Texas Tech football: Turning points in Red Raiders’ loss to Iowa State

(Photo by John E. Moore III/Getty Images)

Breece Hall goes 75 yards because Douglas Coleman can’t push him out of bounds

Despite having to settle for a field goal on the first drive of the second half, Tech was still in the game down just 20-10. Make a stop and then score and it is a one-possession contest.

That plan went to hell in a hurry when ISU freshman RB Breece Hall went 75 yards around the right end for a TD on the second play of the Cyclone’s first third-quarter drive to widen the gap to 27-10. This is essentially when the coffin was nailed shut.

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What makes this play so frustrating is that one of Tech’s most reliable defenders, Douglas Coleman, could have simply pushed Hall out of bounds after a gain of eight or nine yards. But the senior took a bad angle, which forced him to lunge at Hall instead of keeping his feet moving and as a result, he simply bounced off the ball-carrier.

Because ISU had blocked the play perfectly everywhere else, this came down to a 1-on-1 situation between Hall and Coleman. You would think that the defense should always have an advantage because, unless the QB throws a block, the offense has only nine players available to block 11 defenders. But with the Texas Tech defense, what should be and what is are often far from the same.

On this play, the Cyclone right guard not only blocked Jordyn Brooks, he pushed the Tech middle linebacker into DT Broderick Washington to not only take the Red Raiders’ two best defenders out by himself but to prevent the two Red Raiders that should have been in pursuit from being able to provide support as trailers.

Meanwhile, spur Evan Rambo gave up his outside shoulder to the ISU tight end who easily pushed him into the center of the field widening the running lane for Hall. That all resulted in the onus falling squarely on the shoulders of Coleman to make the play.

He couldn’t. This is an instance where his inexperience at safety cost Tech. Coleman has proven more than capable of being a solid coverage player at safety. He leads the nation with six interceptions.

But in run support, playing safety is much different. After three years of being a corner, Coleman is not accustomed to taking the proper angles and having to break down in a lane while keeping his feet moving the way safeties and linebackers do when playing the run.

He needed to make Hall either cut to the sideline or go right through him. He would have done that had he got low in and stayed square to the ball carrier. Instead, he lunged, Hall didn’t really have to break stride, and 75 yards later the game was all but over.