. That night, Tech had no way to compete because it had to go to its third-string QB.
But the story was different this week against TCU. Tech absorbed a number of unfortunate breaks and still managed to rally around its No. 3 QB for the win. This is a great sign that the 2018 team is deeper than any in Kingsbury’s time on campus and hopefully, the second-half swoon will be a thing of the past.