Texas Tech fans frustrated with offense after lackluster showing in week-one win

Just about every college football fan believes they are qualified to be an elite offensive coordinator. Texas Tech fans are no different. And after seeing the Red Raiders put up only 33 points against Abilene Christian in the 2026 season-opening win, there was plenty of frustration being spewed on social media.

Almost all of the anger was over Tech's red-zone woes. Going just 2 for 5 when it came to scoring touchdowns inside the opponent's 20, Tech was unable to solve one of last season's most glaring problems.

A season ago, Tech scored a TD on only 55.4% of its red-zone trips. That was 98th-best in the nation.

It got so bad last year that head coach Joey McGuire started calling the red zone the "No Stone Zone" because he didn't want to have to send kicker Stone Harrington onto the field to clean up red-zone drives. However, that strategy didn't work last year, and it didn't work in Saturday night's opener.

Now, Texas Tech fans are starting to grow impatient with offensive coordinator Mack Leftwich. That is as much an indication of the knee-jerk nature of college football fans as it is a healthy and warranted point of view.

Last season, Leftwich's first as Texas Tech O.C., the Red Raiders averaged 461.4 yards of offense per game, good for No. 10 nationally. Additionally, their 39.1 points per game were good for No. 7 in the country.

Those numbers came despite Tech having to play all season with a QB in Behren Morton who had a hairline fracture in his leg. So to suggest that Leftwich wasn't effective a year ago is unfair. Still, the last time we saw Leftwich's offense before Saturday night was on New Year's Day when Tech was shut out by Oregon in the Orange Bowl. Therefore, many Tech fans came into 2026 looking at the offense with a bit of skepticism.

After all, this is Texas Tech and offensive excellence is what a couple of generations of Red Raiders have been raised on. Therefore, scoring only 33 points against an FCS opponent is going to ruffle some feathers.

Don't forget that we were told all offseason, both by Texas Tech experts and by the coaching staff, that this offense was going to be deeper and more explosive than a year ago. That didn't prove to be the case in week one, and fans are already starting to panic, as only football fans can.

So let's all freak out together, at least for a day, because there is comfort in group suffering. Here are some of the best social media posts from X from concerned Texas Tech fans.

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