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Texas Tech football: Why the Red Raiders lost to TCU

By Matthew Conner

LUBBOCK, TEXAS - NOVEMBER 16: Wide receiver Erik Ezukanma #84 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders is congratulated by receiver McLane Mannix #13 after scoring a touchdown during the second half of the college football game against the TCU Horned Frogs on November 16, 2019 at Jones AT&T Stadium in Lubbock, Texas. (Photo by John E. Moore III/Getty Images)
LUBBOCK, TEXAS - NOVEMBER 16: Wide receiver Erik Ezukanma #84 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders is congratulated by receiver McLane Mannix #13 after scoring a touchdown during the second half of the college football game against the TCU Horned Frogs on November 16, 2019 at Jones AT&T Stadium in Lubbock, Texas. (Photo by John E. Moore III/Getty Images) /
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(Photo by John E. Moore III/Getty Images)
(Photo by John E. Moore III/Getty Images) /

Another horrible first quarter

There’s a profound irony in the Texas Tech football team’s recent propensity for starting slow at Jones Stadium.  Despite what we’ve seen the last two times Tech played at home, the Red Raiders are actually one of the national leaders in scoring margin in the first 15 minutes.

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Entering this game, Tech had outscored its opponents 72-27 in the first quarter and had only been outscored in the first frame by Oklahoma and Iowa State.  But Saturday was a nightmare right off the bat.

TCU took the opening drive 75 yards for a score on 10 plays.  On the drive, Duggan had to 20-plus-yard runs including a 20-yard TD.  Tech answered with an interception leading to a Frog field goal.

After a Tech punt, TCU then drove the ball 83 yards for another TD, this time on nine plays. The big play on that drive was a 43-yard pass from Duggan to Taye Barber to put TCU at the Tech seven-yard-line.

Bye the time that drive ended, there was only a minute left in the first quarter.  The total yards were 185-47 in favor of the guys in purple and white.

That put this game in a much different place than Tech wanted.  First of all, it allowed TCU to be able to rely on the ground game as heavily as it did.  Had the roles been reversed, the Frogs would have had to put the game on the shoulders of Duggan, who had been picked off seven times in his last three games.

But the freshman felt no pressure, figuratively or literally, and was able to play loose and free thanks to his team’s early lead.  It would have been much more advantageous for Tech to get up multiple scores and allow the defense to pin its ears back and get after the passer.

Even hardcore fans are starting to lose hope in Tech football. dark. Next

I don’t know what the stats would tell us but one might imagine that teams that get off to 17-point first-quarter leads probably win about 80% of the time, if not more.  Of course, a team such as Tech, which is not talented enough to overcome such a deficit, almost certainly will never win after spotting the opposition three scores.  The fact that the Red Raiders came back to actually take a brief 4th-quarter lead was impressive but in the end, this game was lost in the first 15 minutes of play.

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