Rapid reactions to Texas Tech's workman-like win over Arizona State

Saturday in Lubbock, the Texas Tech football team picked up the 600th win in program history by grinding out a 30-22 win over Arizona State to open Big 12 play. It wasn't the most aesthetically pleasing performance but it was one that saw Tech jump out to a 14-0 first-quarter advantage and never surrender that lead.

Let's take a look at some rapid reactions from the Red Raiders' third win of the season. And we'll start by giving credit to the much-maligned defense.

Despite missing a key piece, the Texas Tech defense showed improvement

Entering the game, Tech's defense was ranked 123rd nationally in total defense giving up an average of 461.3 yards per game. Then, when it was revealed before the game that the secondary would be without its best corner, Bralyn Lux, many feared that this would be another long day for Tech on that side of the ball.

Remember, the last time Lux missed a game, Tech gave up 51 points and over 600 total yards to Abilene Christian in week one. But today, the defense held a competent Arizona State offense to just 376 total yards. That included only 282 through the air.

Now, ASU didn't play a perfect game as their quarterback missed some wide-open receivers deep. However, Tech did keep the big plays to a minimum while also limiting the Sun Devils to only 94 yards on the ground.

Limiting a Big 12 opponent to just 22 points will always give Tech a chance to win, especially in Lubbock. Though last week's showing against North Texas might have been more dominant, given the opponent, this was the best performance of the year from the Red Raider defense.

Texas Tech wins on fourth down

A huge component of this game was the fact that the Red Raiders came up big on fourth down multiple teams. And all of those instances were on defense because head coach Joey McGuire didn't go for it with his offense a single time on fourth down.

For the game, Arizona State was 0-3 on 4th down. On the first occasion, the Sun Devils had reached the Tech 14, and on the third, they had reached the Tech 32. Thus, those two stops could have resulted in at least a six-point swing (and potentially a 14-point swing).

The offense didn't turn any of those stops into points, though. In fact, Tech punted after all three fourth-down stops. However, the fact that Tech was able to get Arizona State off the field three times on fourth down was a critical aspect of this win.

Texas Tech still has a penalty problem

There's no getting around the fact that the Red Raiders suffer far too many penalties each week. In fact, with nine penalties for 94 yards in this game, Tech has been flagged at least eight times in every game this year.

Today, the secondary and the offensive line were again the main culprits. That's been an issue all season for those two units.

But there is some good news on the penalty front. After being flagged eight times in the first half, Tech was penalized just once in the second half. Maybe that is a sign that this team can find something to build upon in its efforts to try to trim some penalties moving forward.

Texas Tech kicker rotation comes up big

Texas Tech's plan to rotate placekickers on each field goal attempt is odd. That's a strange plan for any football team.

However, both Gino Garcia and Resse Burkhardt are perfect for the season. And each hit critical kicks in this game.

In the fourth quarter, Burkhardt drilled a 40-yard FG to put Tech ahead 27-16. Then, Garcia hit a 39-yard kick to make it a 30-16 game.

In the game of college football, never take solid field goal kicking for granted. Each week, some team is undone by its kicker. Today, Tech hit all three of its field goals to help keep ASU at bay. Even though the rotation plan is odd, it is working so far.

Tahj Brooks outperforms his counterpart on the ground

In a matchup of two of the best and toughest running backs in the Big 12, Tahj Brooks was clearly the better player. The Red Raider star battered his way to 117 yards on 27 carries. He averaged 4.3 yards per rush proving that his yards came tough.

Meanwhile, ASU's Cam Skattebo was held well below his season average. Running for only 60 yards on 18 carries, he averaged only 3.3 yards per carry. Though he did score two rushing touchdowns, he was essentially held to half of his season's per-game rushing average.

Yes, Skattebo did catch six passes for 117 yards including a big 66-yard catch-and-run in the second half. But in the end, he couldn't help Arizona State control the game the way they wanted to because the Red Raider rush defense was up to the task.

Behren Morton wasn't perfect but he was clean

Finally, it was great to see the Red Raiders pick up a conference win on a day in which QB Behren Morton was simply average. Throwing the ball 44 times, he completed only 24 passes for 201 yards and two scores.

Now, in fairness, much of Morton's struggles were due to relentless pressure that Arizona State was able to apply. While the Sun Devils racked up only one sack on the day, they were able to apply consistent pressure on Morton, especially off the edge. That bothered Morton (as it would any QB at any level of the sport) and it forced him into some errant and rushed throws.

However, the one thing Morton did that is most commendable was protect the ball. He did not throw any interceptions and that is always a key in a one-score game.

Today, Morton didn't play a spectacular game. However, he did play a mature game. He wasn't flashy like he was against North Texas but he did just enough to help his team win a physical conference game.