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Texas Tech football: Offense is not coming through in big moments

By Matthew Conner

LUBBOCK, TEXAS - OCTOBER 05: Wide receiver Erik Ezukanma #84 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders catches a pass during the second half of the college football game against the Oklahoma State Cowboys on October 05, 2019 at Jones AT&T Stadium in Lubbock, Texas. (Photo by John E. Moore III/Getty Images)
LUBBOCK, TEXAS - OCTOBER 05: Wide receiver Erik Ezukanma #84 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders catches a pass during the second half of the college football game against the Oklahoma State Cowboys on October 05, 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) /

Tech goes 3-and-out after TCU takes a 33-31 lead

When Tech took over at its own 25 with 5:38 to play in the fourth quarter and TCU up 33-31, most Red Raider fans were confident that the team would put together an answer to the Frog field goal that just gave the visitors the lead.

Nope.

Up to that point, Duffey and the offense had been on fire.  Tech had scored on three of its four second-half drives and four of its last five drives overall.

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But on the most critical drive of the game to that point, the offense produced nothing but a whimper and a punt.  Going 3-and-out and failing to gain a single yard, the Red Raiders gave the ball right back to TCU and again, did not give an exhausted and short-handed defense any type of a breather.

A first-down swing past to Mannix, one in which there was only one blocker and three TCU defenders in the area, opened the drive.  If ever there was a swing pass for Tech fans to be angry about, it should be this one because the design of the play never gave Mannix a shot at doing anything once he caught the ball.

On second down, Duffey tired to hit Mannix deep down the seam but the ball was overthrown.  It looked like Mannix and his QB might have been on different pages here and remember that Mannix was in for the concussed Dalton Rigdon, who Duffey has found on go routes down the middle of the field quite often this year.

Third down was all on Duffey.  Under no pressure, he simply decided to check the ball down to Thomspon in the flat who was immediately swarmed for no gain.  This looked like a situation where the constant drilling into Duffey’s head of the need to be safe with the ball backfired.

If there was ever a time when Duffey needed to take a bit of a risk and push the ball downfield, it was on this play.  But he did what he’s been coached to do all year and took the safe play.  It was a reminder that while Duffey has proven to be a good passer, he often lacks situational awareness and the mental aspect of playing QB remains his greatest limitation.

We are going to remember Mannix’s fumble on the next drive because it drove the final nail in Tech’s coffin.  But sometimes, turnovers happen and you have to give some credit to the Frogs (barf) for making a play.

Turning points in loss to TCU. dark. Next

What hurts about this loss is that the offense had an opportunity to win the game on two different drives and it couldn’t.  Though the fumble to end the game was huge, don’t overlook the 3-and-out that proceeded it because that too, proved to be a huge moment in the game.

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