Texas Tech football: Turning points that cost Tech in loss to Zona
Arizona game-winning TD drive kept alive by pre-snap Texas Tech penalty
If the Douglas Coleman post-snap penalty to end the first half didn’t make Matt Wells’ blood pressure spike, Tech’s illegal substitution on the drive Tate extended with his 16-yard scramble most certainly did. If there was one play in this game that you could point to as the fatal blow, it would be this mental error because it extended the drive on which Arizona would score the game-winning TD.
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Three plays after Brooks could not bring down Tate in the open, Tech had put the Cats in a 3rd-and-10 situation at their own 25. Again, make a stop and get the ball back in fairly decent field position.
On the play, Jeffers chased Tate out of bounds after a one-yard gain and it appeared that Tech was going to force a punt. But the cartoonish biceps protruding from the size smedium shirt of Mike Defee signaled an illegal substitution foul on Tech. In other words, Tech had 12 players on the field.
With another shot to convert, this time a 3rd-and-5, Tate rolled right and hit a crossing receiver for a 10-yard pickup. Seven plays later, the Cats were in the endzone and Tech would never regain the lead.
These are the types of mistakes that drive fans crazy. There is simply no excuse. Granted, the sideline of a college football game is more chaotic than most realize but with all the eyes on the game, at least one Red Raider coach should have noticed this error and called for a timeout.
These mental errors are what Wells has said he’s most trying to eliminate from his program. And through the first two games, he had been rather successful in that regard. But that came in low-pressure games against two teams that were as threatening as a field of dandelions.
When the intensity rose in this game against a Power 5 team on the road, Tech reverted back to its old ways and committed seven penalties, which is approximately the same number last year’s team was called for on a weekly basis.
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The Coleman penalty in the second quarter and this illegal substitution each proved to haunt the Red Raiders. One kept points off the board and the other allowed Arizona to score the decisive blow in the game. This year’s Red Raider squad is not good enough to overcome those types of follies as we learned Saturday night.