Texas Tech football: What the Red Raiders must do to beat Oregon

Texas Tech must be the more physical team

Perhaps the most unsettling aspect of the loss to Wyoming was the fact that a Texas Tech team that took the fight to just about every opponent in 2022 and which returned the vast majority of last year’s starters was not able to impose its physical will on the Cowboys.

This weekend, if the Red Raiders are to have any chance of beating the Ducks, their physicality must set the tone.  In all aspects of the game, McGuire’s team must be the more aggressive and punishing team.

There will be no excuses for not being the most physical team.  Tech is at home and will have the crowd on its side.  There will be no concerns about the altitude.  The hot weather should play in the Red Raiders’ favor.  Tech should be the more desperate team.   Therefore, Tech must initiate the fight.

The best way to do that is to run the freaking ball.  Even if Oregon gets out to an early lead, offensive coordinator Zach Kittley can’t abandon the ground game.

Last week, the running back duo of Tahj Brooks and Cam’Ron Valdez received only 21 total carries.  Some of that might have been due to QB Tyler Shough changing plays at the line of scrimmage but there also had to be instances where Kittley went away from that aspect of the offense when he shouldn’t have.

Granted, there wasn’t a ton of success when Brooks and Valdez carried the ball.  Gaining only 2.6 yards per rush between them, those backs (and the offensive line) didn’t instill in their play caller much confidence in their ability to move the ball.

This weekend, that must change.  Tech simply has to take the pressure off of Shough and make the Ducks respect the Red Raider rushing attack. That would open up the entire playbook and make life easier for a QB who enters this game with quite a bit of internal and external pressure on his shoulders.

Also, it would be great to see Bo Nix on the ground several times.  Can Tech manage to get home on all of those plays where the difference between a sack and a 20-yard Oregon gain is just a heartbeat?  That didn’t happen against Wyoming and keep in mind that Nix can run as well as, or better than, Wyoming’s Andrew Peasley.

Tech has to make this a contrast between Red Raider physicality and Oregon style.  If that happens and McGuire’s team can take the fight to the opponent, then we could see something special at The Jones.