Texas Tech football: Why have the Red Raiders struggled on the road under McGuire?

Slow Starts have been a problem for Texas Tech at times on the road

Just because a team jumps out to an early lead on the road, it doesn’t guarantee a win.  We learned that in Laramie, Wyoming in week one.

However, one way to get beat on another team’s home field is to fall into a big early hole.  Twice last year, Tech did just that in road games, and neither time could McGuire’s team fight back for a win.

Against N.C. State, the Red Raiders fell behind 20-0 in the first half thanks to a cavalcade of miscues.  On the first Wolfpack possession, Tech’s punt returner, Drew Hocutt (son of Kirby Hocutt) muffed a punt to give the ball back to the home team inside the Tech 20.

In the second quarter, Red Raider QB Donovan Smith would throw an inexcusable pick-six on a play where he simply rose up and threw the ball to his first read without looking to see if his receiver was even open to begin with. Down 20-7 at halftime, the Red Raiders would never threaten to make the game competitive en route to a 27-14 loss.

Also last fall, Kansas State was able to jump all over Tech in Manhattan to put the Red Raiders in an early bind. Trailing 13-0 at the end of the first quarter, in that game, the Red Raiders would fight back to actually tie the game 20-20 by the start of the 4th quarter.

However, 17 unanswered KSU points to open the final quarter would be too much for Tech to overcome in a 37-28 loss.  That day, many had to wonder if fighting back from the early deficit took too much out of the Red Raiders as they seemed to run out of gas late in the afternoon.

This weekend, the Red Raiders must avoid another slow start.  Allowing West Virginia to get some early momentum and confidence would bring the home faithful alive and make Morgantown a hornets’ nest.  So look to see if Tech can come out of the tunnel strong and avoid falling behind by multiple scores early in the game.