What Joey McGuire had to say following Texas Tech's thrilling win over Cincinnati

At 4-1 on the season, the Texas Tech football program is off to its best five-game start of the Joey McGuire era thanks to a 44-41 win over Cincinnati. Following Saturday night's thriller that came down to a last-second field goal miss by the Bearcats, the Red Raider head coach met with the media to discuss his team's latest Big 12 win.

"I am so proud of this football team," he said. "You know, hats off to Cincinnati. They're really good football team. We felt that all week long and talked about it. We thought it was going to be a four-quarter game. But, man, I'm so proud of this team. You know, we, early in the game, we lost Chapman Lewis. He tweaked his hamstring, and we felt like we couldn't get back. And then Jordan Sanford comes out and messes up his hand, so he's got to go in, and at halftime, so [Joseph] Plunk comes out and finishes the half. So we go through three free safeties come out.

"The second half, we got Jordan, Plunk back, Pluck comes out, mess up his shoulder. I feel like he's going to be okay, but, you know, got his shoulder pretty good. So Jordan had to go back out there. And, man, he almost came up with a big interception, but he just kept going back and forth.

"And then on offense. Man, can't say enough. We shuffled the line. I think as this line goes with those five, and really kind of six with Ty Buchanan, we're going to keep getting better. Tahj Brooks was Tahj Brooks, you know, it's something that we're all accustomed to seeing the last two years. He goes for 172 and man, was really special tonight. And I thought Baron stepped up and made some big throws, you know, and we had some guys that made some big catches, you know, it was great to see Josh Kelly get going, because I felt like in the first, at least first quarter, first couple possessions for us, they were really trying to take him away. And, you know, he found ways to make plays.

"Dre McCray came up big tonight, you know, had five catches. Coy [Eakin], you know, came up big tonight. Had two touchdowns. So, man, just all around, a really good game. And it's, it's all around, big, a Big 12 game, you know, that's what it's going to be, it seems like, every single week. And man, it's good to be 2-0 in the Big 12, be 4-1, and we'll enjoy this one, and then we'll just get ready for a heck of a game against Arizona, and with that questions."

Texas Tech's best defender on the night was sophomore linebacker Ben Roberts who had 12 tackles, a forced fumble, and one critical QB pressure that led to a pick-six for the Red Raiders. McGuire talked about Roberts' performance.

"Man, you know, we're at, that position's deep," he said. "Coach Bookbinder does a really good job. But you know Ben again, you know he, he's one of those guys that every single week, you know, comes up big. You know, that pressure on the pick-six was huge. You know, the caused fumble and us recovering was huge. And he's such a good football player. He's got such a high football IQ, you could put him in a lot of spots, and he's going to succeed and be really, really good football player for us."

Next, McGuire was asked about on specific play on Cincinnati's final possession when the Red Raider defense slow-played a substitution to cost the Bearcats critical time off the clock. McGuire said that was obviously intentional.

"Yeah, you know, that's one thing," he said. "I mean, we, we, it was one drive we over-subbed. But,
you know, that's one thing that we practice a lot, and it's coming from the box as soon as they start seeing somebody come off. And, you know, in those situations, man, one second to, you know, however how many seconds it was, is so critical, you know. And we were able to get a guy.

"The great thing too, with us to be able to do that is you got to be deep enough in the defensive line to do it, you know, we've got six guys that we feel like can play, you know, I think five of them played tonight. And so it's really not like you're not in a panic that you're putting somebody in there that's not going to, you know, be able to make a play. I thought that was really big, you know, I thought the defense, too right there at the end. I mean, we felt like their kick line was right at the 35 you know, we got them, they got to the 32 so it was definitely a little bit ahead of their kick line. But I thought that that was big to make them kick as long a field goal as they could to try to tie it up."

The Red Raider defense gave up some huge plays, especially in the first half. McGuire talked about what he said to the defense to keep them engaged enough to make some key plays in the second half.

"Yeah, you know, it's, that's a really good question," he said, "from the standpoint of, like, it seemed like all their scores tonight were big plays, you know, like we, they stopped us on fourth down, and, you know, the very next play they score. We don't wall number two, we don't walk out on number two. We, you know, they motioned over. They were three by one. They motioned over, two by two. And our outside linebacker, you know, didn't adjust. So we got a free run. There's a touchdown.

"They go with a screen pass for a 71-yard touchdown. And, you know, we take the easy way, easy ways, going underneath blocks and sit over the top. And, you know, it just goes back to those big plays. I mean, anytime you have big plays in a game like that, first thing was like, hey, blown coverages. It wasn't that, you know. It just always goes back to fundamental football of setting edges.

"We, you know, we didn't, we hit the quarterback. We're not sacking the quarterback, you know. And so now we're hanging our secondary out to dry because they're having to cover longer than what they should have to cover. Part of that is we're not containing the quarterback, you know, and we've got it.

"We definitely whenever a week from now, I've got to do a good job, because Arizona's quarterback can really move in the pocket. And so so many of those big plays where it just goes back to his fundamental of like not setting edges, not containing the football, letting the, you know, coverage they have to cover longer than what they should have. And that quarterback did a really good job tonight. He's a good football player. I will, I will say this going back to that though, you know, he hadn't turned the ball over at all. You know, we're able to get a pick-six. We probably, what's crazy is Jordan probably intercepts the ball too, if he doesn't hurt his hand, you know, and we have to he kind of had a half cast on it, and he probably catches that clean. So even though we didn't sack him, we did cause some mistakes that helped us win the game."

With 251 yards and two touchdowns on 19/29 passing, Texas Tech QB Behren Morton was again efficient in a winning effort. McGuire talked about his performance.

"I just, you know, he just keeps getting better," he said. "He's making some really good decisions. He's, you know, we had some checks tonight that were really big. I think he's getting, you know, really had a couple of big runs too. You know that he feels really comfortable, you know, I think he feels really good. And so he's doing some things, and I think he'll just continue to do that, you know, be better.

"But I do think the one thing right now he's operating in a really high level, as far as seeing the field, seeing what we want him to do with the ball. If you go back, there's one drive that we have to kick the field goal. We dropped three balls. One of them was a touchdown, you know. And you catch, you know, any of those balls, we probably score. But you definitely, you don't drop from one, you know, going in. I mean, that's a touchdown. And all three balls were catchable balls. You put it on them. And, you know, it happens, that's football. You know, you're going to drop balls. You're going to, you know, we got to go to what's next. But he was, he was really throwing the ball well tonight, because I think he was so he was 19 to 29 so you, you know, you take those three right there. And you know, he's even in a better position."

McGuire next was asked about the game plan his offensive coordinator, Zach Kittley, put together.

"I think the one thing you know kit is doing a really good job of understanding what the game that's a big thing," he said. "We have a staff meeting before we have our final walk-through, and we go through things. And I asked the coaches like, let's figure out what kind of game it is, and let's adapt. Let's attack it that way. I think he is doing a phenomenal job of seeing what they're giving us, calling plays into it.

"And then guys we, I've said it, you know, since spring football, our skill is totally different than what it was the first two years, as far as play-making ability. And then you have Tahj Brooks, you know? I mean, he's the best running back in college football without a doubt. I mean, he is the best total back in college football. He, the way he rushes the football, the way he catches the ball in the backfield. I think he's the most physical at picking up any kind of Blitz, helping chip in on pass block. And he's best in college football, and he's on our team. And so whenever you have that combination, it's tough on defensive coordinators to decide what you're going to try to take away, and Zach's taking advantage of it."