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Texas Tech football: Hidden moments in victory over SFA

By Matthew Conner

LUBBOCK, TEXAS - OCTOBER 24: Helmets sit along the sideline before the college football game between the Texas Tech Red Raiders and the West Virginia Mountaineers on October 24, 2020 at Jones AT&T Stadium in Lubbock, Texas. (Photo by John E. Moore III/Getty Images)
LUBBOCK, TEXAS - OCTOBER 24: Helmets sit along the sideline before the college football game between the Texas Tech Red Raiders and the West Virginia Mountaineers on October 24, 2020 at Jones AT&T Stadium in Lubbock, Texas. (Photo by John E. Moore III/Getty Images) /
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A referee picks up his penalty flag. Mandatory Credit: Robert Hanashiro-USA TODAY Sports
A referee picks up his penalty flag. Mandatory Credit: Robert Hanashiro-USA TODAY Sports /

False Start on SFA helps end a possible scoring threat

With just 2:05 to play in the first half, SFA found itself leading 10-7 and possessing the football at the Tech 14.  But facing a 3rd-and-6, the Jacks were penalized for a false start pushing them back to the 19 and 3rd-and-11.

While this might not seem like an important moment in the game, a closer look shows why it was.  We have to believe that SFA would have gone for it on 4th down if they had picked up even a few yards on 3rd-and-six.  After all, they went for it eight times on 4th down in the game.

But by being penalized five yards on this snap, SFA was pushed back to a 3rd-and-long situation making it easier for Tech to know what they were going to do.  Had it remained 3rd-and-6, SFA would have been able to utilize its entire playbook but because of the extra five years they had to travel, they were put in a tough spot, one that they couldn’t convert.

What had to make this penalty all the more difficult to accept for SFA was the fact that the infraction was levied against a slot receiver who moved early.  While any pre-snap penalty is tough to digest, early movement by a receiver is a cardinal sin in football because receivers should be watching the ball at the snap and not relying on sound like an offensive lineman does.

This penalty caused the Lumberjacks to have to settle for a red-zone field goal and that’s not how you pull off a massive upset.  And had they kept this drive alive and been able to find the endzone, that extra four points would have been huge at the end of the game as it would have meant that SFA could have won with a field goal.  But because a receiver jumped early, the end of the game played out much differently than it could have.

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