Tech was bad on speical teams again
Another week, another batch of special teams blunders. It’s become almost comical for the Red Raiders when they turn to the kicking game.
We have to start with kicker Trey Wolff. Though hd did make his first FG of the year, a 40-yard attempt as time expired in the first half, no one is going to remember that kick.
Rather, what will be the indellible moment from his game in Fort Worth is going to be the 37-yard kick that he missed with 2:44 to play in the game. While most of the discussion about this kick will center around Wells’ decision to try the field goal on second down with his team down nine points, had Wolff actually come through for his head coach, he could have given his team a shot at coming up with the win.
However, Wolff wasn’t the only kicker that struggled for Tech in this game. Punter Austin McNamara had yet another punt blocked. That makes four blocks allowed on the year for the Red Raider punt protection team and some of that can be attributed to McNamara’s deliberate and somewhat slow kicking motion.
Speaking of the Red Raider punt team, they allowed a 50-yard return to Derius Davis in the third quarter to set up a TCU field goal. One of the best punt returners in the country, Davis feasted on the Red Raiders on Saturday with an average of 25.8 yards on four punt returns.
Both the TCU blocked punt and the long Davis return led to Horned Frog field goals. Meanwhile, an earlier 20-yard return by Davis helped set up the Frogs’ first touchdown in the second quarter. So when you add in the three missed points on the Wolff FG that went wide left, you have 16 points worth of difference on the scoreboard…which was exactly the TCU margin of victory.