Inexplicable play call dooms Texas Tech late in heartbreaking loss to TCU

The job of a coaching staff is to put its players in the best position to succeed. Unfortunately, that's not what the Texas Tech football team's head coach and offensive staff did in the closing minutes of Saturday's 35-34 loss to TCU in Fort Worth.

Instead, offensive coordinator Zach Kittley made one of the most inexplicable decisions any Texas Tech play-caller has made in recent memory. With Tech trailing by a point with 1:38 to play, the offense faced a 3rd-and-7 at the TCU 27.

Already in field goal range (albeit a long field goal), the Tech coaching staff obviously made the decision to sit on the ball and let field goal kicker Gino Garcia try to win the game. But on third down, instead of giving the ball to the team's best and most reliable player, running back Tahj Brooks, Kittley called a designed QB draw for true freshman backup Will Hammond.

The result was disastrous. TCU snuffed the play out immediately and a Horned Frog defender smacked Hammond as he tried to gain yards in the middle of the defense.

That hit jarred the football loose allowing the Frogs to recover and essentially ice the game. What is maddening is that the ill-fated play came after a TCU timeout meaning that the Tech coaching staff had time to discuss the all-important play and that's the decision that it came up with.

“We put it in his hands the entire second half,” McGuire said. “That’s the biggest thing. Will feels terrible and I said ‘Will, there’s going to be so many other plays throughout this game, that’s just gonna be the one that everybody’s gonna see.’

"It’s easy to talk about, really, we were trying to get the ball centered, we were in a good position to kick the field goal. We felt like we could pick up some yardage with that play. It’s frustrating, I mean, I’ll see it, the frustrating thing was, you see the fumble, they call that it’s down on the field, so you’ve gotta see definitive recovery. It’s gonna be interesting to see that, because from our point of view and our tablets and everything like that, you couldn’t see a definitive recovery other than after it was all over in the pile. We felt like Will had the ball and we’re going to the next play to a field goal.”

The fact that McGuire and Kittley put the ball in Hammond's hands on the game's most important play is one thing. But to ask him to do something that he isn't accustomed to doing, run the football in traffic, was borderline moronic.

That's because standing right next to Hammond was the best running back in the Big 12, one who rarely fumbles (outside of the Arizona game that is). However, that's the plan the Red Raiders went with.

The outcome of that play casts a shadow over what was otherwise a bright showing by Hammond, who played the entire second half for the injured Behren Morton. Playing in his first meaningful action of his college career, the true freshman completed 10 of 15 passes for 151 yards and a touchdown while rushing for another score.

However, all anyone is going to remember from this game is the fumble on the quarterback draw. But the blame shouldn't fall as much on Hammond's shoulders as it should on McGuire's and Kittley's.

This is as bad as any call McGuire's predecessor, Matt Wells, ever made and he had some incredible, head-scratching calls during his time. In the end, the Red Raiders played well enough to win this game despite losing their starting QB and several key defensive players over the course of the game.

However, the coaching staff didn't do its team any favors when the game was on the line. That's not what McGuire and Co. are being paid handsomely for and they will deserve every bit of criticism that they will get over the course of the next week.