Struggling Texas Tech defense suffers another season-ending injury

With as poorly as the Texas Tech football team's defense has played this year, the Red Raiders can ill afford to suffer a major injury. However, that's what the Red Raiders are dealing with after losing starting defensive tackle E'Maurion Banks for the season in Saturday's 59-35 loss to Baylor.

"We lose a leader," Texas Tech head coach Joey McGuire said Monday. "That was an emtional moment right there because anytime you have to cart somebody off, instead of limping off or helping off, it's always kind of a weird moment in the game.

"But he was playing really well. He was probably the...D.B. Carroll and him were the two playing the best in the defensive tackle room. So they're all going to have to step up. You're losing a guy who is really physical. He's got some really good length and the other thing that you lose, and we've got to figure out who that's going to be is...if you look at the last two years, he's the guy who has been able to get his hand on the football whenever it comes to extra point blocks or field goal blocks and those are points, you're losing a guy like that so we've got to figure out who that is."

Thus far in 2024, Banks, a junior from Wichita Falls, led the Texas Tech defensive tackles in snaps played. He had been credited with 16 tackles (nine solo) and 3.0 tackles for loss.

It was an unfortunate and unlucky circumstance that led to the knee injury that took Banks off the field on Saturday. In the first quarter, Baylor running back Bryson Washington ran 44 yards and appeared to score a TD to put his team ahead 7-0.

However, the replay showed that he had gone out of bounds at the half-yard line. Thus the TD was called back and Baylor was forced to run another play to score. On that ensuing play, a one-yard plunge by Washington, Banks suffered the knee injury that would see him lost for the year. Had Washington managed to score on his long run, Banks would not have suffered his injury and Tech's defense wouldn't be down another key defensive player.

That's not the reality Tech faces, though. In fact, the Red Raiders are now going to be without three players projected to be starters along the defensive front with outside linebackers Joseph Adedire and Dylan Spencer having been lost for the year due to preseason injuries.

With Banks out of commission, sophomore Trevon McAlpine will be called upon to play a much larger role. But it will take a group effort to make up for Banks' absence. That's not the news that a struggling Texas Tech defense needed following its meltdown against Baylor.