Texas Tech football: Turning points that cost Tech in loss to Zona

Arizona’s first pick comes on a Red Raider mix-up

In a game featuring two of the nation’s top-10 offenses, most were surprised when points became difficult to come by.  But in the first half, Tech missed a golden opportunity to take control of the game by putting seven early points on the board.

Safety Douglas Coleman gave Tech its third possession of the game by intercepting Arizona’s Khalil Tate.  But the Red Raiders could not turn the season’s first takeaway into points because Alan Bowman returned the favor to the home team.  Though it is hard to know if the blame falls on the QB or his junior wide receiver T.J. Vasher.

Tech had finally put together a promising drive and the offense was finding its rhythm after picking a 4th-and-1 conversion to move to the Arizona 30.  But on the next snap, Bowman took a deep shot to the endzone where the only player in the area was Arizona defensive back Lorenzo Burns, who made the interception.

There was obviously a miscommunication between Bowman and Vasher because Bowman threw the fade route Vasher ran a stop route.  This type of mistake between the QB and his best receiver is a reminder just how little game action the two have with each other.

Last year, Bowman made just seven starts and in one of those (the West Virginia game), Vasher was sidelined.  Thus, Saturday was just the ninth game that Tech has had both Bowman and Vasher starting together making it understandable how they could have mixups as we saw against Arizona.

This was a huge moment early in the game.  Tech had a chance to jump out to a 7-0 lead on a team that was at a bit of a crossroads after getting off to a 1-1 start.   Given that Tech did score two drives later to put the game’s first points on the board, this was a missed opportunity to jump out to a 14-0 lead against a defense that entered the game doubting itself, especially in the secondary.

But with each Red Raider drive that was thwarted, the Wildcats became more emboldened and that was never more true than when they picked off Bowman for the first time in the game.  Because Tech’s QB was not on the same page as his lead receiver, the Red Raiders gave away a golden opportunity to seize the early momentum on the road.