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

A 4th down conversion fails for Texas Tech because Morton never looks to his right

With Tech trailing 10-3 late in the first half, McGuire decided to gamble once again on 4th down near mid-field and as has so often been the case this season, that risk was not rewarded.  However, there was a play to be made had Behren Morton simply been more patient in the pocket.

Upon taking the snap, Morton immediately rolled to his left leaving a perfectly clean pocket.  All day, it seemed as if, whether by design or simply because of Morton’s own decisions, the inexperienced QB was rolling out of the pocket to make a throw, something that had to be tough on such a rainy day.

Getting a QB on the move is one way to combat a pass rush that is having an impact as West Virginia’s was at times.  It can also help a struggling QB by limiting the number of reads he has to make.

On the other hand, having the QB throw on the run reduces his accuracy.  What’s more, it essentially cuts the field in half and takes away the receivers that are running routes on the side of the field opposite of the QB’s rollout.

During this play, Morton did not need to leave the pocket.  He had all day to go through his progressions against a 4-man WVU pass rush.

However, he seemed hell-bent on throwing the ball to tight end Mason Tharp despite the fact that Tharp was double-covered.  It appeared that once Morton saw Tharp blanketed, he panicked and instinctually rolled to his left, toward Tharp, hoping the big tight end would get open.

The only thing Morton did correctly on the play was to throw the ball up high to allow the 6-foot-9 Tharp to try to go over the defenders and make a tough catch.  It almost worked but Tharp couldn’t corral the pass and Tech turned the ball over on downs.

What’s so frustrating about this play, though is that to Morton’s right, his best wide receiver, Jerand Bradley was standing all alone right at the first-down marker with the closest defender five yards off of him.  After running a simple stop route, Bradley was primed to easily pick up the first down had Morton just looked his way.

At this point, Morton was struggling mightily and he had just found Tharp for a 14-yard gain down the left sideline on the previous play, Morton’s first completion of the day.  So maybe he wanted to go back to something that had worked in the midst of all of his struggles.  However, had he been poised in the pocket and gone through his progressions, he could have found Bradley to keep the drive alive.

This play came with 3:24 left in the first half.  Had Tech picked up another set of downs, it would have run the clock down far enough that this could have been the last real possession before the half.  If Tech could have also then scored on that drive (even by just kicking a FG), it would have not only settled the offense down but it would have given the team a chance to score on back-to-back possessions after receiving the second-half kick.

That didn’t happen, though, and WVU would get the ball and drive 26 yards for a FG to take a 10-point lead.  Therefore, this miss by Morton was likely a six-point swing, or perhaps even a 10-point swing and that was crucial in a game that was a one-score affair in the end.