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Texas Tech football: Red Raiders will beat the Cyclones if…

By Matthew Conner

WACO, TEXAS - OCTOBER 12: SaRodorick Thompson #28 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders scores a touchdown in the fourth quarter against the Baylor Bears on October 12, 2019 in Waco, Texas. (Photo by Richard Rodriguez/Getty Images)
WACO, TEXAS - OCTOBER 12: SaRodorick Thompson #28 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders scores a touchdown in the fourth quarter against the Baylor Bears on October 12, 2019 in Waco, Texas. (Photo by Richard Rodriguez/Getty Images) /
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(Photo by Richard Rodriguez/Getty Images)
(Photo by Richard Rodriguez/Getty Images) /

…SaRodorick Thompson can make the first tackler miss

Redshirt freshman RB SaRodorick Thompson has emerged as this team’s leading weapon on the ground.  With 412 yards on 76 carries this year, he’s already surpassed what any Red Raider accomplished on the ground in 2018.

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Today, he needs to be effective again for Tech to make ISU pay for dropping eight men into coverage.  And the way he can do that is by making the first tackler miss, which is something he was able to do repeatedly last week in Waco.

Displaying an uncanny ability to side-step tacklers for a bigger RB, the Irving native ran for 153 yards and two scores last week against Baylor.  And on his 30-yard run that put Tech up 20-17 in the final two minutes, it was his ability to make a defender miss in the backfield that allowed him to bust free.

Today, Thompson needs to be elusive again.  ISU is a defense that hunts like a pack of wolves.  The first man on the scene doesn’t always make the stop but he slows the ball-carrier up long enough for help to arrive.  It is similar to the strategy wolves use when bringing down an elk.  The first one there hangs on until the pack arrives and overwhelms the prey.

But if Thompson makes the first man miss, he can pick up an extra two or three yards per carry.  Being as ISU will play very little man coverage, he likely won’t break huge runs but picking up an extra two yards per carry could mean the difference in Tech finding itself in numerous short-yardage situations or constantly having to pick up seven or more yards to move the chains.

Against a defense that is designed to suffocate the opposing ground game with numbers, making the initial defender miss is often the difference in success or failure.  Sometimes, the defense’s initial contact comes 10 yards down the field so even if the RB doesn’t make anyone miss, he’s had a great play.

But with the layers of the ISU defense, it will be rare for Thompson and the Tech RBs to get too far before being enveloped by a cloud.  If they can make the first defender play like a matador, they will be able to churn out the type of yards on the ground Tech will need in order to sustain drives and score points.

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