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Texas Tech football: Statistical goals for the 2020 defense

By Matthew Conner

LUBBOCK, TEXAS - NOVEMBER 23: Defensive end Eli Howard #53 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders battles past right tackle Nick Kaltmayer #77 of the Kansas State Wildcats during the first half of the college football game on November 23, 2019 at Jones AT&T Stadium in Lubbock, Texas. (Photo by John E. Moore III/Getty Images)
LUBBOCK, TEXAS - NOVEMBER 23: Defensive end Eli Howard #53 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders battles past right tackle Nick Kaltmayer #77 of the Kansas State Wildcats during the first half of the college football game on November 23, 2019 at Jones AT&T Stadium in Lubbock, Texas. (Photo by John E. Moore III/Getty Images) /
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Nelson Mbanasor #91 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders reacts to recovering a fumble during the game against the Lamar Cardinals on September 08, 2018 at Jones AT&T Stadium in Lubbock, Texas. Texas Tech won the game 77-0. (Photo by John Weast/Getty Images)
Nelson Mbanasor #91 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders reacts to recovering a fumble during the game against the Lamar Cardinals on September 08, 2018 at Jones AT&T Stadium in Lubbock, Texas. Texas Tech won the game 77-0. (Photo by John Weast/Getty Images) /

Two turnovers in EVERY game

Patterson has said that his defense has the goal of creating two turnovers per game.  And last year, they came close to reaching that goal…kind of.

Forcing 19 turnovers, Tech averaged 1.58 takeaways per contest.  While that number was not good enough to reach Patterson’s stated goal, it was still a bit misleading.

That’s because five of those takeaways came against Oklahoma State and four came against West Virginia.  Remove those two anomalies and Patterson saw his defense muster just one per game in the rest of the ten contests.

Patterson calls his defense in a manner that requires turnovers to be part of the outcome.  If they aren’t, his high-risk strategy is not justifiable.

The problem last year was that in a third of the team’s 12 contests, there were no turnovers forced.  Two of those games came against overmatched opponents Montana State and UTEP but the other two games were against TCU and Texas, both losses.

Somehow, Tech is going to have to be more consistent in this aspect of the game in 2020 despite losing both Douglas Coleman (8 INTs in 2019) and Jordyn Brooks (two forced fumbles and a fumble recovery) from last year’s team.

Fortunately, the addition of Arizona transfer LB Colin Schooler should help tremendously.  For his career, he’s registered four interceptions, three forced fumbles, and three fumble recoveries.

But if Patterson’s defense can’t become more reliable when it comes to taking the ball away, his gambling style of defense is going to continue to be problematic.  So his team needs to force two turnovers every game, not just try to average that number over the course of the season.

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