Texas Tech football: Under the radar stats from Red Raiders’ win over TCU

Texas Tech showed balance on offense

I don’t know if every football fan base is like this but Texas Tech fans sure seem to be concerned with balance on offense.  During the Leach years, there was always talk that the offense didn’t run the ball too much (to which Leach would argue that his definition of balance was an equal distribution of the ball to each receiver position).   During the Kingsbury era, again there was constant complaining about the offense relying too heavily on the pass.

This year, the focus has turned to whether or not the offense is going to be able to do enough through the air to keep Tahj Brooks from having to do it all by himself.  That’s because injuries and inexperience at the QB spot have made the Red Raiders have to be a ground-and-pound team that struggles to score at times.

Thursday, the return of a healthier (but not 100%) Behren Morton would prove to be enough to help offensive coordinator Zach Kittley have close to a 50/50 run-pass split.  That helped Tech have an efficient offensive performance.

Running the ball 42 times and throwing it 36, the Red Raiders amassed 428 yards on 78 plays, an average of 5.4 yards per play.  In the loss to BYU, when true freshman Jake Strong made his first career start, Tech averaged just 4.8 yards per play thanks in large part to completing only 19 of 37 passes.

What’s interesting, though, is that in Tech’s last win prior to this week, the passing game accounted for only 49% of the offense against Baylor.  The week prior, against Houston, only 40% of Tech’s 400 yards came through the air as Morton was being protected because of his shoulder injury.

Conversely, against the Frogs, 61.2% of the offense came via Morton’s right arm.  That’s about what Tech should strive for moving forward because, even with a running back as good as Brooks to carry the offense, throwing the ball is still essential in college football.  That’s why it was good to see Morton show that he’s feeling better after nearly three weeks of rest since his last appearance.