Texas Tech football: What we know at the season’s halfway mark

Joey McGuire is going to be aggressive

Prior to this season, no one really knew what to expect from Joey McGuire when it came to his game management given that he’d never been in charge of a college program.  However, after six games, it is clear that McGuire is going to be ultra-aggressive, even if it defies conventional wisdom.

This year, Tech leads the nation in fourth-down conversion attempts.  That’s because McGuire is all-in on his belief in analytics, something that many coaches are relying more heavily on these days.

However, one also has to wonder if McGuire’s willingness to roll the dice has anything to do with the fact that he knows his offense has little margin for error. Tech simply doesn’t have many game-breakers at the skill positions and that means that the offense usually has to sustain longer drives in order to put points on the board.

While tech leads the nation in plays of 10 or more yards with 124, Tech is just 44th in terms of plays of 30+ yards and 76th in plays of 50+ yards.  That’s a sign of a team that lacks the overall team speed to have a quick-strike offense.  Therefore, McGuire may feel more compelled to try to keep drives going by gambling on 4th down.

What could also be emboldening McGuire on 4th down could be his belief in the Red Raider defense.  This year, Tech has a defense that inspires some confidence, one that is capable of putting out fires when put in poor situations.  Thus, McGuire may feel better about taking chances because he has more faith in his defense than previous Red Raider coaches have had in theirs.

Whatever the reason, McGuire has proven that he’s going to push the envelope on 4th down.  That answers a huge question about his philosophy as a head coach and, in many ways, that philosophy seems to fit with his dynamic and infectious personality.