Texas Tech football: Statistical areas that must improve this fall

Tech must be better defensively on third down

Another area where Tech was one of the worst teams in the nation last year was third-down defense.  Allowing opponents to convert 41.6% of the time, the Red Raiders were just 91st in the country.

What was so frustrating was the fact that a huge portion of those conversions was of the third-and-long variety.  That’s something that could be as much a product of the system as anything.

Defensive coordinator Keith Patterson loves to blitz the house on third-and-long, which leaves his defense vulnerable to being burned.  We saw that against Arizona, Kansas, and Kansas State on critical second-half third downs as opposing teams had no problem going through the porous Red Raider secondary.

For that to improve in the upcoming season, Tech has to have two things; better defensive backs and a more consistent pass rush.  It’s hard to know if either of those improvements is in store for this fall.

We should be able to expect the pass rush to have more warm bodies as the coaching staff has put an emphasis on stockpiling defensive linemen.  Despite losing senior Broderick Washington, the Red Raiders will return Eli Howard, Tony Bradford Jr., Nelson Mbanasor, and redshirt freshman Gilbert Ibeneme at end while also adding JUCO star Devin Drew and a pair of 3-star ends in L.B. Moore and Philip Blidi to the mix.

Hopefully, the increase in sheer numbers will prevent the Red Raider defense from breaking down in the second half the way it did so often a year ago as the starters were asked to play far too many snaps.  A more consistent pass rush will only serve to help a secondary that will be starting two new safeties after Douglas Coleman graduated and Adrian Frye moved back to corner.  If the increase in capable defensive lineman can help Tech put more pressure on the QB, perhaps the third-down struggles we saw last year will be significantly improved.