Texas Tech football: Red Raiders hold off TCU thanks to late INT

Texas Tech QB Behren Morton looked more like his old self

It was another night in which Behren Morton’s stats won’t jump off the page.  Completing 28-36 passes for 282 yards and two TDs, he didn’t match the 353 yards that Hoover threw for.

However, Morton was by far the better QB.  Most importantly, he had no interceptions, and only once or twice did he even put the ball in any type of danger.

Also, he pushed the ball down the field better than Hoover.  Morton’s average yards per completion was 7.8, a full yard better than Hoover’s.

It was that ability to make longer throws that Tech fans loved to see from Morton.  Due to a sprained throwing shoulder suffered in the West Virginia game, he had not been able to throw in practice for essentially six weeks.

Because he was playing hurt against Houston and Baylor, the passing offense had been predicated on swing passes and intermediate throws and when Morton did try to go deep, it was obvious that the strength simply wasn’t there.

After sitting out the BYU game and having an open week prior to Thursday night, he seemed to get some much-needed recovery time, though.  Morton had a noticeable zip on his passes and he connected with Drae McRay on a critical 44-yard strike early in the 4th quarter to put Tech up 35-21.

While he still doesn’t seem to be 100%, he is as close as he’s been since taking over as QB1 and that could make all the difference for the Red Raider offense.  He wasn’t spectacular on Thursday but he looked more like the player we’ve come to expect him to be and that might have been the most encouraging development of the evening.