After the first five drives, Tech scored only three points
While we’ve become accustomed to seeing Tech’s defense fade after halftime, on Saturday it was the offense that disappeared after a strong first half. After putting up a touchdown on its first five drives, the offense managed just a field goal over the next seven possessions.
Some of that had to do with the game plan. The coaching staff almost treated this game like a hockey penalty kill as they simply seemed content to try to keep the clock moving knowing that 35 points was more than WVU had scored in any Big 12 game this year.
Tech took no more shots down the field after halftime and had a 2:1 run: pass ratio on its final three drives. In all, OC David Yost called eight more runs than passes despite the fact that he was down to one scholarship RB. That tells us just how interested the coaching staff was in keeping the clock moving.
Also, the offense could have put three more points on the board in the 3rd quarter but instead of kicking a short field goal, Wells decided to have his team try to score a TD on a 4th-and-1 at the WVU 5-yard-line.
Still, it would have been encouraging to see this offense put together a complete game, something that has been rare this season. In only two of the six conference games Tech has played this year has the offense put up ten or more points in each half of the game.
Against Kansas, the Red Raiders scored 17 points in each half and against Oklahoma State, they scored 20 in the first and 25 in the second. Failing to hit double-digits in both halves in four of six Big 12 games is a trend this team has to reverse.