One week in and Joey McGuire and the Texas Tech Red Raiders are already unbeaten. There’s nobody on Texas Tech’s football schedule that has managed to beat the Red Raiders (up to this very, very early point in the season, that is).
And that’s a good thing!
It’s a good thing that Texas Tech was able to steamroll right on past the Arkansas-Pine Bluff Golden Lions. It’s a good thing that the Red Raiders managed to score 67 points while also still holding the Golden Lions to just seven points. And of course, it’s a good thing that Texas Tech was able to have absolutely no issues in winning this game.
The Red Raider coaching staff was able to get a few younger players out on the field pretty early in this game because this game was over pretty early.
And that’s also a good thing.
Texas Tech head coach Joey McGuire points out some of the priorities he had for the Red Raiders in Week 1
During his press conference after the game, McGuire explained how important it was to him to be able to meet the expectations of getting to play some of the younger players on the Texas Tech football roster in this game.
“I was excited,” McGuire said. “Our expectations was that we were going to play really well early and we were going to be able to get Will [Hammond] in the game and Mitch [Griffis] in the game.”
The Red Raiders did exactly that. They built a huge lead, managed to jump ahead in a monumental (and insurmountable way, and then got Behren Morton out of the game so he could rest and younger quarterbacks could get some meaningful snaps in a real game.
“Our plan was to run the offense,” McGuire explained. “In this day and age when it is a constant evaluation of the roster, you have to do that. You’ve got to understand what you have, not only for right now, but what you have a few weeks from now to months from now.”
The Red Raiders were able to do some of that. And some of that will inform recruiting and roster management and the Transfer Portal. And that’s not inherently a bad thing.