Texas Tech football: Turning points in loss to Horned Frogs

Duffey can’t hit Dalton Rigdon in stride for what should have been an easy touchdown

Trailing 10-0 by the time their second drive of the game began, Tech desperately needed points to stem the TCU tide.  And on the second play of the drive, there was a tremendous opportunity to do just that but the Red Raiders couldn’t take advantage.

On 2nd-and-10 from its own 10-yard-line, Duffey completed a pass to Dalton Rigdon for 29 yards to get out from the shadow of the goal post.  But while it was great to be all the way out to the Tech 41, this is a play that should have gone for a score.

The Red Raiders caught TCU in man coverage and had the perfect play call.  From the inside of a 3-receiver stack on the left side of the formation, Rigdon ran a quick out-and-up move and was at least five yards behind his defender when Duffey let go of the ball.

If there is a flaw in Duffey’s game, it would be his inaccuracy on deep balls.  We’ve talked before about how he seems to only throw laserbeam passes that have no air under them but on this play, he seemed to go too far the other way and try to perfectly float the ball to Rigdon.

Under no pressure in the pocket, perhaps he was surprised at how open his target was, he lofted a pass off his back foot.  Whatever the reason for the poor throw, Duffey’s pass was pretty far off the mark forcing Rigdon to make a diving catch.

Three plays later, Tech would have to punt.

This is the type of play that sticks with players and keeps coaches up at night.  And it’s been one I just haven’t been able to forget since Saturday.

Duffey was fantastic against the Frogs but he must hit Rigdon in stride on this play.  The problem was that he had too much time to overthink the throw rather than just rely on instinct, as he did on several more fantastic throws as the game wore on, all of which were much more difficult than this throw.

If Rigdon caught this ball while on his feet, the Texas Tech track sprinter would have easily outrun the defense.  To capitalize on Rigdon’s best asset, Tech has been trying to run him deep quite a bit more as the season has progressed and this was another example.

But because Duffey was off target, this play did not yield points, nor did this drive.  In a two-point loss, that’s certainly a moment worth remembering.