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

By Matthew Conner

Sep 12, 2020; Lubbock, Texas, USA; “ImpersonRaider” Texas Tech fan cutouts in the stands before the game between the Texas Tech Red Raiders and the Houston Baptist Huskies at Jones AT&T Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Michael C. Johnson-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 12, 2020; Lubbock, Texas, USA; “ImpersonRaider” Texas Tech fan cutouts in the stands before the game between the Texas Tech Red Raiders and the Houston Baptist Huskies at Jones AT&T Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Michael C. Johnson-USA TODAY Sports /
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Nov 7, 2020; Fort Worth, Texas, USA; Texas Tech Red Raiders place kicker Trey Wolff (36) misses a field goal late in the fourth quarter against the TCU Horned Frogs at Amon G. Carter Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Andrew Dieb-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 7, 2020; Fort Worth, Texas, USA; Texas Tech Red Raiders place kicker Trey Wolff (36) misses a field goal late in the fourth quarter against the TCU Horned Frogs at Amon G. Carter Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Andrew Dieb-USA TODAY Sports /

Special teams as a whole were dreadful for Texas Tech.

Unfortunately, the field goals were not Tech’s only special teams’ issue.  Rather, the issues in the kicking game covered the entire spectrum.

Punting was a problem.  With four blocked punts, Tech allowed the second-most of any team in the NCAA.  Last year, Tech allowed none.

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Meanwhile, Tech was nowhere near as good when it came to net punting this year, which, when you think about it, is all that really matters when you evaluate the punting game.  After averaging a net of 42.5 yards per punt last year, 4th-best in the nation, Tech saw that drop to 38.0 yards per kick, which was good for just no. 77 in the nation.

But it will be the field goal kicking issues that we all remember most from this year’s unspecial teams.  After all, Tech didn’t make its first FG of the year until the seventh game on the schedule when Wolff knocked one through from 40 yards as time expired in the first half.

After being a 90.9% kicker last year, Wolff was just 1-5 this year (20%) as he lost his job to Jonathan Garibay.  However, after a strong showing in his first two games, where he went a combined 5-5 and kicked the game-winner against Baylor, Garibay cooled off considerably against Kansas in the season finale making just three of six FG attempts.

Between the two of them, Wolff and Garibay went just 9-16 on the year, which was 56.2%.  That proved to be a big reason why Tech struggled.

Wolff’s missed FG against Texas could have been huge in helping prevent that game from ever getting to overtime.  His two misses against Kansas State would have put Tech in the lead in the final minutes, which would have completely changed the feel of that game down the stretch.  And then…there was his miss on the infamous second-down FG attempt in the fourth quarter of the TCU game.

As with most of what we saw from the 2020 Texas Tech football team, the kicking game repeatedly left us frustrated and lost for words.  In fact, sometimes, all you could do was laugh to keep from losing your religion or your mind.  It was a feeling we experienced all too often this fall as yet another Texas Tech football season turned into a massive letdown.

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