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Texas Tech football: Why the Red Raiders lost to TCU

By Matthew Conner

Nov 7, 2020; Fort Worth, Texas, USA; Texas Tech Red Raiders wide receiver KeSean Carter (82) runs with the ball after a catch as TCU Horned Frogs cornerback Tre'Vius Hodges-Tomlinson (1) defends at Amon G. Carter Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Andrew Dieb-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 7, 2020; Fort Worth, Texas, USA; Texas Tech Red Raiders wide receiver KeSean Carter (82) runs with the ball after a catch as TCU Horned Frogs cornerback Tre'Vius Hodges-Tomlinson (1) defends at Amon G. Carter Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Andrew Dieb-USA TODAY Sports /
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Nov 7, 2020; Fort Worth, Texas, USA; TCU Horned Frogs cornerback C.J. Ceasar II (16) is called fo pass interference against Texas Tech Red Raiders wide receiver T.J. Vasher (9) during the fourth quarter at Amon G. Carter Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Andrew Dieb-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 7, 2020; Fort Worth, Texas, USA; TCU Horned Frogs cornerback C.J. Ceasar II (16) is called fo pass interference against Texas Tech Red Raiders wide receiver T.J. Vasher (9) during the fourth quarter at Amon G. Carter Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Andrew Dieb-USA TODAY Sports /

Tech was awful on third down

On the game’s most critical down, Tech was poor on defense and absolutely abysmal on offense.  That’s certainly one of the reasons the Red Raiders were unable to come out of Cowtown with the Saddle Trophy.

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We will start with the defense, which held its own despite being without defensive ends Eli Howard and Tony Bradford Jr. as well as defensive tackle Nick McCann.

For the game, TCU converted 7 of 17 attemps on 3rd down, which is 41.7%.  While that’s not criminal on Tech’s part, it is five percent better than the Frogs have averaged on the year.

Interestingly though, six of those seven conversions came on drives that ended in points for TCU.  That includes the 81-yard TD run by Duggan in the fourth quarter, which came on 3rd-and-11 from the Frog 19-yard line.

But while the defense was at least respectable on third down, the Tech offense was atrocious going 3 of 16.  That’s just 18.7%.

Part of the problem was the fact that the Red Raiders has to travel much farther than what would be considered ideal on 3rd down.  With an average of 6.7 yards needed on third down, Tech was constantly behind the chains, which is never good when you have QB facing a Gary Patterson defense in just his third career college start.

First down was an issue for Tech.  Overall, Tech picked up an average of 5.8 yards per play on first down.
However, that number is misleading.  That’s because one of the Red Raiders’ 26 first-down plays was a 57-yard TD strike to wide receiver Erik Ezukanma.

When that play is taken out of the equation, Tech averaged just 3.8 yards per play on the 25 other first-down snaps in the game.  That’s not how to set your offense up for success against a solid defense.

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Ultimately, the final score of this game was misleading.  It was another contest that was there to be had for Tech but as has so often been the case in the Matt Wells era, the Red Raiders couldn’t seal the deal.  And these statistical categories illustrate just how this game got away from the Red Raiders.

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