Through seven games, the Texas Tech football team has been rather fortunate when it comes to injuries. However, the offense has been without one of its most important pieces, running back Cam Dickey, for the past two games.
That is set to change this week against Arizona. According to head coach Joey McGuire, his junior running back has been cleared to return from a high ankle sprain that he sustained against Colorado on October 3.
Dickey's impending return will hopefully provide a boost to the Red Raiders in a couple of key areas. Since he's been sidelined, short-yardage situations have been problematic for his team.
While Dickey is a strong all-around back, the highest value he brings to the team is as a player who can pick up tough yards between the tackles. He is powerful enough to break tackles at the line of scrimmage and decisive enough with the ball in his hands to hit the holes that are available, even when the opposition stacks the box.
The other Texas Tech running backs are not as effective when trying to move the chains on short-yardage downs. J'Koby Williams is too prone to dancing around to try to make defenders miss, while Quinten Joyner doesn't quite have the vision and burst that Dickey has. As a result, the offense has been bogging down on short-yardage downs.
Without Dickey, Texas Tech has been awful on 3rd and 4th down
Over the past three games, Tech has gone just 14-45 on 3rd or 4th down. That's just 31.1%.
What's more, many of those attempts have been short-yardage situations. In fact, in those games, Tech has had 20 3rd or 4th-down opportunities of 3 yards or fewer. They converted only 12 times. A 60% conversion rate when only three or fewer yards are needed simply won't get the job done.
By contrast, in the four games before Dickey's injury, Tech was 26-52 (50%) on 3rd or 4th down. While Dickey isn't solely responsible for Tech's success or failure on the game's most critical downs, he is a huge weapon the offense can turn to to help keep drives alive.
Additionally, Dickey is a great option in the red zone where yards get tougher to come by. In the past three games, Tech has been dreadful trying to score inside the 20.
Against Colorado, Arizona State, and Cincinnati, the first-team offense was able to score just five touchdowns on 13 red-zone trips. While those struggles are largely attributed to the absence of backup QB Tommy Castellanos (who missed the Colorado game and didn't take any first-team snaps against ASU or Cincy), Dickey's absence was also a huge factor.
Finally, with Dickey back to operate as his team's "Wildcat" quarterback, it means that injury-prone tight end Terrance Carter Jr. won't have to expose himself to extra abuse in short-yardage situations. That's best for the offense given that Carter needs to be one of the program's top receiving targets.
Dickey may not be the first player Texas Tech fans think of when they list the most important offensive options on the roster. However, he does a little bit of everything for the Red Raiders, and his absence was felt. Now that he's set to return, the hope is that the offense will get back to being more efficient, especially when the yards are the toughest to gain.
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