Texas Tech football: Statistical areas that must improve this fall

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KeSean Carter #82 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders (Photo by John Weast/Getty Images) /

Tech needs more big passing plays on offense

If the Texas Tech offense is more explosive this year, some of those close games might go the way of the good guys for a change. For that to happen, we need to see more 30-yard passing plays than we did in 2019 because explosive passing plays are how teams can turn the momentum of games.

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Partly because the coaching staff didn’t ask Jett Duffey to throw the ball deep all that often and partly because the receiving corp lacked the typical explosiveness that we’ve seen in other seasons, Tech was just 78th in the country in passing plays of 30 or more yards with 26.

Being able to score in a hurry was a specialty of Wells and OC David Yost in 2018 at Utah State as they led the nation in scoring drives that took less than two minutes. But last year, the Red Raiders were not able to replicate that success.

Teams played back and tried to force Duffey and the offense to sustain drives because they believed that eventually, a penalty or turnover would derail the Red Raiders and often they were correct. But the return of Bowman could change that dynamic.

When Duffey had to take over the QB spot, Yost slowed his offense’s tempo because he did not trust Duffey to make the read at the line of scrimmage. So because the calls had to come from the sideline, the offense was unable to run plays in the first 12-15 seconds of the play clock as Yost would prefer.

However, with Bowman back in the shotgun, Tech will once again look to put pressure on the defense by speeding up the tempo. That will lead to more fatigue and confusion for the defense as they have to scramble to get their own calls in and align properly before Tech snaps the ball.

What’s more, the receivers this year should be more explosive, especially if Vasher can stay in his coach’s good graces, (he was suspended for two games in 2019) and if sophomore Erik Ezukanma can continue to play at the level he showed in November. Also, expect explosive junior Kesean Carter, who had a career-high 150 yards in the season finale at Texas, to move into the slot which is where he played in Austin for the first time in his career and if he takes to that change, he could be a big-play weapon as well.

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If this offense is able to generate more 30-yard passing plays, perhaps the woes in the red zone (if they continue) will be neutralized because the offense is scoring more via the big play. That will make life easier for the entire team and could be the difference in at least a couple of wins in close games.

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