Texas Tech football: Hidden moments from win over Baylor

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LUBBOCK, TEXAS – NOVEMBER 14: Linebacker Riko Jeffers #6 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders shouts at the Baylor sideline during the second half of the college football game against the Baylor Bears at Jones AT&T Stadium on November 14, 2020 in Lubbock, Texas. (Photo by John E. Moore III/Getty Images) /

Jeffers’ false start on Tech’s first punt saves two points

Every head coach in the sport, regardless of the level, hates pre-snap penalties because they are nothing but mental mistakes. But it is safe to say that Matt Wells will excuse Riko Jeffers‘ false start on the Red Raiders’ first punt of the game.

That’s because, on that play, the snap sailed two feet over Garibay’s head and out the back of the endzone. Thus, it looked like the Bears were going to get their first points of the day off of a safety.

What’s more, it looked like we were in for yet another special teams disaster. That’s been a season-long theme for this team, which has had four punts blocked, four missed field goals, a flubbed “sky kick”, a botched onside kick recovery, and numerous blunders in the kickoff return game.

Another special team’s blunder on Saturday could have cost Tech this win. In the third quarter, Baylor’s largest lead of the game was 20-6, just 14 points. But had Jeffers not false-started, that lead would have been 16 points, 22-6, meaning that two TDs and two two-point conversions would have been required just to tie the game at that point and when Baylor scored their final points of the game, a FG that came after Colin Schooler‘s massive hit on Charle Brewer at the goal line, they would have led 25-12.

Now, you could argue that it wouldn’t have made much of a difference given that SaRodorick Thompson could have scored a TD on Tech’s final drive instead of sliding down inside the BU ten. But it is also fair to think that Baylor would have played this game differently had they had a 13-point lead in the fourth quarter. They likely would have tried to milk more of the clock knowing that Tech would need to get into the endzone twice or score on three-straight possessions (a TD and two FGs) just to tie the game.

But as it was, Tech entered the fourth quarter down just 23-12 meaning that the game could be tied with two scores. So think about how differently Baylor would have operated on offense, how much time they would have tried to drain from the clock, had this been a 3-score game due to the safety that wasn’t.

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