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Texas Tech football: What Red Raiders must do to beat Houston

By Matthew Conner

LUBBOCK, TEXAS - SEPTEMBER 12: Wide receiver Erik Ezukanma #13 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders walks along the sideline during warmups before the college football game against the Houston Baptist Huskies on September 12, 2020 at Jones AT&T Stadium in Lubbock, Texas. (Photo by John E. Moore III/Getty Images)
LUBBOCK, TEXAS - SEPTEMBER 12: Wide receiver Erik Ezukanma #13 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders walks along the sideline during warmups before the college football game against the Houston Baptist Huskies on September 12, 2020 at Jones AT&T Stadium in Lubbock, Texas. (Photo by John E. Moore III/Getty Images) /
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LUBBOCK, TEXAS – OCTOBER 05: Punter Austin McNamara #31 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders punts the ball during the first half of the college football game against the Oklahoma State Cowboys on October 05, 2019 at Jones AT&T Stadium in Lubbock, Texas. (Photo by John E. Moore III/Getty Images)
LUBBOCK, TEXAS – OCTOBER 05: Punter Austin McNamara #31 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders punts the ball during the first half of the college football game against the Oklahoma State Cowboys on October 05, 2019 at Jones AT&T Stadium in Lubbock, Texas. (Photo by John E. Moore III/Getty Images) /

Win in the kicking game

Most expect this game to be close.  Thus, what happens in the kicking game will be critical.  That’s an area of the game where the Red Raiders need to excel.

The problem here is that the Red Raiders enter the contest with a ton of questions about their field goal-kicking situation.  That’s because, between them, Trey Wolff and Jonathan Garibay were successful just 56.2% of the time on their field goals last year.

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What’s more concerning is that neither was able to step up and really lay claim to the job in fall camp.  In fact, we still aren’t certain which will get the lion’s share of the opportunities this season, though Garibay is listed first on the depth chart.

Tech isn’t asking either to be a Lou Groza Award winner but it isn’t too much to ask them to be reliable from inside 40 yards.  If they can do at least that, it would go quite a long way towards helping the Red Raiders take a step forward this season.

In the field position game, the Red Raiders should be in great shape with All-American candidate Austin McNamara back to handle the kicking duties.  Last year, thanks to his tremendous leg, Tech was 4th nationally and tops in the Big 12 in net punting by averaging a gain of 42.5 yards per kick.

That could be important because Houston might feature the best punt returner in the nation.  In 2020, Marcus Jones set the American Athletic Conference single-season record for punt return yards (337) and led the NCAA with an average of 19.8 yards per return on his way to earning All-American honors.

So pay close attention to the kicking game tonight because that’s often where close games are won or lost.  And if Tech wants to be on the winning side, its specialists are going to have to do their part.

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