Texas Tech football: Benefit of TE obvious on biggest play vs. Montana State

In Saturday’s win over Montana State, the benefit of having a true tight end on the field was evident on the Texas Tech football team’s biggest play of the game.

All offseason, Texas Tech football fans discussed just how different the Red Raider offense would look with OC David Yost bringing the tight end position back to Lubbock after a two-decade hiatus.  While most wanted to see how the position would function in the passing game, it will likely be in the running game where the difference is felt most despite being more difficult to notice.

To see just how the tight end can impact the ground game, let’s take a look at the biggest play of the 45-10 win over Montana State.  In the second quarter, grad transfer running back Armand Shyne broke off a 69-yard touchdown run just two plays after Montana State scored to cut a 14-0 Red Raider lead in half.

Following Shyne’s career-long romp, Tech’s lead would not drop below 14 points as the Red Raiders had their way with the Bobcats.  But while most of the attention went to Shyne, let’s take a look at the six men that paved the way for him.

Notice that I said six men, not five.  That’s because this run was made possible by the use of a tight end as an extra blocker.

In the clip above, notice that TE Donta Thompson is lined up next to left tackle Travis Bruffy in what is traditionally known as a “pro set”.  That’s a place we have rarely seen Tech put one of its receivers in years past.

At the snap, Thompson engages the defensive end on his side allowing Bruffy to attack one of the two linebackers in the MSU defensive formation.  Meanwhile, left guard Madison Akamnonu, right guard Jack Anderson and right tackle Casey Verhulst neutralize the other three defensive linemen.  At the same time, center Dawson Deaton is free to get to the second level and take out the other linebacker.

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The key to this play is that Tech was able to completely wipe out the second level of Montana State’s defense.  As a result, Shyne was not touched until almost 15 yards downfield.  Because he was able to hit the secondary at full speed, Shyne split two defensive backs and was off to the races for the score that changed the game.

But consider how different this play would have been if Tech would not have had a tight end on the field.  In that scenario, Tech would have had a numbers disadvantage of 6-5 in the box meaning that one of the MSU linebackers would have been free to make the play and potentially limit Shyne to a modest gain.

For instance, last year Tech would have had players such as Ja’Deion High, Kesean Carter, or Seth Collins in the slot, none of whom would have been capable of blocking a defensive end.  And even if Thompson would have been on the field for this type of play last year, the fact that he weighed 25 pounds less in 2018 would have meant that he too would not have been equipped to take on a defensive end by himself.

So with another slot receiver in the formation, Tech likely would have flexed him out wide but that would not have occupied the linebacker over Bruffy.  Rather, Montana State would have brought either a safety or a corner over and Tech would have still been at a disadvantage in the middle of the field.

Often, run blocking is nothing more than a numbers game.  That’s why Yost is adamant that he has a tight end on the field at all times who is capable of blocking as well as catching passes.

The difference between this year’s run game and last year’s can be summed up in the sentiment that in 2019, Tech will look to run the ball when it wants to, not merely when it has to as in years past.  With a true tight end on the field, the Red Raider ground game will be proactive rather than reactive.

Pause the above video at the three-second mark and you will see Shyne running right through a crease created as Bruffy and Deaton took out the MSU linebackers.  But keep in mind that if Donta Thompson were not there to take on the defensive end, Bruffy might have had to help chip on the DE potentially preventing the Red Raider senior from reaching the linebacker on his side.

Tech did not run any plays on Saturday with more than one running back on the field.  Therefore, the tight end will serve as a pseudo lead blocker at times as well as being an extra man on the line at other times as the Red Raiders look to establish dominance in the trenches.  And on the biggest play of week-one, we saw the difference a tight end can have even when he doesn’t touch the ball.