Texas Tech football: Game balls for comeback win over Houston

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Sep 4, 2021; Houston, Texas, USA; Texas Tech Red Raiders wide receiver Erik Ezukanma (13) reacts after making a reception against the Houston Cougars during the fourth quarter at NRG Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports /

Erik Ezukanma

Wide receiver Erik Ezukanma is the best player on the Texas Tech football team and it isn’t even close. He proved that again on Saturday night.

While being matched up with Houston’s best corner, Marcus Jones, Ezukanma went nuts. Hauling in seven catches for 179 yards, he averaged 25.6 yards per catch. That tied his career-best in catches and was four yards shy of his career mark in yards.

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It helped that the Houston defense thought that they could single-up the 5-foot-8 Jones on the 6-foot-3 Ezukanma. All night, that was a matchup that Tech was able to exploit as most of Ezukanma’s receptions came down the field on balls that were thrown up to let him out-muscle Jones and that’s a matchup that helped turn the tide for the Red Raiders.

What is concerning though is that he was really Tech’s only weapon in the passing game. Now, we must keep in mind that Tech threw the ball only 24 times on the night. But still, it is concerning that no other receivers made any game-changing plays.

Because of that, we should probably expect Ezukanma to be double-teamed quite a bit for the remainder of the season. That’s going to make it more difficult for Tech QB Tyler Shough to simply high-point the ball to his top receiver the way he so often did in Houston.

But there is no doubt that Ezukanma is this team’s best weapon. He might in fact be the best receiver in the Big 12 and one of the best in the nation. And for showing out when Tech needed him, he earns one of our imaginary game balls.

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