One thing we've learned about Texas Tech football head coach Joey McGuire during his two seasons in charge in Lubbock is that he isn't passive. In fact, he might be the most aggressive head coach the program has ever seen, more aggressive, in fact, than even Mike Leach.
This week, McGuire appeared on the "Heartland Sports" podcast with Pete Mundo and he was asked about his program's struggles on the road where Tech is just 3-8 in the last two years. Interestingly, McGuire said that to fix that glaring flaw, his team is going to be more aggressive in 2024.
"We have to play better, early on the road," McGuire said. "We've got a really tough game against Washington State where they're going to induct Mike Leach into their Hall of Fame and then we play at Arizona.
"And so, one thing I think that we're going to do is be really aggressive on the road. We're...going to really, I wouldn't say, take some chances but even if it's taking the ball first and trying to get off to a fast start, we've got to play better on the road because the road games in November are going to be so tough."
Trying to win games away from the South Plains in September and October has been a puzzle for Tech. The Red Raiders are just 1-6 on other team's campuses in the first two months of the season during McGuire's tenure. The lone win was a 39-14 triumph at Baylor last season.
However, it doesn't appear that aggressiveness has been an issue outside of Lubbock for Tech. In fact, there really hasn't been much of a change in McGuire's philosophy when playing in enemy territory.
Last year in a 20-13 loss at West Virginia, Tech went for it eight times on fourth down (converting five times) despite losing starting QB Tyler Shough to a broken leg and seeing backup QB Behren Morton suffer a sprained throwing shoulder.
In 2022 at Oklahoma State, while giving then redshirt freshman QB Behren Morton is first career start, Tech went for it seven times on 4th down. Later that season, Tech would attempt six fourth-down conversions in a loss at TCU.
Two seasons ago, in McGuire's first road game at Tech, the Red Raiders threw 43 passes, most of them with backup QB Donovan Smith, in a loss at NC State. Similarly, that season also saw Tech throw 48 passes on the road at Kansas State in a loss.
Also in that KSU game in 2022, Tech was ultra-aggressive by going for a 4th-and-1 from its own 34 in the first quarter. The attempt failed leading to a field goal for the Wildcats.
So how do you get more aggressive than that? McGuire had some thoughts.
"I've always been really aggressive by nature," McGuire said. "A lot of those [decisions] are [based on analytics] numbers. But when I talk about maybe being more aggressive, I remember [former SMU head coach] Chad Morris, his first time, when he was the offensive coordinator at Clemson, he used to talk about the number of shots he's going to take per quarter, going in with a certain number of trick plays, going in with a certain number of how many times is he going to run this direction on a reverse.
"And so I really do think, schematically that we can do some things to be more aggressive and one reason we can is that we're going to be better at certain positions on the offensive side of the ball."
Certainly, McGuire believes that improvements at wide receiver and (hopefully) along the offensive line will allow his team to be more dynamic and explosive on offense. Thus, in theory, it should open up the playbook allowing offensive coordinator Zach Kittley to be even more creative and inventive on the road.
However, there's something that McGuire didn't mention that also needs to change on the road. In fact, it is a factor that has contributed to his team's road woes much more than a lack of aggression. Far too often under McGuire, Tech has been plagued by rampant turnover issues when playing away from Jones Stadium.
For instance, Tech turned the ball over five times in a loss at BYU last season. At Kansas State and NC State two years ago, Tech turned it over four times in each game. What's more, in last year's blowout loss at Texas, Tech gave the ball away three times.
In all, Tech has lost the turnover battle in eight of McGuire's eleven road games as head coach. What's more, Tech has given the ball away 22 times on the road in the last two years, an average of two per game. That's not a formula that's going to lead to wins.
Of course, McGuire and his staff are aware of that issue as well and we can be certain that ball security will be preached to the team. What's more, QB consistency would help that turnover issue as in all but one of McGuire's road games, his week-one starting QB has been unable to either finish the game or suit up at all.
Still, taking care of the ball has to be as important on the road as anything else. That's why the answer to Tech's road issues may not be aggression but rather caution (at least when it comes to protecting the ball). After all, it would be hard to be more aggressive than Tech has been without being reckless. However, improving when it comes to taking care of the ball away from home is something that can easily be accomplished and that could be the key to winning on the road.