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Texas Tech football: Handing out game balls for victory over Mountaineers

By Matthew Conner

LUBBOCK, TEXAS - OCTOBER 24: Quarterback Henry Colombi #3 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders passes the ball during warmups before the college football game against the West Virginia Mountaineers on October 24, 2020 at Jones AT&T Stadium in Lubbock, Texas. (Photo by John E. Moore III/Getty Images)
LUBBOCK, TEXAS - OCTOBER 24: Quarterback Henry Colombi #3 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders passes the ball during warmups before the college football game against the West Virginia Mountaineers on October 24, 2020 at Jones AT&T Stadium in Lubbock, Texas. (Photo by John E. Moore III/Getty Images) /
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LUBBOCK, TEXAS – OCTOBER 05: Punter Austin McNamara #31 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders punts the ball during the first half of the college football game against the Oklahoma State Cowboys on October 05, 2019 at Jones AT&T Stadium in Lubbock, Texas. (Photo by John E. Moore III/Getty Images)
LUBBOCK, TEXAS – OCTOBER 05: Punter Austin McNamara #31 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders punts the ball during the first half of the college football game against the Oklahoma State Cowboys on October 05, 2019 at Jones AT&T Stadium in Lubbock, Texas. (Photo by John E. Moore III/Getty Images) /

Punter Austin McNamara

The Texas Tech special teams remain a frustration.  On Saturday, Tech missed an extra point after SaRodorick Thompson‘s first-quarter TD run and the kickoff return team averaged just 14.6 yards per return.

But there was a huge bright spot in the kicking game in the form of sophomore punter Austin McNamara.  In fact, he was one of the unsung heroes of the game.

For the night, McNamara averaged 53.4 yards per punt.  That included a school-record 87-yard punt in the third quarter and a 74-yard punt in the first quarter.

Now, to be fair, both of those punts were aided by a very strong southerly wind.  But still, each helped flip the field in a major way (though both did result in touchbacks).

On the drive after his first-quarter bomb, WVU was able to drive 42 yards but their possession stalled out at the Tech 38 when the Mountaineers could not convert on 4th and 4.  Likewise, after McNamara’s record-setting punt in the third quarter, West Virginia put together a drive that covered 34 yards before it was thwarted.

Had either of those punts been of the common 45-yard variety, WVU would have been set up with great field position and likely would have been able to get into scoring position with just a couple of first downs gained.  Thus, those punts were not only exciting but they were also important.

However, it was one of his shortest punts of the evening that proved to be McNamara’s best.  After Tech had run 4:25 off of the clock while nursing a 7-point lead, McNamara was called to punt into that southerly wind to try to pin the Mountaineers as deep in their own territory as possible.

Though his final punt of the night, which came with 50 seconds left on the clock, went for only 39 yards, it had tremendous hangtime and the play wound eight seconds off of the game clock.  That’s the difference in at least one extra play for the Mountaineers and it proved to further make their efforts at a last-minute TD drive more unlikely to succeed.

With an average of 46.5 yards per punt, McNamara now sits at No. 9 nationally and tops in the Big 12.  And against West Virginia, he was a critical component of Tech’s win thus earning him an imaginary game ball.

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