Texas Tech football: Where the Red Raiders got worse this year
The Texas Tech football team was one of the worst in the nation when it came to turnovers.
There is not a more important stat in the game of football than turnovers. So being one of the worst teams in the nation in that regard is a recipe for disaster.
This year, Tech gave the football away a staggering 19 times in 10 games. That was more than all but nine teams in the nation (Tech ranked no. 118 out of 127 teams in the NCAA in turnovers lost).
As a result, the Red Raiders were awful when it came to turnover margin. With a -0.90 turnover deficit per game, Tech was no. 112 nationally in that critical category.
But a year ago, the Red Raiders were actually one of the better teams in the nation when it came to turnover margin. Giving the ball away 15 times in 12 games last fall while taking it away 19 times, Tech ranked no. 38 nationally in turnover margin with an edge of 0.33 per game.
In five of this year’s ten games, Matt Wells’ team turned the ball over at least twice. What’s more, in this year’s six losses, Tech averaged 1.8 giveaways.
The simple truth is that Tech was not good enough this year to overcome these turnovers. Beating teams in the Big 12 while turning the ball over multiple times per game requires a level of talent that Tech is far from having on the roster. And we saw in several games that turnovers proved to be more than costly.
In the OT loss to Texas, Alan Bowman threw a pick one play after Tech recovered an onside kick and threw another pick just two plays after Tech blocked a punt to set the offense up to start the drive in the red zone. Against Kansas State, Henry Colombi was intercepted in the endzone in the 4th quarter when Tech was down just 24-21. Meanwhile, Bowman’s pick-six against Oklahoma State was a key play in that 6-point loss.
Time and again, Tech was careless with the ball this year. That was perhaps the greatest flaw that the 2020 Red Raiders had and it is one that prevented them from having a decent season.