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Texas Tech football: Red Raiders have a serious problem at QB

By Matthew Conner

LUBBOCK, TEXAS - OCTOBER 23: Quarterback Henry Colombi #3 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders passes the ball during the first half of the college football game against the Kansas State Wildcats at Jones AT&T Stadium on October 23, 2021 in Lubbock, Texas. (Photo by John E. Moore III/Getty Images)
LUBBOCK, TEXAS - OCTOBER 23: Quarterback Henry Colombi #3 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders passes the ball during the first half of the college football game against the Kansas State Wildcats at Jones AT&T Stadium on October 23, 2021 in Lubbock, Texas. (Photo by John E. Moore III/Getty Images) /
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Somewhat overshadowed by all of the talk about the uncertain future of Texas Tech football head coach Matt Wells is the fact that this program has a serious problem at the most important position on the field.  And unless that gets sorted out, the rest of the 2021 season is going to be even more of a struggle than the past few weeks have been.

The simple truth is that Henry Colombi is not a viable option to lead this team’s offense.  He’s a gamer, a competitor, and by all accounts, a hard worker but he lacks the arm talent to lead the Red Raiders to wins.

We saw that again on Saturday when he completed just 10-17 passes for a meager 148 yards and no TDs while being picked off once in his team’s 25-24 loss to Kansas State.

What was most telling about the loss to the Wildcats was that Tech threw the ball just 17 times.  That was despite the fact that the rushing game produced only 170 yards on the ground.  And remember that the Red Raiders picked up 75 yards rushing on the first two plays of the game via a lateral to wide receiver Kaylon Geiger and a jet sweep by wide receiver Erik Ezukanma.

The rest of the way, Tech and its ground game mustered a meager 95 yards on 35 carries.  That’s an average of only 2.7 yards per rush.

But even on a day when the ground game was not firing on all cylinders, offensive coordinator Sonny Cumbie called only 20 pass plays (Colombi was sacked three times).  That signals a lack of trust in your QB’s ability to win the game with his arm.

Therefore, it begs the question, if you have no faith in your QB to lead your team to a win over a team like Kansas State which was No. 96 in the nation against the pass entering the game, why is that QB the one you are putting on the field?

Of course, we know that the initial plan was never to have Colombi play such a prominent role for this year’s team.  It was supposed to be Tyler Shough who handled the QB duties all season.  However, one broken collar bone changed all of that and thrust Colombi back into a role that he simply isn’t equipped to handle.

It isn’t that the junior from Florida has been an unmitigated disaster.  But in his four starts this year, he’s thrown just one TD pass while being picked off three times.  He’s also failed to surpass the 150-yard mark in each of his last two outings.  Additionally, he’s had two games in which he’s completed less than 60% of his passes.

What it all adds up to is the realization that Colombi is the type of QB who will keep his team somewhat competitive but he’s not a QB that is going to be a difference-maker.  And a difference-maker is what Tech needs at that position given how shaky the defense has proven to be against quality teams this year.

But the problem is that Tech may not have a viable option to turn to until Shough is ready to return.  And we don’t know for certain that Shough will be ready to play again this season.

Currently, redshirt freshman Donovan Smith is seeing some scattered playing time in games.  But he’s being used as a glorified running back more than as a legitimate QB.  He’s been allowed to throw the football only five times this year (all coming in mop-up duty against Kansas) while being asked to run the ball 15 times.  Thus, it is fair to wonder if the coaching staff trusts him enough to give him an expanded role in the offense, much less to hand him the reins as the starter until Shough can return.

It all adds up to a rather sizeable conundrum that this program must figure out.  That’s because Tech is about to start facing some of the best defenses in the Big 12 as three of Tech’s next four opponents (Iowa State, Oklahoma State, and Baylor) rank in the top three in the conference in total defense.  Thus, sub-par play from the QB position can’t continue if Tech hopes to have any shot at salvaging a season that is quickly slipping away.

The problem is that there don’t seem to be any viable options at this point.  Thus, the Red Raiders may be destined to continue to have to go to battle knowing that their QB play won’t be good enough to win the game on its own and that’s certainly not what this embattled coaching staff needs right now.

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