Texas Tech football: Late FG pushes Red Raiders past No. 16 Jayhawks
Texas Tech fans have to have great faith in Gino Garcia
Few players have had a greater renaissance during the course of a season than Gino Garcia has had this year. In fact, Texas Tech fans are now shocked when their kicker doesn’t convert an opportunity.
On the day, he was 3 out of 4 to account for all of Tech’s scoring outside of Brooks’ first-quarter touchdown. Of course, his one miss was acceptable given that it was a 48-yarder into a stiff breeze.
THE FIELD GOAL IS GOOD@TexasTechFB TAKES THE LEAD WITH THREE SECONDS TO GO! pic.twitter.com/pMr4qAY0lG
— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) November 11, 2023
So far this year, Garcia’s stats look decent but they don’t tell the story of his season. Overall, he’s 13-18, which is just 72.2%. That’s a far cry from what we’ve seen from recent Tech kickers like Jonathan Garibay or Trey Wolff.
However, since starting the year 3-7 in the first two games, he’s gone 10-11. In fact, his miss on Saturday was his first since the Oregon game.
Garcia has become a steady and reliable kicker after resetting in the middle of the season when he received advice from former Texas Tech and NFL kicker Lin Elliott. Now, Garcia is almost automatic so long as the attempt he’s asked to make is reasonable.
He drilled the game-winner on Saturday as he continued to rewrite the story of his 2023. It’s been one of the most dramatic in-season turnarounds we’ve seen from a Red Raider in quite a while.