Texas Tech football: Red zone saves Red Raiders from complete embarrassment vs. HBU

Had it not been for the Texas Tech football team’s play in the red zone, on both sides of the football, Saturday’s game against HBU would have been a loss.

It’s still shocking to think about how close the Texas Tech football team came to losing to FCS member Houston Baptist on Saturday night. In fact, had it not been for the Red Raiders’ dominance in the red zone, we would be talking about a loss to the Huskies instead of a disturbingly close 35-33 win.

Last year, what happened inside the 20-yard-line was often the undoing of the Red Raiders when they managed to score a TD on only 28 of 51 (54.9%) of their red-zone opportunities. That was good for just 92nd in the nation.

Fortunately, that trend did not continue in the 2020 season opener. Rather, Tech managed to go 5-6 on red-zone trips with five touchdowns. In fact, the only time that the Red Raiders didn’t score inside the 20 came on the late drive when head coach Matt Wells gambled and lost on a 4th-and-1 QB sneak from the Houston Baptist 4-yard line.

What made Tech so successful in the red zone was the ground game. Relying heavily on the dominant interior of the offensive line and some tough running from SaRodorick Thompson and Tahj Brooks, the Red Raiders ran for three touchdowns with all being eight yards or less in duration.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the football, Tech also made plays inside the 20. In fact, the ability to make stops near the goal line is what kept the Red Raiders from being upset.

In the second quarter, trailing 14-3, HBU engineered a 15-play drive that got all the way down to the Tech 7-yard line. That’s when the Huskies went to their bag of tricks in a decision that backfired in the worst of ways.

After taking the handoff on what looked like a sweep, receiver Jerreth Sterns attempted to throw a pass into the endzone. However, Red Raider linebacker Brandon Bouyer-Randle, a grad transfer from Michigan State, got a hand on the ball and tipped it to Zech McPhearson in the end zone for the interception.

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While many rightfully criticized the HBU decision to take the ball out of QB Bailey Zappe’s capable hands with an opportunity to put points on the board, the fact remains that the Tech defense made a critical play to keep the Huskies from putting up any points. And later in the second quarter, the Tech defense came up big again near the goal line.

Behind 21-3, the Huskies faced a 4th-and-goal at the Red Raider 1-yard-line. Rolling the dice again, the Huskies went for the TD instead of settling for three points. And again, they took the ball out of the hands of their best player, Zappe.

Instead, of trusting their senior QB to make a play, they tried to run for the score. That’s an odd decision for a team that managed to run for just 28 yards on 24 carries. What’s even more strange is that HBU gave the ball to the WR Jerreth Sterns, who was lined up at running back.

As Sterns hit the line of scrimmage, he was met by Tech’s middle linebacker, Krishon Merriweather, who stopped him dead in his tracks. Again, the Huskies were turned away at the goal line leaving points on the field in what would eventually turn out to be a two-point game.

Perhaps that’s going to be the key to survival for this Red Raider defense in 2020. What we saw on Saturday gave us no indication that this year’s unit is going to be capable of shutting offenses down…or even slowing them down.

However, when inside the red zone, Keith Patterson’s defense has a fighting chance given that its kryptonite, long passing plays, is taken out of the equation. We saw on Saturday that HBU was far more effective from 65 and 75 yards away from the endzone than they were when they were inside the red zone.

That was also the case last year when the Tech defense was repeatedly torched by long passing scores but was rather effective in the red zone. Allowing opponents to find the endzone only 54.1% of the time, the defense ranked 33rd nationally in red-zone TD% allowed

Of course, for the Red Raiders to actually be in a position to make red zone stops, they are going to have to be able to stop surrendering the long TD passes that have plagued this program for the last two years. But if that happens, perhaps he defense can survive by making stops inside the 20 where the back of the endzone acts as a 12th defender and gives the Red Raider secondary some extra support.

Life in the Big 12 is a matter of timeliness rather than dominance (unless we are talking about Oklahoma) and the teams that perform the best on both sides of the ball near the goal line are the ones that typically come out on top. That was the case for the Red Raiders against Houston Baptist and that’s a trend that is going to have to continue for the remainder of the season if 2020 is going to have any hope of being a success.