Texas Tech football: Hidden moments that led to a loss vs. the Mountaineers

Morton misses a wide-open Bradley robbing Texas Tech of a huge play

There’s no question Behren Morton and the offense struggled when he took over for Tyler Shough near the end of the first quarter (not that it was humming right along before that moment).  In fact, Morton would miss on his first six pass attempts of the game.

One of those incompletions stands out as particularly painful though because it could have provided the offense with the type of spark it needed to get going.

With Tech trailing 10-3 at about the 4-minute mark of the second quarter, the offense faced a 1st-and-20 after a holding penalty by tight end Mason Tharp erased a nice Tahj Brooks run.  On the ensuing play, Morton would take the snap and, as he did so often during this game, he would immediately leave the pocket despite there being no pressure from the WVU pass rush.

This time, he would roll to his right before looking downfield to see a wide-open Jerand Bradley who was behind the Mountaineer defense at the 20.  However, Morton was unable to get the ball to his best receiver.

What Morton did wrong was that he tried to throw across his body back toward the middle of the field where Bradley was waiting right in between the hashes.  Instead of setting his feet, which he had plenty of time to do, he tried to throw on the run, something he appears supremely confident in his ability to do.

The result was a poorly underthrown ball that skipped to Bradley as he tried to dive back toward the line of scrimmage to make the play.  It was truly a missed opportunity for a Red Raider offense that was desperate for some positive momentum at that point in the game.

That would not be the end of that possession though.  Instead, another hidden moment involving Morton and Bradley would see the Red Raiders turn the ball over on downs.