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Texas Tech football: 5 questions Red Raider offense must answer in 2023

By Matthew Conner

LUBBOCK, TEXAS - OCTOBER 22: Offensive coordinator Zach Kittley of the Texas Tech Red Raiders claps during the second half of the game against the West Virginia Mountaineers at Jones AT&T Stadium on October 22, 2022 in Lubbock, Texas. (Photo by John E. Moore III/Getty Images)
LUBBOCK, TEXAS - OCTOBER 22: Offensive coordinator Zach Kittley of the Texas Tech Red Raiders claps during the second half of the game against the West Virginia Mountaineers at Jones AT&T Stadium on October 22, 2022 in Lubbock, Texas. (Photo by John E. Moore III/Getty Images) /
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Texas Tech’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Zach Kittley looks on to the field before the game Houston, Saturday, Sept. 10, 2022, at Jones AT&T Stadium.
Texas Tech’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Zach Kittley looks on to the field before the game Houston, Saturday, Sept. 10, 2022, at Jones AT&T Stadium. /

For many Texas Tech football fans, especially those who came of age during the Mike Leach era of the program, it has often felt like elite offense has been our birthright.  After all, we had a front-row seat to the dawn of the passing game revolution that forever changed the way the sport will be played at all levels.

However, times are changing in Lubbock, and for the past two or maybe even three years, it has been the other side of the ball; the defense, which has been the stronger of the two units for the Red Raiders. Thus, there seems to be far greater concern about what the offense will be able to bring to the table this fall than what the defense will.

The uncertainties surrounding Tech’s offense likely originate from the fact that the 2022 team was inconsistent almost throughout last season. After all, in four games, offensive coordinator Zach Kittley saw his side of the equation put up fewer than 25 points.  What’s more, against Kansas State, the offense mustered only 28 points and in the double-OT win over Houston in Lubbock, Tech sat at just 20 points at the end of regulation.

Still, in Kittley’s first year calling the shots, Tech finished 27th nationally in points per game at 34.2.  Also, at 461.4 yards per game, Tech was 22nd in the country in total offense.

Of course, to judge last season’s offense, context must be applied.  Don’t forget that Kittley had to rely on three different quarterbacks to start at least four games apiece.  That’s a recipe for disaster for most programs but in spite of that difficulty, the offense finished 12th in the NCAA in passing yards per game at 302.0.

Taking an even deeper dive into the numbers, Tech QBs still managed to complete 60.3% of last season’s passes to rank just outside the top half of teams in the nation.  Again, that’s no accomplishment worth erecting a statue to commemorate but given that 8 of the 13 games played last year were started by sophomore Donovan Smith (a below-average passer by most measures) and redshirt freshman Behren Morton (who had never started a game at the college level prior to 2022), a 60% completion rate is nothing to be ashamed of.

Meanwhile, on the ground, Tech ranked 12 spots higher nationally in yards per game than in 2021 by amassing 159.4.  Much of that was also due to the Red Raider quarterbacks who totaled 464 yards on the season, essentially double the rushing output of the position group from the year prior.

So will the Texas Tech offense be a strength or a weakness in 2023?  Will the second year of Kittley’s attack bring a return to the glory days of Red Raider football when the offense that was played on the South Plains was the envy of almost any program in the nation?

Those are questions that we will be asking until September.  What’s more, answers to the following five questions about the offense will be what likely determine how well the offense can light up the scoreboard this year.

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