Texas Tech football: Where the Red Raiders got worse this year

The 2020 pass offense was the worst of the “Air Raid” era of Texas Tech football.

Whenever you lose something that has been your identity for two decades, it is going to cause problems.  That was what happened this year with the Texas Tech football team as for the first time since the Spike Dykes era of the 1990s, the Red Raiders did not feature a high-powered passing offense.

Overall, Tech threw for just 266.7 yards per game, which ranked only 35th nationally.  That was quite the surprise given that starting QB Alan Bowman was available for every game this year.  Of course, his inconsistent play was a huge reason that the 2020 offense was simply pedestrian when it came to throwing the ball.

Last year, despite having to play back up QB Jett Duffey for 9 games, the offense ranked no. 7 nationally and first in the Big 12 by putting up 324.7 yards per game.  That’s the type of offense we have come to expect from the Red Raiders over the last two decades.

The last time that Tech threw for fewer yards than they did this year was in 1999, the year prior to Mike Leach’s arrival.  That year, the Red Raiders threw for 175.4 yards per game as the philosophy of that coaching staff was to run the ball and play defense.

But while the below-average QB play from Bowman and Colombi was a huge factor in this dip, Tech fans place most of the blame at the feet of offensive coordinator David Yost and that is fair.  His offense continually lacks creativity and his nearly religious devotion to having one RB and one TE on the field for every play limits what the offense can do and kept Tech from best utilizing all of its weapons at once given the glut of inside receivers the roster had.

That’s why most expect a new coach to be calling plays for Texas Tech in 2021.  The only question seems to be whether or not it will be Matt Wells who will be picking Yost’s replacement.